diff --git a/tools/reduce_tests.sh b/tools/reduce_tests.sh
index fa437673b1508..73a0e98499fef 100755
--- a/tools/reduce_tests.sh
+++ b/tools/reduce_tests.sh
@@ -37,12 +37,36 @@ shift
 
 export REDUCE_TESTS_EXTRA_OPTS="$*"
 
+# Figure out which test executable to use
+test_exe=
+
+for potential_test_exe in ./tests/cata_test ./cata_test ./cata_test-tiles
+do
+    if [ -x "$potential_test_exe" ]
+    then
+        if [ -z "$test_exe" -o "$potential_test_exe" -nt "$test_exe" ]
+        then
+            test_exe=$potential_test_exe
+        fi
+    fi
+done
+
+if [ -z "$test_exe" ]
+then
+    echo "You don't seem to have compiled any test executable" >&2
+    exit 1
+else
+    printf "Using test executable '%s'\n" "$test_exe"
+fi
+
+export REDUCE_TESTS_TEST_EXE=$test_exe
+
 # For some reason the following cata_test command returns 140, rather than 0 (success).
 # Not sure why.
 
 # We have to add braces around the lines to avoid topformflat messing up the file.
 # The braces are removed again inside our helper script.
-./tests/cata_test --list-test-names-only '~[.]' | \
+"$test_exe" --list-test-names-only '~[.]' | \
     grep '[^ ]' | sed 's/.*/{&}/' > list_of_tests || true
 multidelta tools/reduce_tests_helper.sh list_of_tests
 
diff --git a/tools/reduce_tests_helper.sh b/tools/reduce_tests_helper.sh
index afa7ff803a44c..ee5ab93297043 100755
--- a/tools/reduce_tests_helper.sh
+++ b/tools/reduce_tests_helper.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-if ./tests/cata_test -d yes --abort --rng-seed "$rng_seed" \
+if "$REDUCE_TESTS_TEST_EXE" -d yes --abort --rng-seed "$rng_seed" \
     $REDUCE_TESTS_EXTRA_OPTS \
     -f <(tr -d '{}' < "$multidelta_all_files")
 then