Cat's Gambit
Cat's Gambit Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- Queen Aurelia card (double-sided: 5 VP side and 1 VP side)
- Bishop x 2
- Knight x 2
- Rook x 2
- Pawn x 8
- Cat-ken x 4
- Paw token x 1
- Rulebook x 1
- Expansion: Queen Umbra (Queen Umber) card, double-sided
Game Setup
- Randomly choose five Pawn cards and set them aside face up. Remove the rest from the game.
- Place the Queen card in the middle of the table with its 5 VP side face up.
- Shuffle all Knight, Bishop, Rook, and Cat-ken cards face down to form a draw deck. Place the draw deck to the right of the Queen. The draw deck is part of the 4x4 puzzle grid.
- Place the Paw token on the top of the draw deck.
Gameplay / Turn
On a turn, flip over the top card from the draw deck. Use the diagram on the card to move it from the Paw token's current location to an unoccupied location in the grid. Then, move the Paw token to the card.
- The card can move past another card or the draw deck.
- When placing a card, it must connect diagonally or orthogonally to at least one card (including the Queen and the draw deck) in the puzzle.
- The puzzle grid of cards never exceeds a height or width of four cards.
- If there is not a viable position to place a card, the game ends.
On your first turn, the card is placed with regards to the draw deck.
Placement Rules
The Paw marks the start position to place the new card.
Bishop
- Bishop cards can be placed any distance diagonally from the Paw token.
- Example: The first card drawn is a Bishop. It must move diagonally from the Paw, so any of the highlighted locations would be acceptable.
Knight
- Knight cards must move in an L-shaped pattern (or reverse L), just as in chess. They can move two spaces in any direction vertically followed by one space horizontally, or two spaces in any direction horizontally followed by one space vertically.
- Example: The second card drawn is a Knight. There are three possible options for placement from the Paw.
Rook
- Rook cards can be placed any distance orthogonally from the Paw.
- Example: The third card drawn is a Rook. It must move orthogonally from the Paw that was previously placed, so any of the highlighted options would be acceptable.
Cat-ken
- Cat-kens may be placed any distance orthogonally or diagonally from the Paw.
- Cat-kens are the only cards that can attack or check the Queen. It only checks at the time when it is drawn and placed into the grid.
Watching for Check
- When placing Cat-kens, be sure the Queen is NOT in "check". To clarify, the Cat-ken should not be placed in a position so that an orthogonal or diagonal line can be drawn between it and the Queen. If you must place a Cat-ken so that the Queen is in check, flip the Queen over to its 1 VP side. If the Queen is in a check position a second time from a different Cat-ken, that makes a "checkmate", and the game is lost immediately.
- Example: The next card drawn is a Cat-ken. All of the highlighted options would be acceptable for placing the Cat-ken. For all the options with "Check", they would place the Queen into check.
Pawn
- A Pawn may be placed only after a Bishop, Knight, Rook, or Cat-ken is played. You may not play two Pawns consecutively.
- Pawns may be placed one space orthogonally (in any four directions) from the Paw token.
- Each Pawn card has a special power and some of them may give you another option for placement. In such a case, the normal Pawn placement rules may be ignored. It also doesn't cause or revert "check" from Cat-ken. See more about the Pawn abilities below.
- You may choose not to use a Pawn's special power.
Pawn Abilities
- Banishment Move. After placing the Pawn and moving the Paw to it, move a Knight or Rook from the puzzle to the bottom of the deck face down.
- Burrow Strategy. After placing the Pawn and moving the Paw to it, look at the bottom two cards of the draw deck and rearrange them in any order.
- Cat-ken Call. After placing the Pawn, move the Paw to a Cat-ken in the puzzle.
- Cat-ken Perch. Instead of placing the Pawn in an unoccupied space, place it on top of a Cat-ken in the puzzle, then place the Paw on top of the Pawn. It can be the Cat-ken that was placed in the previous turn.
- Pawn Leap. After placing the Pawn and moving the Paw to it, swap both the Pawn and Paw with a Bishop, Knight, or Rook in the puzzle.
- Queen's Gambit. After placing the Pawn and moving the Paw to it, swap the Queen with a Bishop, Knight, or Rook in the puzzle.
- Strategic Push. Before placing the Pawn, move a card in the puzzle to an unoccupied space. If it has the Paw, move them together. The new position must be diagonally or orthogonally adjacent to at least one card in the 4x4 puzzle.
- Tactical Peek. Before placing the Pawn, look at the top card of the draw deck.
End of Game
The game ends when one of the three conditions is triggered.
- A Cat-ken that is placed causes "checkmate".
- There is not a viable position to place a card that is drawn.
- There is one card remaining in the draw deck. (Don't play the last card.)
Scoring
If "checkmate" is reached, the scoring phase is skipped and the game is lost. Otherwise, scoring proceeds as follows:
- 1 or 5 points for the Queen based on the side that is facing up.
- 1, 3, 6, or 10 points for one, two, three, or four Cat-kens in the puzzle, even when it is covered by another card. If a Cat-ken is the last card in the draw deck, it does not count towards scoring.
- 5 points if the Queen is in the middle four squares of the 4x4 grid (even if the grid is incomplete).
- -2 points for each card remaining in the draw pile that could not be placed, excluding the final bottom card. Also lose 2 points for each unplaced Pawn card. The maximum penalty is -5 points.
After points have been tallied, determine the rank using the scale below.
| Points | Rank |
|---|---|
| 3 | Soft Shell Pawn |
| 7 | Jolly Rook |
| 10 | Splashy Knight |
| 15 | Glowing Bishop |
| 20 | Merlin of Seven Seas |
Rules Update: 2026.5.6
Expansion: Queen Umbra (Queen Umber)
Do not use this expansion unless you have played the base game at least three times.
Long ago, the kingdom of cats was ruled by Queen Aurelia, the Radiant, and Queen Umbra, the Veiled Shadow. While Aurelia led with wisdom and grace, Umbra harbored a deep, unshakable ambition. She sought to harness the power of the Cat-kens, the enigmatic and fearsome creatures lurking in the depths of the realm.
As her obsession grew, Queen Umbra vanished into the darkness, forging an unholy pact with the Cat-kens. In time, she returned, but as a relentless specter, shadowing Queen Aurelia's every move. She no longer sought to rule the kingdom; she sought to consume it.
Now, as you build the kingdom of Cat's Gambit, Queen Umbra emerges once more, an ever-present threat in the puzzle. She cannot be reasoned with. You must strike her down twice before the final battle ends, or her lingering presence will drain Queen Aurelia's strength, leaving her powerless to reach her potential.
The fate of the kingdom rests in your hands. Will you banish the shadow, or will Queen Aurelia succumb to the darkness?
- Components: One Queen Umbra card, double-sided.
- Setup: Set the Queen Umbra card on the side.
- Turn: When a Cat-ken is played in the puzzle and resolved, place Queen Umbra on top, covering the Cat-ken with the -2 points face up. The goal is to check Queen Umbra twice using Bishop, Knight, or Rook before the next Cat-ken is played.
- The first time she is checked, flip the card to the side with the -5 points face up.
- Once Queen Umbra has been checked twice, she is removed from the game.
- If a Cat-ken enters the puzzle before Queen Umbra is checked twice, she is reset to -2 points and placed on top of the new Cat-ken.
- End Game: If Queen Aurelia survives the Cat-ken attacks, the game ends as normal.
- Scoring: If Queen Umbra is still present in the puzzle when the game ends, subtract the penalty from the final score.
Example of Placing Queen Umbra
- On the fourth turn, a Cat-ken is played. Resolve the check to Queen Aurelia. The Queen is not checked.
- Then, place Queen Umbra (-2 point side) and the Paw on the Cat-ken.
- The player can play a Pawn or draw a card. In this case, a Rook is drawn. It checks Queen Umbra because she is in the movement path where the Rook is placed. Queen Umbra is turned to the -5 side.
Transcription Notes
The printed expansion heading reads "Queen Umber", while the card name and body text read "Queen Umbra"; both are transcribed as printed. The Knight movement text reads "space square vertically" in the printed rulebook; it is transcribed here as "one space vertically" (typo fix). The Pawn-penalty line in Scoring is as printed in the Rules Update 2026.5.6 version of the rulebook, which already includes the unplaced-Pawn penalty.