Cats Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Objective of the Game
• Summary of the Game
• The House
• Action Cards
• Stress Tokens
• Objective Tokens
• The Man Who Lives Here
• Setting Up the Game
• Game Turn
  • 1. Objectives setup
  • 2. Movement phase
  • 3. Fighting phase
  • 4. Punishments / Rewards Phase
  • 5. Capture of objective tokens
• End of the Game
• Secret Goals (Optional Rule)
• The Rumba
  • Game Setup
• Turn Phases

Game Components

• 4 double-sided cardboard tiles
• 5 cat pawns
• 5 decks of 6 action cards
• 1 die with numbers from 1 to 3 (1D3)
• 1 'The man who lives here' pawn
• 1 '1st player' card
• 20 stress tokens
• 35 objective tokens (OT)
• 6 secret goal cards
• 1 Rumba token
• 5 Rumba action cards
• 2 Turn order cards

Objective of the Game

Your goal is to be the happiest cat in the house while you try to prevent 'The man who lives here' or other cats from stressing you. To do this, you have to capture objective tokens (OT) that will give you bliss points.

Summary of the Game

The game is divided into 5 turns and each of them follows the same steps:

1. Objectives setup
2. Movement
3. Fighting
4. Punishment/Rewards
5. OT capture

In each phase from 2 to 5 you will play a card from your hand; although you might not participate in all the phases (for example you may avoid the fighting phase).

At the end of the 5th turn the players add the bliss points of their OT to see who is the the most blissful cat.

The House

The house is represented by 4 cardboard tiles with rooms. A tile can have more than one room and each room is identified by a number:

1. Dinning room.
2. Bathroom.
3. Kitchen.
4. Bedroom.
5. Hall.

The tiles are also divided into boxes. Each tile is made up of 4 boxes, marked by thicker dark lines.

Diagram: the room and box labels on the board, with the 'door / window' and 'box' callouts.

Action Cards

Each player has a deck of 6 identical action cards. The cards include numbers 2 to 5, which are used to move, fight and deceive 'The man who lives here', in addition to some icons at the bottom that are used in the OT capture phase.

2 of the cards (4 and 5) are wild cards with all the capture icons and an icon at the top to indicate that 'The man who lives here' moves (the man's movement icon).

On both sides of the OT, capture icons may appear (eat, sleep, steal or destroy). If the OT has one or more of these icons, the cat that tries to capture it must spend a card showing at least one of the icons.

On the top-right you may see a relaxing activity icon. When you capture a OT with this icon, you can return one of your stress tokens.

Diagram of an OT token: the 'this indicates where you can put the token' callout points to the room/box numbers on the top; the 'relaxing activity' callout points to the top-right icon; the 'capture icon' callout points to the bottom icon; the 'bliss points' callout points to the number at the bottom.

Stress Tokens

When a cat loses a fight or is punished by 'The man who lives here', they receive a stress token.

Each stress token subtracts 1 bliss point at the end of the game.

But stress can help us during the game. Stressed cats add all their stress tokens to the actions of moving, fighting and deceiving 'The man who lives here'.

The only ways to remove stress tokens are being rewarded by 'The man who lives here' or capturing a relaxing OT.

Objective Tokens

Objective tokens (OT) are things that make us happy. They come in two colors: blue (activities that please 'The man who lives here' and are worth 1 to 3 bliss points) and red (actions that for some strange reason he doesn't like, which give us 2 to 4 bliss points).

The top part of the token shows the rooms or boxes where it can be placed.

The bottom part shows how many bliss points you will get at the end of the game.

The Man Who Lives Here

A human lives in the house whose only function in life is to serve you, opening cans of food and keeping the sandbox clean.

'The man who lives here' does not occupy any space and is considered to be in the entire room. During the game you can move him around the room to put cats or OT if it bothers you.

Each time a player uses a card with the man's movement icon, the man moves from one room to the next in numerical order: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5 and back to the starting point. The man will move at the end of each phase, after all the cats have solved their actions.

During the round the man is distracted and does not pay attention to the cats. He only interacts with them in the Punishment / Reward phase (see below).

Setting Up the Game

1. Assemble the board. Place the tile of the toilet with corridor and connect the rest of the tiles to the corridor through the doors.

   • If you use the 2 corridor tiles, the corridors must be together.

   The kitchen tile has the 4+ icon indicating that it's only used in games for 4 or more players.

   In 2- or 3-player games remove the kitchen tile and use the living room + kitchen tile (marked with 2-3).

2. Put the man's pawn 'The man who lives here' in the hall (5).

3. Each player takes a cat and the 6 action cards of the corresponding color.

4. The player who has adopted a cat more recently goes first. In the event of a tie, a die is rolled and the highest roll takes the 1st player marker.

5. Each player, starting with the first, chooses a square on the board to be placed. Cats should start in different rooms. * Tip: it is better to be near the center of the house (so you easily can move to any OT of your interest).

6. Mix the OT and give a stack of 5 chips face down to each player. Players can not look at the contents of their chips until they are revealed in the Objectives setup phase.

7. Place the die and stress tokens where all players can reach them.

The cards played remain stacked face up on the table until you have played them all. If at any time you have to play a card and you do not have any, you recover the 6 cards again.

Game Turn

1. Objectives setup

In order, each player, reveals the first OT of his stack and puts it on the board. The top of the OT indicates where it can be placed. If numbers appear, it must be placed in a room with one of those numbers; if it's an asterisk (*) it can be set in any box; in the case of icons: a window means that it must be placed in a box with a window (the holes in the walls that face the outside) and a screen icon indicates that it is placed in a box with a TV or PC.

There are 2 restrictions:

• You must put your OT in an empty box (no cats or other OT).
• If possible, you should choose rooms that do not yet have OT.

If it's impossible to play an OT because all the boxes it can be placed in are occupied, the token can be played as if it had an (*).

2. Movement phase

You all must play a card face down. You turn them at the same time and perform the movement in order. The players with the highest number move first, the ties are resolved following turn order.

Stack the cards played so that only the last card used is seen. This makes it easier to see how many man's movement icons have been played in the current phase.

Each cat can move boxes vertically and horizontally (not diagonally) up to the value indicated on his card (plus stress tokens).

A player can move fewer boxes than indicated.

You must use doors to move from one room to another.

Movement of 'The man who lives here'. If you have played wild cards, 'The man who lives here' moves one room per man's movement icon at the end of the phase.

Example: Players reveal movement cards. White is the first one moving with a 4 card and goes to the OT next to her (1). Black (2) and Blue (3) played a 3 and move next. They move by turn order (White is the 1st player) and both move over White to start a fight. Finally, Orange (4) and Pink (5) will make their moves.

3. Fighting phase

If two or more cats share a box at the end of the movement phase, a fight begins. Each cat involved in the fight plays a new card face down.

Each player reveals the card, rolls 1D3 and adds it to the value of their card (plus stress tokens). The highest total wins.

Example: Fight cards are revealed and everyone rolls the 1D3 starting with Blue. The results are: Blue 6, Black 6 and White 7. White wins the fight, the rest take 1 stress token and must leave the OT. The first one running away is Black. It can move up to 4 boxes (3 + 1 stress token) so Black does so and reaches free OT in the room (3). Blue can't reach any free OT so it moves to the corridor (4). Finally, because 2 wild cards have been played, the man moves twice, from room 5 to room 2 (5).

In case of a tie, the one who arrived first (who is lower in the pile) wins.

Defeated cats take 1 stress token and run away up to 3 boxes (plus the stress tokens they have), cats leave from bottom up.

These cats can not start another fight, but they can move to an unoccupied OT.

If there are more than one fight in progress, they are resolved in turn order.

Movement of 'The man who lives here'. If you have played wild cards, 'The man who lives here' moves one room per man's movement icon at the end of the phase.

4. Punishments / Rewards Phase

Just before the cats capture the OT, the man watches the room they are in at that moment.

If there are cats in that room on a blue OT, they will be happy: Instagram photos, pampering... As a reward, the cat can remove 1 stress token.

If the OT is red, the man will try to remove the cat token who has two options:

1. leave the OT and withdraw up to 3 boxes (plus the stress tokens they have)
2. try to deceive the man. To do so, play a card and roll the die, if the total of 'card + 1D3 + stress tokens' is 7+, the cat stays on the OT. If it is lower than 7 they will have to withdraw (3 squares + stress tokens) and this time they will take 1 stress token as punishment.

Whether the cat leaves the OT or fails to deceive the human, the OT is removed from the board.

Just like in fights, a withdrawing cat can go to an unoccupied OT but cannot start a fight.

In the unlikely event that a cat withdraws from a red OT to another OT in the same room, the player resolves another Punishment / Reward effect.

If there are several cats, they resolve their Punishment / Reward in turn order.

Example: Orange decides to take a risk and plays a 4 to deceive the man, gets a 2 on the dice and adds its stress token to reach 7 and keep the OT. Black does not have to worry because it is in another room.

Movement of 'The man who lives here'. If you have played wild cards, 'The man who lives here' moves one room per man's movement icon at the end of the phase.

Once the man moves, the phase ends and punishments/rewards will not be triggered again this turn.

5. Capture of objective tokens

Now cats can get the OT they are on. If the token doesn't have any capture icons, the player simply takes the OT, but if it contains capture icons (eat, sleep, steal or destroy) they must spend a new card with that icon. If an OT contains several icons, paying one of them is enough.

If the OT has a relax icon the player can discard 1 stress token at that moment.

Rewarded OTs should be stacked face up next to the tokens that are still to be placed.

Remove any OT in the board that has not been captured and pass the "1st player" card to the next player to start a new turn.

Movement of 'The man who lives here'. If you have played wild cards, 'The man who lives here' moves one room per man's movement icon at the end of the phase.

End of the Game

The game ends after turn 5 (once you have set all the OT dealt during the setup).

Do not get rid of the cards that you have left in your hand, they may be necessary for the tie break.

Each player adds the bliss points in their OT and subtracts 1 for each stress token. If you are playing with secret goal cards add their bliss point value.

The player with the most bliss points is the winner. In case of a tie, the player with the most OT wins.

If the tie persists the tied cats will start to fight using the cards that remain in their hands (and recovering them in the usual way when they are over).

Solve the fight in the usual way, with the exception that ties are not resolved in favor of any of the players and force a new round of fighting with a new card. The first player to win a fight round is the winner of the game.

Secret Goals (Optional Rule)

There are 6 secret goal cards, each of which has 2 capture icons that represent what that cat likes to do.

Deal one card face down to each player, look at it and keep it secret.

At the end of the game you reveal the secret goal cards and choose ONE of the two icons. You get 1 bliss point for each captured OT that contains that icon.

Example: Orange adds his OT (13 bliss points), subtracts 2 bliss points for the 2 stress tokens and adds 3 bliss points for the 3 destroy icons thanks to his secret goal card, for a total of 14 bliss points.

This rule adds a surprise factor, making it harder to guess which tokens the other players prefer and adding some secret bliss points that can turn the final score of the game.

The Rumba

The owner of the house has bought a vacuum robot to keep it clean, but for your misfortune it has developed intelligence and hates you.

The Rumba is a ghost player (it plays independently) that must be introduced in the 2-player games but that can also be included in games with more players.

Game Setup

Place the Rumba in the corridor, in the box that contains its charging station.

Shuffle the Rumba action deck and place it face down next to the board.

This deck will not be shuffled again during the rest of the game (it is a pre-programmed robot). When the deck is depleted, turn the discard pile face down to form the action deck again. Smarter cats can take advantage if they remember the order of the cards.

Put 5 OT face down next to the Rumba's deck as if he were just another player.

If you play with the secret objective cards, deal one to the Rumba (you cannot see it until the end of the game).

The Rumba plays as a regular player with the following exceptions:

1. Objectives setup

After all the players have put their OT, the 1st player reveals and places the OT of the Rumba.

2. Movement phase

When all the players have chosen their cards, reveal the first card of the Rumba's action deck. That card is their movement for the turn.

The Rumba moves before any cat, regardless of the number of its card, and it is placed on the greatest value OT within its reach.

If there are no tokens in its reach, the Rumba is placed in their starting space or as close to it as possible.

If there are several OTs of the same value within range, the players will bid to move the Rumba, each player takes as many stress tokens from the reserve as they want to make a secret bid.

The player with the highest bid, keeps the stress tokens they bet and places the Rumba on one of the tied OT. In case of a tie in the bid, the player who goes before in turn order wins. The losing players return to the reserve the stress tokens they took for the bid.

3. Fighting phase

If a cat wants to fight with the Rumba, it draws a card and rolls the die in the usual way. In addition the Rumba adds +1 to its roll (because it is a hybrid of vacuum cleaner / combat robot).

If the Rumba loses the fight, it is placed in its starting space or as close to it as possible. And the card it used in the fight is eliminated from the deck (its programming has been damaged).

The Rumba never gets stress tokens.

4. Punishments / rewards phase

The man does not punish or reward the Rumba and allows it to take any piece (even red ones).

5. Capture of Objective Tokens

The Rumba always captures its OT. Play a card from the Rumba deck, regardless of whether the OT has icons or not, and put the captured token next to its deck of cards.

At the end of the game add the bliss points of the captured OT and those of the secret objective card if you play with that rule (you should, of course, choose the icon that gives the Rumba more bliss points).

The Rumba can win the game, and in fact it usually will, unless someone stops it.

Turn Phases

Reference summary of the turn, as printed on the last page of the rulebook.

1. Objectives setup: Each player (in turn order) places 1 OT on the board.

2. Movement phase: Everyone plays a card face down. The number on the card indicates the maximum movement for the turn. Cats move by movement value (highest goes first).

   • The stress token adds to the max. movement.
   • Man's movement icon: Movement of 'The man who lives here'.

3. Fighting phase: Fighting cats play a card face down. The cat with the highest result from: card + 1D3 + stress tokens is the winner. The losers get a stress token and must retreat up to 3 + stress tokens boxes.

   • Man's movement icon: Movement of 'The man who lives here'.

4. Punishments / Rewards Phase: The man watches the cats in his room.

   • Blue OT = reward, can return 1 stress token.
   • Red OT = punishment, you must:
     • retire for up to 3 + stress tokens boxes, or
     • deceive the human: Card + 1D3 + stress tokens ≥ 7.
   • Man's movement icon: Movement of 'The man who lives here'.

5. Capture of objective tokens: The players take the OT paying a card with the corresponding capture icon when necessary.