Fish & Katz
Fish & Katz Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 50 Fish Cards: 10x red (Flounders), 10x orange (Sauries), 8x yellow (Salmons), 8x green (Eel), 8x blue (Pufferfish), 6x purple (Tuna). Each card shows the paws you score for this fish type.
- 6 Kitty paw finger puppets
- 4 Expansion Cards: 4x brown (Squid). Each shows the Squid's number and the Squid effect.
- 6 Overview Cards
- 20 Paw tokens: 1 paw; 33 VP paws.
Before the first game! Apply the stickers to the tokens. Both sides of a token should show the same illustration!
Setup
For your first game return the 4 squid cards to the box, as well. You can add the expansion to your game any time you start a new round.
- Each player gets 1 overview card. Return unused overview cards to the box.
- Each player puts 1 kitty paw finger puppet on their index finger.
- Shuffle all fish cards and form a facedown draw deck.
- Put the paw tokens next to the draw deck.
- Place "number of players +1" cards face up in a wide spaced row next to the draw deck. Example: With 3 players your card row consists of 4 cards.
Gameplay
All players shout out loud "1, 2, 3!". On 3 all players swipe their kitty paw on one of the cards in the card row simultaneously.
- If you are the only player to swipe on a specific card, you take that card face-up into your score pile in front of you.
- If multiple players swipe on the same card, nobody gets the card and it is removed to the discard pile.
Simultaneously = Everyone doing an action at the same time. This means you decide which card you gonna swipe on 3 before you even start counting. It is not allowed to change your decision after 3 when the others are already moving their paws toward specific cards!
Afterwards, check if at least one player has collected 2 different fish types with at least 3 cards each:
- If so, go to Scoring and game end.
- If not, discard the card from the card row that is closest to the discard pile, refill the row of cards and continue playing.
Note: If the draw deck is exhausted, shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw deck.
Scoring and Game End
Each player gets paw tokens for each set of fish in their score pile. A set consists of 3 or more cards of the same fish type. You score the paw tokens shown on the cards only once per set (not for each card!).
Note: You score each fish type only once, even if you have 6 cards of the same fish type!
The end of the game is triggered when someone has 6 or more paws. The player with the most paws wins! If tied, they share the victory.
Prepare the Next Round
If no one has scored 6 paws:
- All players discard all fish cards from their score piles, regardless of whether they have been scored or not. Players keep only their paw tokens.
- Shuffle all cards and create a new draw deck. Place a new row of cards, and resume the game.
Squid Expansion
Bring more player interaction to the game!
- Shuffle all 4 squid cards into the draw deck.
- When you successfully swipe a squid card, wait until all fish cards have been collected. Then steal 1 fish card of your choice from any opponents' score pile (if possible) and place it in your own score pile. Discard the squid card afterwards.
Note: If multiple players swipe a squid card at the same time, the stealing takes place in order of the numbers on their squid cards (1 goes first).
2-Player Rules
The rules remain the same with the following modifications:
- Before you shuffle the cards during setup and after each scoring, both players draw 1 card from the draw deck. If it is a fish card of 1 or 3 paws, discard the card and re-draw until you have got a 2-paws fish card.
- Put these cards face down in your score pile. During scoring, you may reveal face down cards and add them to your score. If that doesn't help you to reach the threshold of "3 cards of the same fish type", you can keep face down cards for a future scoring; these are the only cards you are allowed to keep for the next round.