Mad Cat Sad Cat Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Your Turn
  • Dice Rolling
  • Stopping
  • Locking In
  • Mooching
  • Fail Turn
  • Successful Turn
  • Cleaning Up
• Examples
• Game End

Components

• 5 dice, each with: 3 (different) white mad cat sides, 2 (different) black sad cat sides, 1 black & white wild cat side
• 160 VPs (victory points)
• 17 cat cards: 1 black & white catpot card, 8 white mad cat cards, 8 black sad cat cards
• 35 player cards, 5 sets, each consisting of: 1 dice tray card, 1 VP tray card (and reminder), 5 mooch cards

Setup

• Take a set of 7 cards (with the same letter) each. Place your dice trays and VP trays in front of yourselves. The mooch cards are hand cards.
• Return all unused player cards to the box.
• Place the cat cards in the middle of the table and put VPs on them, like this:
  • Catpot: 2 VPs
  • Two pairs: 1 VP on the mad cat cards, 2 VPs on the sad cat cards
  • Full house: 1 VP on the mad cat cards, 2 VPs on the sad cat cards
  • 4 of a kind: 2 VPs on the mad cat cards, 3 VPs on the sad cat cards
  • 5 of a kind: 2 VPs on the mad cat cards, 3 VPs on the sad cat cards
• Place the rest of the VPs within easy reach of everybody.
• If you are the starting player, take all 5 dice.
• Play one after the other, in clockwise order.

Your Turn

Dice Rolling

When it is your turn, roll all 5 dice. Roll "as often as you like" but set aside 1 or more dice after each roll (place it or them on your dice tray).

Always roll all dice that you have not set aside yet.

Once you have set aside a die, it stays on your dice tray until the end of your turn. (No takesies-backsies!)

Stopping

You can choose to stop after any roll, as long as (A) you have set aside at least 1 die that you just rolled and (B) the dice that you have set aside allow you to take at least 1 VP (from a matching cat card).

Do not stop without a result, i.e. without either successfully taking at least 1 VP or because your turn is a fail. Your turn is a fail, if you either can not set aside at least 1 die after you roll or you have set aside 5 dice that do not let you take any VPs.

Locking In

Set aside either only mad cats or only sad cats. Once you have set aside a first mad cat die (or dice), you are locked in on (collecting) mad cats for your whole ongoing turn. Likewise, once you have set aside a first sad cat, you are locked in on sad cats.

Once you are locked in on either mad cats or sad cats, put 2 VPs (from the supply) on each of the 8 other cat cards as well as on the catpot card.

Aside from not mixing mad cats and sad cats, there really are no other restrictions on how and when you set aside which dice (despite what you might expect based on other dice games).

You can always set aside wild cats. They count as the kind of cat you are locked in on, as soon as you actually lock in on a kind of cat. Wild cats by themselves do not lock you in on either mad cats or sad cats.

Mooching

While you are adding VPs (as soon as, but only when, you are locked in on either cat), each other player chooses 1 of their mooch cards and puts it face down in front of themselves.

You decide whether you want to roll another time or stop after all other players have chosen their mooch cards.

As soon as you have set aside (not just rolled) dice that can be read as a match for (the combination on) a cat card, any other player who chose their matching mooch card can reveal it.

4 wild cats by themselves can (only) be read as Four of a Kind. (Successful Turn and Example 1 will teach you why.)

You decide whether you want to roll another time or stop after all other players revealed their matching mooch cards (or at least had a chance to).

All players who chose (and revealed) the matching mooch card split all VPs from the matching outer cat card (the one that is lying down) among them. Each moocher gets as many VPs as can be split up fairly among them. Leave "indivisible VPs" on the cat card in question.

Fail Turn

End your turn immediately, if you can not set aside a single die that you just rolled.

Your turn is a fail and you do not get any VPs.

Any other player who chose the matching mooch card, can reveal it now to get (a share of) the VPs from the catpot card.

They can also get the VPs from the catpot card as soon as your turn is a fail because you can not take a single VP after your last roll. (Again, no VPs for you!)

Successful Turn

You can stop after any successful (non-fail) roll.

As long as you can set aside a die (of the kind of cat you are locked in on), your roll is a success, even if it does not actually contribute to the combination that you use to match one of the cards.

First, choose one result (of the kind of cat you are locked in on) that you want all wild cats to count as. Then, take all VPs from the inner cat card (the one that is standing upright) that matches the dice you have set aside.

In the rare case that you have set aside 5 wild cats, take all VPs from the catpot card. No VPs for anybody else (who has not taken VPs this turn already)!

If your result can be read as a match for multiple cat cards, choose one of them and take its VPs.

You may ignore all dice that you have set aside that show a particular result; but do not ignore one die while using another die that shows the same result. (Example 2 will show what that means.)

Cleaning Up

At the end of your turn, everybody picks up their mooch cards again. Nobody has to reveal their chosen mooch card, if they do not want to.

Give the 5 dice to the next player. It is their turn.

Examples

1. You may, but you do not have to, "copy" one of the other dice that you have set aside with your jokers. Either way, always read all of the wild cats as the same kind of result (icon). With that in mind, you can currently (without rolling the fifth die) only read these dice as four of a kind (and not as two pairs).

   Any other player may reveal that they in fact chose the matching mooch card to get VPs. They do not have to (and should not) wait until the end of your turn. Next, you may decide to roll again or to stop.

2. You can ignore exactly one "superfluous odd die out" and (still) match a cat card. Therefore, you can read these dice either as two pairs, or as a full house, or as four of a kind. (Pick one!)

   That being said, your decision does not determine how each other player will read the dice (whether their mooch card is a match or not), even though it is your turn.

3. These dice do not match any cat card. Your turn is a fail.

Game End

Once the VP supply is empty, the game ends at the end of the ongoing turn, if you are two or four players.

In a three or five player game, continue to play until it would be the starting player's turn again without adding any more VPs to the cat cards.

Whoever has the most VPs then wins. In case of a tie, the tied player whose turn it was last wins.