Pocket Cats Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setup
Your First Game
Sequence of Play
End of the Game
End-of-Game Example
The Cat Clans
Glossary
Choosing Clans
Credits

Components

35 cat tiles (5 cats for each of the 7 clans)
10 prey tiles (6 mice, 2 pigeons, 2 flies)
5 dog tiles
7 clan cards (1 for each of the 7 clans)
2 player aids

Setup

Choose your cat clan. It consists of 5 cat tiles and 1 clan card. There are 3 methods for choosing clans (see Choosing Clans). Agree on one of them.
Put the cat tiles of the other clans back in the box. Then shuffle your cat tiles face-down together with the prey tiles and the dog tiles.
Lay the tiles face-down in a 5x5 grid.
Reveal the middle tile. Whoever last saw a (real) cat goes first.

Your First Game

For your first game, use the following clans: Musketeer Cats and Gourmets. Ignore their special effects. This gives you two evenly matched clans, so you can focus on the rules before discovering the different clans and their abilities in later games.

Sequence of Play

On your turn:

Reveal a tile.
Swap this tile with another tile - it does not matter whether that other tile is face-down or face-up.

Important! If you swap with a face-down tile, it stays face-down.

How you swap depends on which kind of tile you revealed:

Prey (mice, pigeons, and flies)

Immediately swap the prey tile with one of its adjacent tiles (any of the up to 8 orthogonally or diagonally adjacent tiles).

Cat

Immediately swap the cat tile with a tile in the same row or column that is at most 2 tiles away.

Dog

Immediately swap the dog tile with a tile anywhere in the same row or column.

Note: Once you have revealed a dog, its tile may not be turned/rotated afterward. It keeps that orientation for the rest of the game! (Its printed arrows matter at game end - see Dogs Hunt.)

End of the Game

The game ends when you have revealed and swapped the last tile. Then carry out the following steps:

Dogs hunt: Turn face-down every cat that is adjacent to a dog tile, if that dog's printed arrows point at it.
Catch prey: For each prey tile, decide who may take it. Add up the values of the orthogonally adjacent cats belonging to each clan. The clan with the higher total takes the prey tile. In case of a tie, the prey tile stays where it is (neither clan takes it).
Score: Add up the point values of your prey tiles. However, if you hold both pigeons, multiply their values together instead of adding them - you get 10 points for them, not 7! The same applies to the flies: both flies together are worth 12 points, not 7.

Whoever has the most points wins the game! In case of a tie, whoever has more prey tiles wins. If that is also tied, you share the victory. (Unless someone is playing with the Superkittens clan. They are too sweet to lose! No, just kidding - even though they really are that sweet...)

End-of-Game Example

1. Dogs hunt:

The Gourmet cats with values 2 and 4 are chased off, as are Musketeer Cats 4 and 5.

2. Catch prey:

The Gourmets grab the mouse worth 3 and both pigeons.
The Musketeers get the mice worth 4, 5 (bottom right), and 6.
The remaining prey tiles stay where they are. Neither clan gets them.

3. Score: The Gourmets have 3 + (5 x 2) = 13 points. The Musketeer Cats have 4 + 5 + 6 = 15 points and win the game.

What if both clans could use their effects...

The Musketeer Cats' leader's ability lets them turn a dog tile. The middle tile is turned, and this saves their leader. The Gourmets' leader also counts for prey tiles that are diagonally adjacent to it.

1. Dogs hunt:

Gourmets 1, 2, and 4 are chased off, as is Musketeer Cat 4.

2. Catch prey:

The Gourmets grab mouse 3, both pigeons, and mouse 4 (from the middle row).
The Musketeer Cats catch the fly worth 4, mouse 5 (bottom right), and mouse 6.

3. Score: The Gourmets get 3 + (5 x 2) + 4 + 4 points from their clan effect (1 point per prey tile) = 21 points. This beats the Musketeer Cats, who reach 4 + 5 + 6 = 15 points.

The Cat Clans

Each clan has 2 effects:

Clan effect: Either a permanent effect (hourglass icon) that you can use during the game, OR an end-of-game effect (flag icon) that you only apply then.

Leader: The cat tile marked with a paw-print icon is the leader of the clan. Only this cat has an additional special effect.

Example card - Gourmets:

Clan effect: "You additionally get 1 point for each prey tile."
Leader ability: "Your leader also affects prey tiles that are diagonally adjacent."

Important! If the rulebook and a card's own rules contradict each other, the card takes precedence!

Important! Some clan effects and leader effects affect scoring. If both of you have effects that apply during scoring, the clan whose leader has the higher value carries out its effects first.

*A second example card, Chaos Cats, is shown in the source rulebook tucked at an angle behind the "Important!" note above, with part of its printed text physically cut off by the page edge. What is legible: its clan effect reads "...oskatzen haben denselben Wert, [je] davon, wie viele [...]er Hunde noch aufgedeckt sind:" followed by a table - 5th cat: value 2, 4th cat: value 4, 3rd cat: value 6, 2nd cat: value 8, 1st cat: value 10 (i.e. the clan's cat tiles all share one value that depends on how many dog tiles are still face-down). Its leader ability text is likewise clipped: "...rer 1 Taube oder Fliege erwischt, [...] die zweite dieser Art dazu, sofern [...] bei Spielende noch ausliegt" - i.e. something to do with the leader catching a pigeon or fly and also gaining its matching second tile if it is still on the board at game end. The clipped portions are missing from the source document itself, not from this transcription.

Glossary

Orthogonally adjacent: Directly touching, either above, below, to the right, or to the left.

Leader: A cat tile marked with a paw-print icon. This cat has an additional special effect.

Value: Every cat has a value printed on it. This value decides who wins each piece of prey.

Points: Prey tiles earn you points at the end of the game; so do some clan effects. Whoever has the most points after scoring wins the game.

Choosing Clans

Before the game, agree on a method for choosing clan cards:

Free choice: Decide who goes first. Take turns choosing 1 clan each.

Limited choice: Each draw 3 cards face-down and choose 1 of them.

Expert duel: Whoever goes first draws 3 cards face-down and picks 1 of them. The second player then chooses 1 clan from the 2 remaining cards. Play two games in a row this way, alternating who picks first. Whoever has the most points after both games wins.

Credits

The authors and editorial team thank all playtesters. Alexandre would especially like to thank Marie, Raphaël, Alix, Anja and Benoît for their support during the development of this game.