Wizard Kittens
Wizard Kittens Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 Cat Character Mats
- 4 Spell Tokens
- 48 Ritual Component Cards (12 Artifacts, 12 Familiars, 12 Potions, 12 Scrolls)
- 4 Chaos Cat Cards
- 1 Caught Card
- 6 New Rule Cards
- 4 Chaos Mode Cards
- 3 Large Chapter Cards
- 12 Chapter Cards
- 12 Curse Cards
- 12 Extra Credit Cards
Advanced rules! You'll see advanced rules boxes like this throughout the text. They're explained more later on, but if this is your first time playing, ignore them!
Set-Up (3-4 Players)
Ritual Circle Set-Up
Each player should:
- Take one character cat mat and matching token (make sure the kitten is on the basic side, with SUMMON, SLING, SWAT, and SWITCH, unless you're playing the advanced game!).
- Take one set of chapter cards (one copy each of chapter 1-3) and place them near each other (chapter 3 placed face down).
- Take one random extra credit card and keep it secret.
- Set aside the Chapter 3 Chaos Cat and Caught cards from the component deck, and shuffle the rest of the ritual components.
- Randomly deal one ritual component card face-up in Chapter 1 and one in Chapter 2 inside your ritual circle.
This is a ritual circle. Ritual circles are your play area, and in particular, all the cards in your chapters are in your ritual circle.
Component Deck Set-Up
- With the remaining ritual components cards, make 2 (face down) piles of ten cards and 1 (face down) pile of all the remaining 20-22 cards.
- Shuffle the Caught card into one 10-card pile.
- Shuffle the Chaos Cat card into the pile of 20-22 cards and stack it ON TOP of the 10-card pile with the Caught card.
- Stack the final 10-card pile ON TOP of the deck and place where all players can reach.
Curse Deck Set-Up
- Separate the 3 curse types by difficulty: Easy (teal), Medium (orange), and Hard (red).
- Randomly draw two of each curse type and remove the rest from play.
- Shuffle the selected curse cards together to create this game's curse deck.
- Place the large chapter cards near the center of the table in a column (Chapter 3 face down).
- Place one curse card face-up next to each open (face-up) chapter in the center of the table.
The starting player is the human who has most recently fed a kitty (or pet a kitty, or seen a kitty)!
Advanced: Shuffle up the New Rule cards so you can draw one when necessary!
Player Turn
- Draw one ritual component and place it in your ritual circle. You can place it next to any of your opened (face-up) chapter cards.
- Then choose which spell to cast:
- Summon: draw an additional card and place it in your ritual circle, in any opened chapter
- Sling: move one card from your ritual circle to another kitten's circle, chapter of your choice
- Swat: discard two of the cards in your ritual circle (from any chapters)
- Switch: swap the locations of any two cards, including two within your own ritual circle
- After you cast a spell, place your spell token so that it covers that spell's space on your character mat. You cannot cast a spell that is covered by your spell token.
- Finally, collect any curses you have defeated, and then your turn is over!
Example: If your spell marker is on SUMMON at the start of your turn, you must cast one of the other spells.
Defeating Curses
You defeat a curse when you have all of the ritual components depicted on the curse card in the matching chapter at the end of your turn. The order of the components never matters—just the quantities. If you have the right cards to defeat a curse, you must defeat that curse. But be warned! You'll suffer a -1 point penalty for each additional card in your chapter that was not used to defeat that curse.
Example: This player will defeat the Snail Curse at the end of their turn with the Artifact, Artifact, and Scroll.
Example: This player will defeat the Snail Curse with the Artifact, Artifact, and Scroll. They will keep the Potion and Familiar with the defeated Curse—those excess cards are worth -1 point each at the end of the game.
When you defeat a curse card, discard all of the needed ritual components from the matching chapter. Then, take the curse card and any extra ritual components from that chapter into your score pile.
Finally, draw a new curse from the curse deck to fill in the empty chapter in the center of the table. If there are no curses left in the curse deck, skip this step.
Chaos Cat
Chaos Cat is hidden in the middle of the ritual component deck. When someone draws the Chaos Cat, flip up the Chapter 3 slot in all kittens' ritual circles and in the center of the table. When you open up Chapter 3 in the center of the table, draw a new curse from the curse deck to fill that space (unless the curse deck is empty).
Advanced: When someone draws the Chaos Cat, ALSO add a New Rule card! Follow the instructions on the New Rule card. Sometimes, something happens immediately, and there is no other effect. Other times, the Chaos Cat will add a new rule that lasts for the rest of the game.
(Example New Rule card text: "When a curse is defeated, the kitten to the RIGHT collects one of the ritual components (their choice) before they are discarded.")
End of Game
The game can end in one of two ways:
- All 6 Curses have been defeated!
- Someone draws Professor Whispurr from the components deck, and the kittens are caught!
Scoring
When the game comes to an end, all kittens should score their points.
If you defeat all six curses, add up:
- Points from all your defeated curses
- Bonus points from defeated curses
- -1 point penalties from extra cards used to defeat curses
- Bonus points earned from your Extra Credit card
If you are caught, add up:
- Points from all your defeated curses
- Bonus points from defeated curses
- -1 point penalties from extra cards used to defeat curses
Example: This player defeated the Vampire Curse during the game, but had two extra cards when they did. At the end of the game, those cards count as -1 points, so the Vampire Curse is worth 6 points total.
Example: This player defeated the Breadhead Curse during the game. At the end of the game, they have two Artifacts in Chapter One of their ritual circle. Each Artifact is worth +1 point because of the Breadhead Curse, so they get +2 points, for a total of 7.
Example: If the game ends with all the curses defeated, then players get to score Extra Credit! In this player's case, they have three of a kind in their ritual circle at the end of the game, so they score +5 points.
Winning the Game
If All Curses Are Defeated
- The kitten with the most points wins! Remember, points come from defeated Curse cards, including their special effects and negative points from extra components, and from extra credit cards.
- If there is a tie in points, whoever has defeated the most curses wins! If there is STILL a tie, the kitten with the fewest ritual components left in their ritual circle wins! If there is EVEN STILL a tie, then the tied kitties both win!
Example: This player defeated the Catnap Curse and the Scaredycat Curse, earning them 6 + 6 = 12 points. They also had two extra Potions when they defeated the Scaredycat Curse, costing them -2 points.
(Continued) The Scaredycat Curse also grants +1 point for each Scroll left in the player's ritual circle at the end of the game. The player has 1 Scroll left for +1 point.
(Continued) Finally, the player's Extra Credit grants +1 point for each Potion left in their ritual circle, for another +2 points, and a total of 13 points.
If Professor Whispurr Catches You
- Tally up points, but DO NOT COUNT EXTRA CREDIT CARDS!
- All kittens with 10+ points lose—they're obviously guilty, and Professor Whispurr isn't going to let them get away!
- The remaining kittens (with 9 or fewer points) count up the ritual components in their ritual circle. The kitten with the fewest ritual components wins—they have so few magical components, they're clearly innocent!
- If there is a tie for fewest ritual components, the remaining kitten with the most points (again, do not count extra credit) wins! If there is STILL a tie, the remaining kitten with the most defeated curses wins!
Example: This player defeated the Copycat and Snail Curses, for a total of 10 points. They don't have any Potions in their ritual circle, so they score no additional points from the Copycat Curse. They have one extra card from defeating the Snail Curse, costing them -1 point and bringing their score to 9 points—just enough not to be caught by Professor Whispurr!
Example: For the Cleanest Paws Clause, a player needs the fewest cards left in their ritual circle to win the game! This player has 2 cards left—a small number...but maybe not the smallest!
Advanced Rules
After you've played a few times, you may want to add in some of these advanced rules to spice up your games of Wizard Kittens!
Chaos Cat
As noted in the Chaos Cat section of the rules, you can play with New Rules! Every time Chaos Cat comes out of the component deck, instead of just opening up the Chapter 3 cards, you draw the top card from the New Rules deck. This will either add a new rule that lasts until the game ends, or it will have an immediate effect on the game. Either way, it will produce chaos!
Advanced Kittens
On the back of each kitten card is an advanced version of the same kitty. Advanced kittens have three of the base spells, and one special spell all their own! Here are the advanced kitten abilities for the kittens in this core set:
- OVERFLOW: (Replaces Summon) Draw two cards, keep one, and give the other to another kitty.
- AVALANCHE: (Replaces Sling) Sling a card from your ritual circle and the top card of the deck at another kitty.
- DISMISS: (Replaces Swat) Remove all cards of a single type from a single chapter in your ritual circle.
- YOINK: (Replaces Switch) Discard a card from your ritual circle to take a card from any ritual circle and put it anywhere in your ritual circle.
Chaos Mode
If you're looking to add more uncertainty, more excitement, and more chaos (cat) to your game of Wizard Kittens, look no further than Chaos Mode! We don't recommend Chaos Mode until you have played the game a couple times. It's not usable in the two-player game, but it works for three or four players (or even five players with the Magical Monsters expansion). Chaos Mode changes certain set-up elements:
- Do not use any standard New Rule cards. Only use the four special Chaos Mode cards. Shuffle all four and choose one at random to use for your game. Set the other three aside.
- During set-up, before building the ritual component deck, set aside all four Chaos Cat cards.
- Add between two and four of these Chaos Cats to your game. Make sure one of them is the Chaos Cat that opens Chapter 3! Two Chaos Cats will only add a bit more randomness to the game—four will create an ever-shifting experience.
- When you set up the ritual component deck, shuffle all of your chosen Chaos Cats into the middle part of the deck.
After set up, play proceeds like normal until you draw your first Chaos Cat. Then, flip over the Chaos Mode card to find out what happens! For that first Chaos Cat, follow the instructions labeled "1". Then, when you draw a second Chaos Cat, follow the instructions labeled "2". When you draw a third Chaos Cat, follow the instructions labeled "3", and so on. Unless the Escalation card specifically says so, drawing more Chaos Cats and following the instructions further down the Escalation card DOES NOT cancel any rules from earlier sections of the card.
Important note: Unlock Chapter 3 when the Chapter 3 Chaos Cat is revealed.
Example: After drawing the first Chaos Cat, we flip over the Chaos Mode card to see what happens!
(Example Chaos Mode card, "TUMBLING DISCARDS!")
- NEW RULE: When a curse is defeated, each player takes a card from the discard pile.
- IMMEDIATELY, each player discards a card of their choice.
- IMMEDIATELY, each player discards a card from another player's circle.
- IMMEDIATELY, each player discards all their cards in any single chapter.
Adding a New Rule! New Rules are in effect until the end of the game unless stated otherwise.
This time, there is an immediate effect! Immediate effects are completed on the spot and will not be activated again.
Another immediate effect! The New Rule from 1 is still in effect, though, so we may get some cards back from the discard pile—if we can defeat a curse! Also, we unlock Chapter 3 with this Chaos Cat!
2 Player Variant
The base rules for Wizard Kittens are designed for 3-4 players, but you can play with 2 players by using a few small modifications!
- Chapter 3 cards are removed from play—they aren't used at all.
- Only use the Chaos Cat New Rules that feature paws on either side of the "New Rule" title—those are the only ones suited to 2-player games.
- At the end of the game, if Professor Whispurr catches the kittens, any kitten with 10 or more points automatically loses like normal—but also, any kitten with 5 or fewer points loses too. The only way to win a 2 player game when Professor Whispurr catches the kittens is to both have 6-9 points from curse cards, and to have the fewest components left in your circle!
(Example New Rule cards: "When a curse is defeated, the kitten to the RIGHT collects one of the ritual components (their choice) before they are discarded." has no pawprints next to its title; DO NOT use it in 2-player games. "IMMEDIATELY each kitten must collect one ritual component (their choice) from the discard pile and SLING it." has pawprints next to its title; use it in 2-player games.)