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Official The Isle of Cats Rules
The Isle of Cats is a strategic card drafting and tile placement game where you play as citizens trying to rescue as many cats as possible from the Isle of Cats before Lord Vesh arrives. Here's how to play:
Objective
Save as many cats as possible before the evil Lord Vesh arrives!
Setup
1. Prepare the Board: Place the game board in the center of the playing area. Each player takes a player board representing their ship and places it next to the game board.
2. Sort the Cat Cards: Separate the Cat cards by family (identified by symbols) and shuffle each family deck individually. Create a face-down draw pile from these shuffled family decks.
3. Place Resources: Place the resource tokens (wood & cloth) within reach of all players.
4. Starting Resources: Each player receives a starting amount of fish tokens and a basket token.
5. Drafting Pool: Reveal a certain number of Cat cards (based on player count) face up in a row next to the draw pile. This is the drafting pool.
6. Choose First Player: Decide on a starting player (randomly or otherwise).
Gameplay
The game is played in rounds, with each round consisting of several phases:
Phase 1: Drafting Cats
Drafting Process: Players take turns choosing one Cat card face down from the drafting pool and placing it in front of themselves. Once everyone has drafted, all chosen cards are revealed simultaneously.
Fish Payment: Players secretly choose how many fish tokens they are willing to spend (0-all their fish) to lure the cats they drafted onto their ship. Place the chosen number of fish face down next to your drafted Cat card(s).
Fish Reveal: Simultaneously, everyone reveals the number of fish they offered for each Cat card they drafted. The player who offered the most fish for a particular Cat card claims that cat. In case of a tie, the player closest to the starting player (in turn order) wins the tie.
Phase 2: Placing Cats
Players take turns placing their rescued cats onto their ship boards. Here's what to consider:
Cat Family Restrictions: You can only place cats next to members of the same family on your ship board. Each ship board has designated areas for specific cat families.
Basket Requirement: Each cat must be placed on a basket token on your ship board. You can only have a limited number of baskets depending on the game version (usually 2-3).
Phase 3: Resolve Leftovers
Unclaimed Cat cards go to the discard pile.
Players who offered fish but didn't win any cats in the drafting phase get their offered fish tokens back.
Phase 4: Refresh Drafting Pool
Discard all drafted Cat cards (claimed and unclaimed) to the discard pile.
Refill the drafting pool from the draw pile to its original number of cards.
Phase 5: Special Actions (Optional)
Depending on the game version, players might have opportunities to take special actions like using resources to upgrade their ship (more baskets) or activating Lesson cards for bonus points.
Phase 6: End of Round Check
If the draw pile is empty, the game ends after this round.
If not, proceed to the next round, with the starting player position moving clockwise.
Winning the Game
The game ends when the draw pile is depleted or a specific number of rounds (based on player count) have been played. Players score points based on:
Cats Collected:Â Points are awarded based on the number and type of cats collected.
Completed Families:Â Bonus points are awarded for collecting all members of a cat family.
Lessons Completed:Â Points are earned for fulfilling the requirements of the Lesson cards you acquired during the game.
Treasures Collected:Â Points are awarded for the collected Treasure cards.
The player with the most points at the end of the game wins and is crowned the champion cat rescuer!
Notes/Variations
Solo Play:
Use the solo mode rules provided in the game for a single-player experience.
Advanced Rules:
Include advanced lesson cards and modules for more complexity.
The Isle of Cats offers a strategic and engaging gameplay experience for cat lovers and strategy enthusiasts alike. There might be slight variations in rules depending on the game version you have. Refer to the rulebook included in your game for specific details.