The Isle of Cats

Prepare the table

Use standard multiplayer mode, not the separate family mode. Give each player a random standard-side boat and one permanent basket. Set the island day marker to five and choose turn order with one colored cat figure per player. Shuffle Discovery cards. Bag all ordinary cat tiles and rare treasures, keeping six Oshax and common treasure outside. Supply five of each common-treasure shape with two players, eight with three or eleven with four. Fish and unused baskets form supplies.

At each day's start draw cats into two fields, two cats per player in each field. Set any rare treasures drawn beside the island and keep drawing until both cat quotas are met.

Play a turn

Everyone gains twenty fish. Deal seven Discovery cards each. Simultaneously keep two and pass the rest, repeat twice, then keep the final single card. Pass left on days one, three and five and right on days two and four. From your seven drafted cards buy any you wish by paying their printed fish costs; discard the others face down. Bought cards join any retained hand.

Play all blue lessons now: personal lessons face down in a countable row, public lessons face up and read aloud, choosing any required color immediately. Next secretly commit any green rescue cards, then reveal together. Total their speed and reorder players fastest first, retaining relative order on ties.

In that new order, each player rescues one cat or passes, cycling until everyone passes or fields empty. Each cat needs a basket plus three fish in the left field or five in the right. Flip a permanent basket when used; discard a card basket; combine two broken baskets for one use. Used or unused green cards committed this day are discarded when rescue ends.

Place every acquired tile immediately. The first may go anywhere inside your boat; later tiles must touch an existing tile along an edge. Rotate or flip freely, align to squares and never overlap or extend outside. Do not acquire a tile that cannot fit. Covering a colored treasure map with a matching-color cat immediately grants one available common treasure to place. Other coverings grant no map reward.

During rare finds, take turns playing one brown Oshax or yellow treasure card and placing its tile, until everyone passes. An Oshax permanently joins a color you choose; mark it with that color's cat figure. Purple anytime cards may be played at their stated time, resolving fully; simultaneous attempts follow current player order. Keep unplayed cards and unspent fish for later days.

At day end box unrescued field cats, retain unclaimed treasures, advance the day marker and refresh permanent baskets. Refill fields and repeat until five days are complete.

Finish and score

Score each connected family of same-color cat tiles separately: three cats earn eight, four eleven, five fifteen, six twenty, seven twenty-five, and each further cat adds five. One or two connected cats score no family points. Add three per rare treasure and fulfilled personal/public lesson points. Lose one per visible rat and five per incompletely covered room; a filled room has no visible grid square. Common treasures have no direct points. Highest total wins, then most fish; share any further tie.

Host the first game

The Reddit discussion splits between people who enjoy the standard card draft and those who prefer the family's simpler tile focus. Make this session's standard mode explicit before setup. Explain the fish budget before drafting: buying attractive cards can leave too little to rescue the cats they were meant to support.

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Ideas & Twists

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