Manual — The Isle of Cats: Kittens + Beasts

LEARNING THE GAME

HOW TO PLAY VIDEO

If you prefer watching videos to reading
rulebooks, you can find a video explaining how to
play with this expansion on our website:
www.thecityofkings.com/theisleofcats/

COMPONENTS

20 kitten tiles
4 of each colour

I kitten board

I kitten bag

25 beast figures
5 of each figure

18 beast tiles

I beast bag

15 event tiles

I event bag

18 royal rats

32 one point tokens

32 five point tokens

10 semi-permanent
tokens

8 lesson cards

7 family cards

I updated scorepad

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MODULES
When reading these rules, please keep in mind
that all of the standard game rules still apply.
Unless specifically stated, none of these modules
change any existing rules, they only add new
rules on top.

The Isle of Cats Kittens + Beasts expansion consists
of 3 new expansion modules that can be played in
any combination with the standard game, as well as 1
new lesson module.

KITTENS MODULE
COMPLEXITY: EASY
The kittens module adds more importance to being
the fastest player each day and introduces new
options for players without adding much complexity
to the game.

BEASTS MODULE
COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM
The beasts module provides players with more
options at the start of the game while they are still
searching for lesson cards. Beasts have a small
ruleset and are easy to play with, but playing them
well can be very challenging.

EVENTS MODULE
COMPLEXITY: HARD
The events module should only be played by people
who are experienced with the normal game rules. It
adds new challenges, changes rules, and will have a
big impact on your strategies.

BEFORE YOUR FIRST GAME
The first time you play, you will need to do the
following 3 things:
1 Place the 20 kitten tiles in the green bag.
2 Place the 18 beast tiles in the red bag.
3 Place the 15 event tiles in the blue bag.

COMBINING MODULES
Each module changes the game in a different way,
and we recommend you try them one at a time to
familiarise yourself with how they work.

Once you are ready, you can try combining them all
together, but be warned; this will make the game a lot
more challenging.

LESSON MODULE I
In addition to the 3 new expansion modules, a new
lesson module has been included. You can find the
rules for lesson modules in The Isle of Cats rulebook
on page 23.

IDENTIFYING KITTENS
+ BEASTS CARDS
All of the cards included with the
Kittens + Beasts expansion show
the rat symbol in the bottom left
corner.

3

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KITTENS

STORY
The island cats may easily be tempted by a few
fish, but their kittens are much nimbler and easily
frightened. Only the fastest will be able to find
them before they vanish into the undergrowth.

Each day, the fastest player will now be able to rescue
kittens in addition to cats.

GLOBAL SETUP
In addition to the normal setup, the kittens module
requires 3 extra steps:

① Kitten board. Place the kitten board below the
island ( side up).

② Kitten bag. Place the green kitten bag
somewhere all players can reach.

③ Kitten tiles. Draw 4 tiles at random from the
kitten bag and place them on the kitten board.

GAMEPLAY
The kittens module comes into play during phase 4:
Rescuing Cats. All other phases of the game play as
normal.

PHASE 4: RESCUING CATS
When rescuing cats, the starting player will now have
the option to rescue kittens as well as cats. On each
of their turns, they may now choose to rescue kittens
instead of a cat. They may rescue 1 cat, 1 kitten, or 2
kittens each turn.

Only the fastest player each day will be able to rescue
kittens.

If all the cats have been rescued and only kittens remain, the fastest
player can continue to take turns rescuing kittens, but the other
players must pass.

Just like cats, to rescue a kitten, the player must have
a basket and enough fish to lure the kitten in.

Unlike cats, you may rescue up to 2 kittens with a
single basket, meaning for each basket, you may
choose to rescue 1 or 2 kittens.

If you choose to rescue 1 kitten, it will cost you 2
fish and 1 basket.

If you choose to rescue 2 kittens, it will cost you a
total of 5 fish and 1 basket.
The first kitten costs 2 fish, and the second kitten costs 3 fish.

You cannot rescue cats and kittens in the same
basket.

4

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REFILLING KITTENS
Kittens are immediately refilled any time a player has
used a basket to rescue kittens and has placed them
on their boat.

If a player chooses to rescue 2 kittens, then they must
select both kittens and place them both on their boat
before refilling the kitten board.

Kittens are not removed at the end of the day, and
once the kitten bag is empty, no more kittens will
come into play.

It is common for the kittens to run out during the
game.

PLACING KITTENS
Kittens are cats, they are just a little bit smaller! They
follow all the normal tile placement rules you would
use for a cat.

When rescuing 2 kittens, if you place your first kitten
tile on a treasure map icon, the colours match, and
you choose to take a common treasure, you must
place the common treasure on your boat before you
place the second kitten.

LESSON AND ANYTIME CARDS
When resolving lesson and anytime cards, you
should consider kittens to be cats.

EXAMPLE I
If you gain 1 fish per blue cat and you have 2 blue cats
and 1 blue kitten, you will gain 3 fish.

EXAMPLE 2
If you gain 1 point per orange cat touching the edge
of your boat and you have 3 orange cats and 2 orange
kittens touching the edge of your boat, you gain 5
points.

SCORING
There are no changes to how scoring works, and for
all purposes, you should treat each kitten as a cat.

EXAMPLE
If you have 1 blue kitten adjacent to 2 blue cats, then
you have a family of 3 blue cats.

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BEASTS

STORY
Tired of humanoids, the ancient beasts of the
world sought refuge at the Isle of Cats, where
they befriended the local felines and have lived in
peace for hundreds of years. Even now, with Vesh's
armies on their way, the beasts have no desire to
leave and will need their friends alongside them if
they are to be convinced to stay on your boat.

On the first day (and the first day only) players will
have the ability to rescue beasts from the island as
well as cats.

GLOBAL SETUP
In addition to the normal setup, the beasts module
requires 2 extra steps:
1 Beast bag. Place the red beast bag somewhere all
players can reach.
2 Beast figures. Place the beast figures by the
supply.

GAMEPLAY
The beasts module comes into play on day 1 only,
during the fill the fields step, and phase 4: Rescue
Cats. All other phases of the game play as normal.

DAY 1: FILL THE FIELDS
During the fill the fields step of the first day, you will
only put cats in the left (3 fish) field. In the right (5
fish) field, you will place beasts instead of cats.

PLAYERS | LEFT FIELD | RIGHT FIELD
------- | -------- | --------
2 | 4 cats | 4 beasts
3 | 6 cats | 6 beasts
4 | 8 cats | 8 beasts
5 | 10 cats | 10 beasts
6 | 12 cats | 12 beasts

DAY 1: PHASE 4: RESCUING CATS
In addition to rescuing cats, players may now choose
to use their baskets to rescue beasts during the rescue
phase of day 1.

Rescuing a beast follows all the normal rules of
rescuing a cat:
You may only rescue 1 beast or cat per turn, but
you may have as many turns as you wish.
You must use 1 basket and spend 5 fish for each
beast you want to rescue.

Beasts will always cost 5 fish to rescue, as they will
only ever be in the right field.

DAY 1: EMPTY THE FIELDS
At the end of day 1, any beasts that weren't rescued
from the fields flee and should be placed back in the
beast bag; they will not be needed again.

6

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PLACING BEASTS
Beasts follow all the standard tile placement rules.
You may place a beast over a treasure map, but you
will not gain a common treasure.

LESSON AND ANYTIME CARDS
There are no lesson or anytime cards that refer to
beasts, and beasts are not cats and do not have a
colour.

BEAST FRIENDSHIPS
Each beast tile has 3 or 4 cat icons on it, and these
represent which cat families the beast wishes to be
friends with.

To become friends, the square on the beast containing
the cat icon must be touching at least I cat of the
matching colour, and that cat must be part of a family.

EXAMPLE
1 The orange cat family is touching at least I side of the
orange cat icon on the beast. A friendship was formed, so a
beast figure was added, and it scores 5 points.

2 The red cat is touching the red cat icon, but it is not
part of a cat family, so no friendship was formed, and it
scores o points.

3 The blue cat family is touching the beast, but it is
not touching at least I side of the blue cat icon, so no
friendship was formed, and it scores o points.

4 The orange cat family is touching the orange cat icon
on the beast, but an orange cat friendship was already
formed 1 and each beast can only be friends with one
family of each cat colour. This means no friendship was
formed for these cats, and they score o points.

Once a family of cats is touching the matching icon
on a beast, they become friends, and you may take any
I of the beast figures and put it across the beast and
touching cat tiles to show the friendship is complete.

Each beast can only be friends with one family of each
cat colour. However, one cat family can be friends
with multiple beasts.

BEAST FIGURES
There are 5 different beast figures and you can
use whichever one you want to show your beast
friendships. The figure does not need to match the
beast or cat colour.

SCORING
You get 5 points for each completed friendship on
your beasts. Simply count the beast figures, and
multiply the total by 5.

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EVENTS

STORY
The drums of Vesh grow louder, the weather starts to change, and
chaos is unleashed across the island as cats and beasts scatter in all
directions. Every day there is change, and each morning, you will
need to adapt if you are to succeed in your mission.

Events vary between changing a rule and giving
players a new way to score points.

EVENT TILES
There are 2 types of event tiles: points and actions.

ACTION TILES
These provide a bonus, give a penalty, or change a
rule on a specific day.

Action tiles contain 2 things.
1 Top. Icons showing the
bonus, penalty, or rule change.
Sometimes these will include
purple numbers.
2 Bottom. 5 dots; you can use these
to identify action tiles from point
tiles.

POINT TILES
These give players a way of scoring extra points on a
specific day.

Point tiles contain 3 things.
1 Top. A blue or green number.
Blue numbers are points you can gain
once per game. Green numbers followed
by 2 dots are points you can gain multiple
times.
2 Middle. Icons showing how to
gain the points.
3 Bottom. 3 small numbers, used
for solo play only.

FACE-UP AND FACE-DOWN TILES
All event tiles are double sided:

FACE-UP SIDE
The face-up side contains a small red gem
in the top left corner.

FACE-DOWN SIDE
The face-down side has no red gem in the
top left corner.

B

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GLOBAL SETUP

In addition to the normal setup, the events module
requires 4 extra steps:

1 Face-up Event tiles. Draw 2 tiles at random
from the events bag and place them face-up (red
gem side) on the island board covering the 5 and
1 spaces of the day tracker.

2 Face-down Event tiles. Draw 3 tiles at random
from the events bag and place them face-down
on the island board covering the 4, 3, and 2
spaces of the day tracker.
The events bag will not be needed again and can be returned to
the box.

3 Supply. Place the royal rat figures, 1 point
tokens, and 5 point tokens by the supply.

4 Semi-permanent tokens. Place the semi-
permanent tokens next to the permanent basket
tokens.

LEFT FIELD

RIGHT FIELD

VESH'S BOAT

Instead of placing Vesh's boat on space 5 of the day
tracker, you will now place it on the event tile that
covers the 5 space.

You will still move Vesh's boat along 1 space at the
end of each day, but now it will travel over the event
tiles.

9

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GAMEPLAY
The events module comes into play during the fill the
fields stage of the game; all phases of the game play
as normal.
All the event tiles are described in detail on the last 2 pages of this
rulebook.

FILL THE FIELDS
Before the starting player fills the fields with new
cats, the event tile currently under Vesh's boat should
be resolved.
If an event tile rewards a player with points, then
they should immediately take that many point tokens
from the supply and place them next to their boat.
Point tokens are public for all players to see.

EXAMPLE I
It's day I and Vesh's boat is on the tile
to the left. Before filling the fields,
all players must take I royal rat and
place it on their boat. Once all players
have done this, the fields can be filled.

EXAMPLE 2
It's day 3 and Vesh's boat is on the tile
to the left. Before filling the fields,
all players gain 2 points for every
common treasure on their boat. Once
all players have taken their points,
the fields can be filled.

SCORING
All points for event tiles are gained during days 2, 3,
and 4; no extra points are awarded at the end of the
game.
There are no face-up event tiles that score points, so you will never
have point tiles on days I or 5.
During final scoring, players should add up the total
number of point tokens in front of them and add
them to the score sheet.

ROYAL RATS
Royal rats count as -3 points each at the end of the
game.

SEMI-PERMANENT TOKENS
Semi-permanent tokens can be gained from action
event tiles and give you either I additional basket or
add 4 boots to your total speed.

During phase 4: Rescuing Cats, when you place your
rescue cards face-down in front of you, you may
choose to place any number of semi-permanent
tokens you have on top of your cards.
You may keep a semi-permanent token for as many
days as you wish, but once it has been played, it must
be discarded at the end of the current day, even if you
end up not using it.

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ROYAL RATS
When you gain a royal rat, you must place it on your
boat following the normal tile placement rules, and a
royal rat does count as a tile on your boat.

Just like normal tiles, if a royal rat is the first tile you
place on your boat, it can go anywhere. If you already
have at least I tile on your boat, the royal rat must be
placed adjacent to an existing tile.

If the first thing you place on your boat is a royal rat, then your next
tile must be placed adjacent to the royal rat.
Royal rats can be placed on:
* Treasure maps, but you will not gain a common
treasure.
* Normal rats.
* Empty spaces.
Royal rats cannot be placed on:
* An existing tile.
* A space already containing a royal rat.
FILLING SPACE
Any squares on your boat that contain a royal rat
count as being filled.
* A room is not empty if it contains a royal rat.
* A room can be filled if it contains a royal rat.
* A rat that is covered by a royal rat counts as being
covered and is no longer visible.
LESSON AND ANYTIME CARDS
When resolving lesson cards, anytime cards, and
event tiles, you should consider royal rats to be both
rats and tiles that fill spaces.

EXAMPLE I
If you gain 10 points if you have no visible rats on
your boat and you have a royal rat on your boat, you
will gain o points.

EXAMPLE 2
If you gain 2 points per rat on your boat, you will gain
2 points for each royal rat on your boat, in addition to
any normal rats.

REMOVING ROYAL RATS
At any point in the game, if Vesh's boat is not on the
hand of Vesh symbol, you may feed fish to a cat to
remove a royal rat from your boat and return it to the
supply. It does not have to be your turn.
To feed a cat, the cat must be adjacent to the royal rat,
and you must discard I fish.
If you do not have I fish to discard or you do not have
a cat adjacent to the royal rat, it cannot be removed.
SCORING
At the end of the game, any royal rats that are on
your boat are worth -3 points. These points should be
recorded within the rat section of the scorepad.

II

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SOLO

This section highlights all of the changes to the rules
that are required to play with only a single player.
You should only read these rules once you have
learned the normal rules for the expansion. All of the
normal rules apply unless stated otherwise.

DIFFICULTY

The kitten and beast modules add more decisions to
the solo game but do not drastically alter the game's
difficulty.

The events module favours your sister and increases
the difficulty of the game. If you currently play
the game using advanced solo lesson cards, it is
recommended you use 1-2 fewer advanced solo
lesson cards the first time you use events.

KITTENS

If you are the fastest player, you may choose to rescue
kittens using the normal rules.

If your sister is the fastest player, then all 4 kittens
should be removed from the kitten board and
immediately replaced with 4 new kittens.

SCORING

As kittens count as cats, each kitten on your boat
counts towards your sister's solo colour cards.
There are no special scoring rules for your sister.

BEASTS

When you fill the fields during the first day, you
should place 4 beasts, instead of 4 cats, in the
right field. Number them 5 - 8, just like you would
normally do with the cats.

LEFT FIELD
1 2 3 4

RIGHT FIELD
5 6 7 8

For the purposes of resolving your sister's solo basket
card, the keyword cat should be read as cat or beast.
If the card says cat 5 and there is a beast in position 5,
then your sister removes the beast rather than a cat.

SCORING

During final scoring, your sister will gain 3 points for
every cat icon on each beast on your boat.

It does not matter which cats are next to the beast;
she will always score either 9 or 12 points per beast
on your boat.

12

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EVENTS
ACTION TILES
You should resolve action tiles as normal; they do not
impact your sister.
POINT TILES
Point tiles also follow the same rules for the player,
but your sister will score a predetermined number of
points depending on the position of the tile on the
day tracker.
Point tiles will never be placed in the first or last
spaces of the day tracker.
For position 2, your sister earns points equal to the
first number on the tile.
For position 3, your sister earns points equal to the
second number on the tile.
For position 4, your sister earns points equal to the
third number on the tile.
SCORING
Your sister will score points for the visible point tiles
on the island board following the point tile rules
above.
She will not gain any other points from events.

EXAMPLE
Your sister scores:
1 0 points for the first tile.
2 8 points, the 1st number shown on the second tile.
3 5 points, the 2nd number shown on the third tile.
4 8 points, the 3rd number shown on the fourth tile.
5 0 points for the last tile.
Giving her a total of 21 points.

13

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FAQ

Clarifications for "Move up to 3 cats to different fields."
You cannot use this card to move beasts; beasts are not cats.
You cannot use this card to move cats onto the kitten board or kittens into the fields. Kittens
do not go in fields, and cats do not go on the kitten board.

Clarifications for "When you next rescue 1 cat, you may rescue 2 cats instead."
You cannot use this card when rescuing beasts; beasts are not cats.
You can use this card when rescuing kittens. The valid combinations are:

* I cat, then I or 2 kittens
* I or 2 kittens, then I cat
* I or 2 kittens, then I or 2 kittens.

Clarifications for "Take 4 tiles from the bag at random and immediately place them in
the fields."
You cannot place the cats drawn from the bag onto the kitten board.

Can I play Kittens + Beasts with more than 4 players?
Yes. The Kittens + Beasts expansion is fully compatible with the Late Arrivals (5 and 6
player) expansion and no additional rules are needed.

CREDITS

Game Design
Frank West

Assistant Producer
Sara Jorge

World Building
Frank West
Sara Jorge

Artwork
Dragolisco

Art Direction
Frank West

Graphic Design
Frank West
With contributions
from Alec Jackson

Writing
Frank West

Editing
Tom Fox
Carrie Ott

14

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r+r+r+r/r+r+r+
EVENT TILES
ACTION TILES

All players must take a royal rat and
immediately place it on their boat.

On this day, during the fishing phase,
all players will receive 2 extra fish,
giving them 22 fish instead of 20.

On this day, during the fishing phase,
all players will receive 2 fewer fish,
giving them 18 fish instead of 20.

In turn order, all players must take
a semi-permanent token. You must
decide now whether you want 1
basket or 4 boots and place the tile
in front of you showing your chosen
side.

POINT TILES

Gain 1 point for every 2 visible rats on
your boat. You do not get any points
for having 1 rat, and 13 rats would
score 6 points.

On this day, the order of phase 4 and
phase 5 is switched. You will play rare
find cards before you adjust the turn
order and rescue cats.

On this day, any time a player receives
a common treasure by covering a
treasure map, they may take an extra
common treasure. It may be the same
or a different common treasure.

On this day, any time a player receives
a common treasure by covering a treasure map, they may
take a rare treasure instead.

On this day, when you fill the left
field, you will draw 1 fewer cat per
player from the bag. This means the
left field will have 1 cat per player,
and the right field will have 2 cats per
player.

Gain 1 point for every visible rat on
your boat that is touching at least
one cat. Each visible rat can score a
maximum of 1 point.

15

r+r+r+r/r+r+r+

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Choose a row on your boat and gain 1
point for every cat that has at least 1
square in the chosen row.

Choose a column on your boat and
gain 2 points for every cat that has at
least 1 square in the chosen column.

Choose a cat on your boat and gain 2
points for every cat that is touching
your chosen cat.

Gain 2 points for every lonely cat on
your boat.
A lonely cat is a cat not touching any other cats
of the same colour.

Gain 2 points for every empty room
on your boat.
An empty room contains no tiles of any type.

Gain 2 points for every room on your
boat that is full.
A full room is one that has no visible squares.

Gain 2 points for every common
treasure on your boat.

Gain 2 points for every rare treasure
on your boat.

Gain 3 points for every visible
treasure map on your boat.

Gain 5 points if both captain's rooms
( ) are empty.
An empty room contains no tiles of any type.

Gain 5 points if you have no common
or rare treasures on your boat.

16

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