How to Play The Isle of Cats: Kittens + Beasts

Objective of the Game

In The Isle of Cats: Kittens + Beasts, players are on a mission to rescue cats and now, with this expansion, also nimble kittens and ancient beasts from the island before Vesh's armies arrive. You'll be luring these creatures onto your boat, arranging them strategically to form families, cover rats, and complete lesson objectives. The goal is to score the most points by the end of the game through various means, including rescued animals, completed friendships with beasts, and fulfilling event conditions, while avoiding penalties from royal rats.

Preparation (Setup)

When setting up The Isle of Cats: Kittens + Beasts, remember that all standard game rules still apply unless specifically stated otherwise by the modules. Here's how to prepare the game, module by module:

Before Your First Game

1. Place the 20 kitten tiles in the green kitten bag.
2. Place the 18 beast tiles in the red beast bag.
3. Place the 15 event tiles in the blue event bag.

Kittens Module 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.

Beasts Module 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.

Events Module 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.

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.

Fluxo do Jogo

The game progresses over several days, with specific modules introducing changes to certain phases. All standard game phases play as normal unless explicitly altered by a module.

Kittens Module Gameplay

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

Beasts Module 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 (Beasts Module)

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. The number of cats and beasts depends on the number of players:

• 2 Players: 4 cats in the left field, 4 beasts in the right field.
• 3 Players: 6 cats in the left field, 6 beasts in the right field.
• 4 Players: 8 cats in the left field, 8 beasts in the right field.
• 5 Players: 10 cats in the left field, 10 beasts in the right field.
• 6 Players: 12 cats in the left field, 12 beasts in the right field.

Day 1: Empty the Fields (Beasts Module)

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.

Events Module Gameplay

The events module comes into play during the fill the fields stage of the game; all phases of the game play as normal.

Fill the Fields (Events Module)

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, 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.

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.

Ações e Como Jogar

This section details the new actions and rules introduced by the expansion modules.

Kittens Module: Rescuing Kittens

During phase 4: Rescuing Cats, the starting player now has the option to rescue kittens as well as cats. On each of their turns, they may 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.
• To rescue a kitten, the player must have a basket and enough fish.
• Unlike cats, you may rescue up to 2 kittens with a single basket.
  • 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.

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.

Placing Kittens

Kittens are cats, just 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 colors 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 (Kittens)

When resolving lesson and anytime cards, you should consider kittens to be cats.

Beasts Module: Rescuing Beasts

On day 1, during phase 4: Rescuing Cats, players may now choose to use their baskets to rescue beasts. 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.

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 (Beasts)

There are no lesson or anytime cards that refer to beasts, and beasts are not cats and do not have a color.

Beast Friendships

Each beast tile has 3 or 4 cat icons on it, representing 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 1 cat of the matching color, and that cat must be part of a family.

• Once a family of cats is touching the matching icon on a beast, they become friends, and you may take any 1 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 color. However, one cat family can be friends with multiple beasts.
• 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 color.

Events Module: Event Tiles and Royal Rats

Action Tiles

These provide a bonus, give a penalty, or change a rule on a specific day. They contain icons showing the bonus, penalty, or rule change (sometimes with purple numbers) and 5 dots at the bottom to identify them from point 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.
• 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.

Point Tiles

These give players a way of scoring extra points on a specific day. They contain a blue or green number at the top (blue for once per game, green for multiple times), icons showing how to gain points in the middle, and 3 small numbers at the bottom for solo play only.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 color.)
• 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.

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. If a royal rat is the first tile you place on your boat, it can go anywhere. If you already have at least 1 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, or empty spaces. Royal rats cannot be placed on an existing tile or a space already containing a royal rat.

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.

When resolving lesson cards, anytime cards, and event tiles, you should consider royal rats to be both rats and tiles that fill spaces.

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 1 fish. If you do not have 1 fish to discard or you do not have a cat adjacent to the royal rat, it cannot be removed.

Semi-Permanent Tokens

Semi-permanent tokens can be gained from action event tiles and give you either 1 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.

Fim de Jogo e Pontuação

The game ends after the final day, and scoring proceeds as normal, with additions from the expansion modules.

Kittens Module Scoring

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

Beasts Module Scoring

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

Events Module 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 1 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 Scoring

At the end of the game, any royal rats that are on your boat are worth -3 points each. These points should be recorded within the rat section of the scorepad.

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