How to Play

There is one Cat and any number of Owners, players take turns being the Cat. The Cat will create Messages using the Patterns in their paw (hand). Every wrong guess requires the Owners to remove a Pattern from the Message and place it in the Mishap pile decreasing their score. All players win or lose together.

Set-Up

Shuffle the Pattern cards and place them face down in an accessible place for all players.

Decide what difficulty to play:

If using the Eco Edition, go to the CommuniCat Needs Generator webpage on a tablet, laptop or mobile device (a bigger screen is better). Select your difficulty at the top of the page.

If using the physical version, shuffle all the Need cards and place them face down in an accessible place for all players.

Place 9 Nine Lives Tokens in easy reach of all players.

Place the Score Track to one side and place one of the score markers on 0.

The person who last stroked a cat is the "Cat" first.

Start of Round

1. The Cat draws until they have a paw (hand) of 7 Pattern cards.

   • If there are none left the game is over and the players have lost!

2. The Cat reveals the Needs.

   1. If using the Eco Version, Press "New Needs" on the webpage. Then, while the other players look away, Press "Show Cat Need". One of the cards will highlight, this is the message you must communicate to the owners. Press "Show Cat Needs" again to unhighlight it. Tip! If you get the same Need in a row then just repeat this step!

   2. If using the physical version: The Cat player draws Need cards according to the game difficulty. The Cat then takes one at random and looks at it (do not show it to the other players), this is the message you must communicate. The Cat shuffles these Needs cards and lays them out face up on the table between the Cat and the Owners.

   • If there are none left, reshuffle the discarded Needs and make a new draw pile.

Once the Cat knows the Need and all Needs are revealed to the players, start the timer!

Timed Stage

1. Cat's Turn: The Cat adds 2 Patterns to the Message in any way they like.

2. The Owners Turn:

   1. Owners make a guess (they may discuss ideas amongst themselves)

      1. If the Owners Guess is correct, stop the timer and Resolve the round

      2. If the Owners Guess is incorrect, the owners remove a card from the Message and place it in the mishap pile.

   2. Owners Pass. If they do this, the Cat discards a Pattern from their paw (hand) into the mishap pile.

3. The Cat then adds another Pattern to the Message from their paw (hand) and Owners take their turn again.

Play repeats until the Owners guess correctly, the Cat runs out of Patterns or the Timer Runs out.

Nine Lives

During the timed stage, the Owners may use one or more of their Nine Lives to perform the following actions at any time.

• Confidence (once per guess)

  • Discard a token and make a guess. If correct you gain an additional point. Otherwise treat it as an incorrect guess.

• Ignorance

  • Place at least one token on the Mishap Pile.

• Clarity

  • Discard a token - the Cat plays a Pattern from their paw (hand).

Resolving the Round

1. Score Points:

   • If the Owners guessed correctly, gain 2 Points.
   • If the Cat ran out of patterns or the Timer ran out, deduct 1 Point.

2. Deduct Points for each card in the Mishap pile. This number is reduced by 1 for each Nine Lives Token on the Mishap Pile.

3. Discard the Message, Mishap Pile and all Needs into their relevant discard piles.

4. The Player to the left of the Cat becomes the new cat - pass your hand of patterns to them. Then start a new round.

Ending the Game

The game ends either when the players reach 10 points or when the Patterns deck runs out. If the Players reach 10 points they have won! If the Patterns deck runs out they lose.

2 Player Cooperative Variant

Instead of passing your hand, each Cat has a paw (hand) of Patterns in front of them that get refilled as normal on the start of their turn.

Two teams consisting of a Cat and Owners vs a Cat and Owners. The paw (hand) of cards are placed face up in front of both Cats and these are shared. The Cats take it in turns playing a Pattern one by one until a team of Owners have guessed the Need correctly.

Only one team of Cat and Owners can win by being the first to reach 10 points.

Set-Up

Each team selects one player to be the Cat and chooses to be Blue (Paw) or Orange (Scratch).

Shuffle the Pattern cards and place them face down in an accessible place for both Cats.

Decide what difficulty to play:

If using the Eco Edition, go to the CommuniCat Needs Generator webpage on a tablet, laptop or mobile device (a bigger screen is better). Select your difficulty at the top of the page.

If using the physical version, shuffle all the Needs cards and place them face down in an accessible place for both Cats.

Place the Score Track to one side and place both of the score markers on 0.

The team with the person who last stroked a cat goes first.

Start of Round

1. The Cats draw until they have a shared paw (hand) of 10 Pattern cards.

   • Cards in their personal reserve do not count towards this limit.

2. The Cat reveals the Needs.

   • If using the Eco Version, Press "New Needs" on the webpage. Then, while the other players look away, Press "Show Cat Needs". One or two of the cards will highlight, this is the message each Cat must communicate to their owners. Press "Show Cat Needs" again to unhighlight them. Tip! If you get the same Need in a row then just repeat this step!

   • If using the physical version: One Cat player draws Need cards according to the game difficulty. One Cat takes one at random and looks at it (do not show it to the other players), this is the message you must communicate. The Cat shuffles these Needs cards and the other Cat takes one at random (this way, the Need can be the same for both cats!). Then the cards are shuffled and laid out face up on the table between the Cats and the Owners.

     • If there are none left, reshuffle the discarded Needs and make a new draw pile.

3. The Cats start the message.

   • The first cat chooses a card from their shared hand or personal reserve and places it on the table to start their message. The next cat does the same for their message. Switch which Cat goes first each round.

Once the Cats have each added a card to their message, start the timer!

Timed Stage

1. Cat's Turn:The Cat adds a Pattern to their Message in any way they like.

2. The Owners Turn:

   1. Owners make a guess (they may discuss ideas amongst themselves)

      • If the Owners Guess is correct, stop the timer and Resolve the round now.

      • If the Owners Guess is incorrect, the owners remove a pattern from their message and give it to the opponents Cat. This card is added to their reserve.

   2. Owners Pass.

3. Play then passes to the next team, who restart the timer and repeat steps 1 & 2.

Play repeats until a group of Owners guess correctly or the Cats shared hand runs out of cards.

Reserve

If the Owners guess incorrectly, they remove a pattern from their message and give it to the opponents Cat. This card is added to their reserve. The reserve is a selection of cards that only that Cat may use and does not count towards the 10-card hand limit.

Resolving The Round

1. Score Points:

   • If a team of Owners guessed correctly, they gain 1 Point.

   • If the Cats shared hand ran out of patterns no-one is awarded any points.

2. Discard the Message and all Needs into their relevant discard piles.

3. The team who went first this round goes second next round.

Ending the Game

The game ends when a team reaches 10 points, they are the winners!