Cat Blues: The Big Gig
Cat Blues: The Big Gig Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 97 Musician Cards (15 each of values 1–5 and Jokers, 7 each of value 7's)
- 4 Tip Case Cards
- 24 Quartet Tokens (4 each of values 1–5 and Jokers)
- 4 Big Tips
- 60 Mouse Tips (20 of each of three sets)
Setup
- To the side of the play area, create three piles of Mouse Tip tokens, separated by set. Move one pile of Mouse Tip tokens to the center of the play area (20 tokens of the same color — the order the piles are used does not matter).
- Create 6 stacks of Quartet Tokens separated by their value (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and Joker). Place the Big Tips next to these stacks.
- Give each player a Tip Case card.
- Return all value-7 cards to the box. (These are not used in the standard game. See the Serenading Sevens variant.)
- Shuffle the Musician Cards thoroughly, deal 6 cards face-down to each player, and place the remaining cards face-down as a deck in the center of the play area.
- Players take their cards into their hands.
- The player who most recently listened to jazz is the bandleader for the first round of the first game. In games two and three, the player with the most Mouse Tips is the bandleader for the first round.
Overview of a Game
A game is played across several rounds. During each round, the bandleader turns up cards from the face-down deck. The players then bid using cards in their hands for the cards turned up. The player who wins the bid receives the turned-up cards and may meld quartets and possibly collect Mouse Tips and Quartet Tokens for doing so. A game ends when a player takes the last Mouse Tip from the center or when the face-down deck is exhausted. Then, the player who relied too much on the joker cats will lose five Mouse Tips.
Playing a Round
1. Turn up cards
The bandleader turns over one card after another from the face-down deck, placing them in a row so that they can be seen by everyone. They continue until a card value is turned up a second time or a joker is revealed. If a joker is revealed, each player draws a card from the face-down deck. The turned-up cards are now auctioned.
2. Bid
The turned-up cards are auctioned as a group. The player on the bandleader's left bids first, and the bidding continues clockwise. Each new bid must be higher than the preceding bid. A player may only bid cards that they hold in their hand. If a player does not wish to, or cannot, make a higher bid, they must pass. Once a player has passed, they may not rejoin the bidding in the current round. Players who have passed should place their hands face down to show they cannot bid.
Each turn, a player may bid in one of two possible ways:
Bidding different values
This bid is one or more cards with different values. The player simply announces the number of cards in their bid. To make a bid of different values, all cards must have different values.
Example: "I bid three cards", would be invalid if the player had two 1's and a 2.
Bidding equal values
This bid is one or more cards of the same value. The player bids the number of cards and the value.
Example: "I bid three 2's."
A bid of equal values is always higher than a bid with the same number of cards of different values.
Example: The current bid is "three cards". The next player also wishes to bid different values, so they must bid (at least) "four cards". Alternatively, a bid of "three 1's" would be higher.
A bid is always higher if it consists of more cards than the preceding bid. If a player bids the same number of cards than the preceding bid, they must bid a higher value.
Example: Two 2's is a higher bid than one 5. Three 2's is a higher bid than three 1's.
The bidding ends when all players but one have passed. This player shows everyone the cards they bid and places them on the face-up discard pile. They then take the turned-up cards and add them to their hand. This player becomes the bandleader for the next round.
If no player bids for the turned-up cards, they are placed on the face-up discard pile, and a new round immediately begins with the same bandleader.
3. Meld quartets (optional)
If a player won the bid, they may now meld one or more quartets. A quartet is four cards of the same value. When melding, the player may only use cards from their hand, including those just taken. For each quartet melded, the player receives a number of Mouse Tips equal to the card value. Collected Mouse Tips are placed onto the player's Tip Case card. The player also collects the matching Quartet Token if they do not have that Token yet. Each player may only have one Quartet Token of each kind. A player may meld more than one quartet in their turn. The melded cards are placed face-up on the discard pile.
Example: Garfield melds two quartets — four 3's and four 4's. He receives 3 + 4 = 7 Mouse Tips. He also collects the 4 Quartet Token (but not the 3 Token since he already has that Token).
Although a player may use the cards they take to meld a quartet right away, they may prefer to save them for later bidding rounds. Lower-value cards are often useful for bidding, whereas higher-value cards make strong quartets. Waiting too long can be dangerous, though, as Mouse Tips are often taken very quickly. Remember, you can only meld when you win a bid.
4. Replenish to four cards (optional)
To recap, a player who wins a bid first places the cards they bid on the discard pile, then adds the turned-up cards to their hand, and then may meld quartets. After all of this, if the player ends their turn with fewer than four cards in their hand, then they may draw cards from the deck to replenish their hand to four cards. This concludes the player's turn. As the new bandleader, they then begin the next round.
Note: The player will usually replenish to four cards, and may even use this rule as a play strategy, unless they want to avoid the risk of drawing unwanted joker cards close to the game end.
The Jokers
Jokers may be used for bidding and for melding quartets. Jokers may be used as a substitute for any value in the deck (1-5, or 7's if they are in play). A bid or a quartet may contain as many jokers as a player wishes. When a player uses joker cards (whether in bids or quartets), they are not placed in the discard pile but remain displayed face-up in front of the player. These jokers may not be used again.
The player with the most jokers at the end of a game loses five Mouse Tips.
However, when a player melds a quartet of four jokers, they will discard these four jokers to the face-up discard pile and collect a J Quartet Token (if they do not have one yet). This is the only way a player can discard jokers. A quartet of four jokers can never be used to obtain Mouse Tips (it can only be disposed of).
Example: Crookshanks presents an all-joker quartet. She places the four jokers in the discard pile and collects a J Quartet Token. She does not receive any Mouse Tips.
End of a Game
A game ends immediately when one of the following events happen:
- The last card is taken or turned up from the face-down deck. In this case, any Mouse Tips remaining in the center are discarded to the box.
- The last Mouse Tip in the center is claimed. In this case, if there are not enough Mouse Tips remaining to pay for the finishing player's quartet, they only receive what is left.
All players add the jokers in their hands to those displayed before them. The player with the most jokers loses five Mouse Tips of any color from their tip case card. If several players tie for the highest number of jokers, they each lose five Mouse Tips. Players cannot lose more Mouse Tips than they have.
If this was the first or second game, play proceeds to the next game. Shuffle all of the Musician Cards and deal 6 to each player. Place the remaining cards and one available pile of 20 Mouse Tip tokens in the center of the play area. Players keep their Mouse Tips and Quartet Tokens earned from previous games but can potentially lose Mouse Tips if they use too many jokers in a later game. The player with the most Mouse Tips becomes the bandleader for the first round. If there is a tie for most Mouse Tips, then the tied player with the most Quartet Tokens becomes the bandleader. If there is still a tie, then randomly choose the bandleader between the tied players.
If this was the third game, proceed to Final Scoring.
Final Scoring
All players who possess the most Quartet Tokens receive a Big Tip, which is worth 10 Mouse Tips. Players then tally their total tips (including the 10-value Big Tip, if earned). The player with the most tips is the winner. In the case of a tie for most tips, the victory is shared between the tied players. Or the first person to serenade a cat with a saxophone wins the tie, your call.
Serenading Sevens Expansion
During Initial Setup, shuffle the value-7 cards into the deck of Musician Cards. These value-7 cards can be used for bidding and melding. A melded quartet of value 7 yields 7 Mouse Tips, but no Quartet Token is awarded.
One-Game Variant
If a shorter session is desired, then we recommend this 15-minute, one-game variant. Simply play through one game (competing only for 20 Mouse Tips of the same color). Quartet Tokens and Big Tips should be left in the box; they are not used for this variant. The Serenading Sevens Expansion is optional.
Note from the Publisher (Nick Murray)
Cat Blues (also known as Katzenjammer Blues) is a classic card game by revered designer Reiner Knizia that was first published in 1998. More recently, it has been hard to track down a copy due to it being out of print or only available in foreign languages overseas. But after hunting down a Japanese version and printing off the English rules, I fell in love with this design straight from the first play.
To my dismay, I learned that some people did not enjoy a strong first impression of the game like I did. But within these weaker first impressions, I noticed patterns:
- Some people only tried the game at 5 or 6 players, which is not an ideal fit for this experience. In fact, Reiner informed me that the original design was only meant for 2-4 players (the option for 5-6 players was later added during the publication process).
- The gameplay strongly rewarded experienced players and severely punished inexperienced players. For example, it was possible for an unknowing player to meld quartets too early and effectively starve their hand of bidding options for the rest of the game.
If a player encountered either (or both) of the above experiences, then it's likely that they never returned to the game to discover its richly rewarding depths. So, when we decided to bring Cat Blues back to market, we saw the opportunity to help this design reach its full potential and make a consistently strong first impression.
The additions and changes to the original game (all designed, developed, tested, and approved by Reiner Knizia) include the following:
- The game has returned to its original intended range of 2-4 players.
- Players can replenish their hands up to four cards after melding quartets — creating interesting new tactics while preventing overly punishing rookie mistakes.
- Each session takes place across three combined games (instead of one), allowing players to enjoy evolving strategies while competing for new Quartet Tokens and valuable Big Tips.
- A new Serenading Sevens expansion has been introduced that will no doubt have players swooning for their lucrative bidding and melding power.
- Each card value features 15 cool cats illustrated by the talented Alisha Giroux, meaning that every quartet you meld will boast a uniquely charming combination of musicians (unless you desperately drag more than one erratic Joker on stage).
In collaboration with Reiner Knizia, we proudly present the latest member of our Crown Jewel Selection — Cat Blues: The Big Gig. We hope you enjoy this jammin' card game.
Credits
- Design by Reiner Knizia
- Artwork by Alisha Giroux
- Edited by Scott Darrington
- Graphic Design by Brandt Brinkerhoff
- Published by Nick Murray & Kyle Spackman
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© Dr. Reiner Knizia, 2024. All rights reserved. © Bitewing Games LLC, 2024. All rights reserved.