Cat Horror Festival
Cat Horror Festival Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 50 Film cards (film reels)
- 5 double-sided Objective cards (10 possible objectives)
- 12 Objective tokens
Objective
Complete all the film reels required by the ushers. There are 7 different objectives, of which 3 will be played in a game. Each objective card shows how many different films are needed and how many reels (identical cards) of each one are required. For example, an usher with the poster "4x2" means that you need to gather 4 different films, and each of them must have 2 reels (2 identical cards).
Objective cards have two sides. There are 3 cards that can only be used with 3 or 4 players (they have 3 cat paw prints in the lower right corner). The rest are for 2 players (they can be used on either of their sides).
Setup
Each player receives 3 objective tokens of one colour.
On one side of the table, place 3 objective cards at random:
- For 3 or 4 players, select the 3 objective cards with the 3 paw prints in the lower right corner.
- For 2 players, shuffle the 5 objective cards with 2 paw prints in the lower right corner and choose 3 at random.
Shuffle the film deck, and deal 3 face-down cards to each player to take into their hand. Each player's hand is private.
In the centre of the table, place the rest of the deck face down. Draw 4 cards from the deck and place them face up to the right of the deck, forming the Film Zone. Draw another 2 cards from the deck and stack them face up on the opposite side, forming the Discard Pile.
Game Turn
The player who most recently saw a black cat is the starting player. Starting with this player and going clockwise, the players take their turns until one of them completes an objective. On their turn, a player must perform 2 actions:
- Draw a card from the deck.
- Play a card from their hand to the Film Zone.
If at any point in the game there are no cards left in the deck, take all the cards from the Discard Pile, shuffle them, and form a new Film deck and Discard Pile again, with the first two cards placed face up.
Cards have two information zones: Exchange and Ability. When playing a card, the player must state whether they use it for an Exchange or to use its Ability.
Exchange
Most cards can be exchanged for a specific film (indicated in the upper left corner of the card) as long as that film is available in the Film Zone. If so, we leave our card in this zone and take the indicated card into our hand.
Some cards have a question mark symbol: in this case we can exchange them for any other card in the Film Zone.
Abilities
- Draw a card from the deck (in addition to the draw at the start of the turn). (green "+1" icon)
- Send all the cards in the Film Zone to the Discard Pile. A new Film Zone will be created with this card and 3 more from the deck. (purple icon)
- Acquire a card from the Discard Pile (the pile may be consulted at any time). (light green icon)
- Discard a card from our hand by sending it to the Discard Pile. (brown icon)
The card of the twin kittens is unique in the deck. It serves to complete the objective of 1x7 and is the only case in which two actions are played with one card: it is exchanged for any other card in the Film Zone and performs the action of sending a card from the hand to the Discard Pile.
Completing an Objective
To complete an objective, at the end of their turn the player must reveal all the cards in their hand, and these must match the usher's request on the objective card without any extra film. For example, to fulfil the objective "2x3" the player should have only 6 cards in their hand, 3 of one film and 3 of another.
In addition, objectives must always be met with different films (6 identical cards would not serve to make 2 groups of 3 films each, because they are not different films).
When a player completes an objective, they place one of their tokens on the completed objective card (which can no longer be completed again). All cards are then returned, and a new round begins, shuffling and setting up a new Deck, Film Zone, Discard Pile, and dealing 3 cards to each player. The setup illustration on the sheet is labelled: objectives (the 3 objective cards), discard pile, film deck, and film zone.