Discat Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Aim of the Game
• Setup
• Game Turn
  • 1. Play a Card or a Group of Cards
    • Cards and Constraints
  • How to Create a Group of Cards
  • The Group Bonus
  • Cannot Respect the Constraint
  • 2. Refill Your Hand of Cards
• End of the Game
• Scoring
• Components

Aim of the Game

In "Discat", players have to get as many cards as possible in their personal piles by discarding them from their hand by one or in groups. However cards in this pile not only bring victory points, but also set constraints to other players during the game.

Setup

1. Depending on the number of players, put the following cards in the box:

Players	Cards put away
2 players	Cards 51–90
3 players	Cards 61–90
4 players	Cards 71–90
5 players	Cards 81–90
6 players	Do not put away the cards

2. Shuffle the remaining cards and give each player 5 cards face down. This is the player's starting hand.
3. Form a draw pile with the remaining cards and lay it face down in the middle of the table.

A player who petted a cat last becomes the first player.

Game Turn

The first player starts the game and becomes the active player. Then the game proceeds in clockwise order.

During his turn, the player performs the following actions:

1. Plays a card or a group of cards
2. AND Refills his hand of cards.

1. Play a Card or a Group of Cards

At the beginning of the game, the first player places any one card face up in front of him in his personal pile and announces its number and the constraint aloud for the next player.

Example: Anna, the first player, lays out card 24 and says: "Less than twenty-four! Ben, the next player, must play a card from 01 to 23."

Cards and Constraints

• Each card has a unique number from 01 to 90. The number is indicated in the center and in the upper left corner of the card.
• The color of the lower part symbolizes the first digit, and the color of the upper part symbolizes the second digit.
• On each card, there are either white arrows pointing up or black arrows pointing down in the upper left corner. These arrows set the constraint. This means that the next player must play a card with either a higher value (if the arrows are up) or a lower one (if the arrows are down).

The next player(s) may also play one or several cards at the same time by combining them into a group. In this case, only the top card of the group must comply with the constraint, the rest may ignore it.

How to Create a Group of Cards

A group of cards consists of cards with the same first or second digit.

Examples:

Ben has the following cards in his hand: 22-27-37-41-47.

He can form the following groups:

• 41 + 47: The cards have the same first digit (4).
• 22 + 27: The cards have the same first digit (2).
• 37 + 27 + 47: The cards have the same second digit (7).

Ben decides to play a group of cards 22 and 27 and puts them in his personal pile. He puts card 22 on top because it meets the constraint (less than 24). On this card, the arrows point down, so Victoria, the third player, must play a card or a group of cards so that her top card is lower than 22.

The Group Bonus

If a player plays a group of 4 cards, he takes the bottom card from the played group, turns it 90° and places it face down next to his personal pile. This is his bonus pile.

At the end of the game, each card in it will bring 4 points.

IMPORTANT: if a player plays a group of 5 cards, he immediately wins the game!

Example: Victoria must play a card lower than 22. She has a group of cards with the same second digit "8". However, only one card respects the constraint, and Victoria puts this card on top: 28-38-58-18. Since this is a group of 4 cards, Victoria takes the bottom card (card 28) and puts it face down in her bonus pile — this card will bring her 4 bonus points. She discards all the other cards of the group into her personal pile with card 18 on top.

Cannot Respect the Constraint

If a player cannot respect the constraint, follow these steps:

1. The player who created the constraint receives a bonus by taking the top card from the draw pile and adding it to his hand. The bonus is applied only once for each created constraint. Note: That player may temporarily have more than 5 cards in his hand (see "Refill your hand of cards" on page 9).
2. Then the player who cannot respect the constraint passes: he turns the top card in his personal pile face down and may change any card from his hand. To do this, first he places the chosen card from his hand under the draw pile and then takes the top card from the draw pile into his hand. After that, the turn goes to the next player.

Example: The turn returns to Anna. She doesn't have a card lower than 18. Victoria takes 1 bonus card from the top of the draw pile into her hand. Then Anna turns the top card in her personal pile face down. She decides to change card 52: she puts this card under the draw pile and takes the top card. She gets card 48.

Example: Ben goes next. He still has to play a card lower than 18, respecting the constraint defined by Victoria. He can't do that, so he turns the top card in his personal pile face down, but decides not to change the card and just passes. (Victoria doesn't get another bonus.) Now it's Victoria's turn again. She turns the top card in her personal pile face down and can play any card or a group of cards.

If all the players have passed and the turn has returned to the player who created the constraint, then he must:

1. Turn the top card in his personal pile face down;
2. Play a card or a group of cards of his choice from his hand into his personal pile.

2. Refill Your Hand of Cards

If the active player has less than 5 cards in his hand, he draws cards from the draw pile so he has 5 cards in hand at the end of his turn.

In case the draw pile is empty, the player doesn't refill his hand.

End of the Game

The game ends in one of two cases:

1. When a player manages to play a group of 5 cards, he immediately wins the game!
2. When the draw pile AND any one of the players run out of cards, all other players play one last turn. After that, all players count their points to determine the winner.

Scoring

Count the points:

• Add 1 point for each card in your personal pile.
• Add 4 points for each card in your bonus pile.
• Each card left in your hand takes away 1 point from you.

The player with the most points wins the game. If there's a tie, the player with the most cards in the bonus pile wins. If there's still a tie, all tied players win.

Components

• 90 cards numbered from 01 to 90