Fat Cats Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Placing a Food Bowl
  • Revealing the Food Bowls
  • Advancing
  • Next Round
  • Beware of Ghosts
  • Silver Tray
  • No Food Left?
  • Who Has Won?

Components

• 1 game board
• 6 hungry cats and tomcats (game pieces)
• 30 food cards
• 24 food bowls
• 6 silver trays
• 1 rules sheet

Goal of the Game

Whoever eats the tastiest meals so quickly and in such quantity that they are the first to reach the cushion with the crown wins the game.

Setup

Before the first game, carefully punch out the 6 game pieces and the silver trays from the die-cut sheet. Each game piece is inserted into a coloured plastic base.

Each player takes:

• the cat that suits them best
• four food bowls matching the base colour of their game piece
• one silver tray

There are two kinds of food cards:

• 9 cards with a blue background
• 21 cards with a white background, some of which have a ghost on the back

Both kinds are shuffled separately so that the ghosts cannot be seen. Then all the cards are placed next to the game board as one stack: the 21 white cards at the bottom and the 9 blue cards on top. (Exception: with three or four players only 5 blue cards are needed; the remaining four are removed from the game.)

All cards lie with the treats facing up. The top four cards of the stack are placed face up on spaces A to D of the game board. The meals are now served and the cats' hearts beat faster.

Each player places their cat on the starting space: the green carpet in the corner of the game board.

Playing the Game

Placing a Food Bowl

All players simultaneously and secretly choose one of the four food cards lying on the table. To do so, they take the food bowl with the matching letter and place it face down (that is, with the letter facing down) on any blue serving plate on the game board. (Naturally, all the other food bowls must also be kept face down, so that no one can see which food bowl was placed!)

Revealing the Food Bowls

As soon as everyone has placed their bowl, the food bowls are turned over and moved from the serving plates onto the food cards with the same letter. This may happen at the same time. Now it becomes clear who has thrown themselves on a meal alone and who has to share a food card with others.

Only those whose food bowl stands alone on a food card get something to eat in this round. They take the food card and their food bowl from the game board.

Whoever has to share a meal with other players goes away empty-handed this round. They receive no card, and their food bowl stays on the food card.

Advancing

All players who won a food card in this round now move their cats forward. The player who is furthest behind always starts. (In the opening round, the player with the smallest belly girth starts.) The others follow in the order of their placement: the cat closest to the goal therefore moves last.

The number of treats on the card determines how many cushions the cats may advance (in the direction of the arrows). Occupied cushions are skipped and not counted!

Example (printed with pictures of a cake and three chickens):

• 1 cake = 1 cushion
• 3 chickens = 3 cushions

After the move, the player places their food card on a discard pile.

Whoever did not receive any food in the previous round can now choose only between 3 food cards, because they have only 3 food bowls available (their 4th bowl is still standing on a food card). Only when every player has once again placed a food bowl on a serving plate are the food bowls from the previous round taken back by their owners.

That is all. After that, play continues as in the previous round. The sequence is therefore always:

1. Place a food bowl face down on a serving plate
2. If applicable, take the old food bowl off a food card
3. Turn the food bowl over and place it on a food card
4. If applicable, take the card and food bowl from the game board
5. Refill the food cards on the game board

Next Round

Now the empty spaces on the table are refilled with food cards from the stack. As soon as everything is served, the next round begins.

Beware of Ghosts

(The printed heading reads "Vorsicht Geistert", which is evidently a typo for "Vorsicht Geister!" — "Beware of ghosts!")

Some white food cards hide a ghost on the back. Whoever receives a white food card must turn it over. If a ghost is depicted there, their cat must move backwards as many spaces as there are treats depicted on the card. Here too, occupied cushions are skipped and do not count.

Fortunately, one is not helplessly at the mercy of the ghosts if one owns a silver tray.

Silver Tray

With a silver tray, a player can, if they wish, prevent their own game piece from having to move backwards. They place the ghost card on the tray and pass both to any other player. Then they move that player's cat back the corresponding number of cushions.

The other player cannot defend against this action. They must accept that their game piece is moved back and take the ghost card on the tray, even if they themselves already own a tray.

After being played, the ghost card is placed on the discard pile. The tray stays with its new owner and can later be used by them in the same way.

No Food Left?

When the stack of food cards is used up, the discarded white cards are shuffled and placed as a new stack.

The blue food cards do not return to the game.

Who Has Won?

As soon as a player's cat reaches the cushion with the crown (any excess points are lost), that player has won and the game ends.

Cats and tomcats that have not yet quite had their fill may then demand a rematch.