Kittens in Space Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Stack Kittens
    • Looping Rule
    • Playing a Card with a "Cat Bell" Symbol
  • Draw a Kitten and Pass
• Free Adoption Card
• Round End
• Game End
• Solo Mode
  • Solo Mode Setup
  • Solo How to Play
    • Player's Turn
    • Alastair's Turn
    • Empty Draw Pile
  • Scoring Points
  • Solo Game End
  • Difficulty

Components

• 40 Kitten (Numeric) Cards
• 6 Kitten Carrier Score Cards
• 6 Free Adoption Cards
• 1 Save 'Em (Adopt/Rescue) Card
• 1 "Closed" Card for solo mode
• 1 Rulebook

Setup

1. Randomly draw and place four Kitten Cards in the middle of the play space in a row. Place the Save 'Em Card horizontally on the 3rd stack from the left; the starting orientation does not matter. The stack with the Save 'Em Card cannot have cards played on it.
2. Give each player a Kitten Carrier Card and a Free Adoption Card.
3. Shuffle the Kitten Cards and deal a hand to each player. Hand size is based on player count.

Player Count	Kitten Cards
2	10
3	8
4	6
5 or 6	5

4. Place the remaining Kitten Cards face down as a Draw Pile within reach of all players.
5. The first player is the last person who rescued or adopted a cat from the Moon (i.e., if you've played this game before). Otherwise, the first player is the last person who touched a cat!

How to Play

Starting with the first player, players take turns in clockwise order.

On your turn, you must perform only one of the following actions:

• Stack Kittens, OR
• Draw a Kitten and Pass.

Stack Kittens

You may play one card from your hand onto each of the Stacks on the same side of the Save 'Em Card, if it meets the placement requirements listed below:

• Cards cannot be played onto the Stack covered by the Save 'Em Card.
• The card's value must be 1 or 2 above or below the value of the current card on top of the Stack, depending on whether the Stack is to the left or right of the Save 'Em Card.

Rescue Side: The card must be 1 or 2 higher than the top number on the Stack.

Adopt Side: The card must be 1 or 2 lower than the top number on the Stack.

If your card meets the above requirements, you may place it on the Stack, making it the new value of the Stack.

Looping Rule

The numbers loop around from 0 to 9 and 9 to 0. You can play a 0 as a "higher" card than 9, and 9 as a "lower" card than 0.

In this example, you can play:

• 0 or 9 on the 1
• 9 or 8 on the 0
• 0 or 1 on the 9

After you play your cards, you must move the Save 'Em Card and place it on one of the Stacks you just played a Kitten Card onto.

Playing a Card with a "Cat Bell" Symbol

If you play a Kitten Card with the Cat Bell Symbol on it, you must flip the Save 'Em Card (thus reversing the Adopt and Rescue Sides) and then place it on a Stack you played a card on.

Draw a Kitten and Pass

Draw a Kitten Card from the Draw Pile and add it to your hand.

If the Draw Pile is empty, collect all the Kitten cards from all the Stacks, except for the top card of each Stack, and shuffle the cards to form a new Draw Pile.

After you've taken your action, the next player to the left takes their turn.

Free Adoption Card

All players start the round with one Free Adoption Card. This card is not a part of your hand, but is instead laid on the table in front of you.

If you have three or more cards in your hand, you may use your action to perform a special Stacking Kitten action with the Free Adoption Card.

• Flip your Free Adoption Card over to indicate that you used it for this Round.
• You may then play 1 Kitten Card, of any number, from your hand on top of one of the Stacks of your choice, without following the 1 or 2 higher/lower number rule.
• Your Free Adoption Card will be returned at the start of the next round.

Round End

Play continues in clockwise order, with players stacking and drawing Kitten Cards as they choose.

When a player plays the last Kitten Card from their hand, the round ends, and that player earns one point.

Note: When you have one card left, you can meow.

Use the Kitten Carrier Score Card to keep track of your score:

• Rotate the Kitten Carrier Score Card so your current score is facing you on the card.
• If you have zero points, keep the Kitten Carrier Score Card with the point side face down.

If a player reaches the winning score (see Game End below), that player has won the game!

If no one has reached the winning score, start a new Round in the following manner: Shuffle all the cards, follow the Setup instructions and play with the following changes:

• The player to the right of the prior round's winner chooses which Stack starts with the Save 'Em Card on it. (This choice can be made after the player looks at their new hand).
• The player to the left of the prior round's winner is the new First Player.

Game End

The game ends when a player reaches 3 points; that player is the winner and Kitten Adoption Champion!

Note: You can play faster games by changing the number of points a player needs to win to 1, 2, or 4 points, depending on the length of game you'd like to play.

Solo Mode

Alastair Barkley, the Moon's crankiest cat-hater and director of the Lunar Department of Gravitational Zoning (LDoGZ), is determined to shut down your adoption center for good. It's up to you to stop him — rescue and adopt as many space kittens as possible before the shelter loses its zoning license and closes its doors for good!

In Kittens in Space: Solo Mode, Alastair will attempt to overcrowd your shelters and get you in trouble with LDoGZ. Score points by adopting kittens and pushing Stack values down to 0 — all while Alastair tries to bring them up to a value of 9. Using a shared hand mechanic, you'll race to outmaneuver Alastair and score 3 points before he does.

Solo Mode Setup

1. Prepare the Stacks – Take all the 5-value cards and lay them face-up in a line to form the Stacks. Place the "Closed" card on one of the two middle Stacks — this location starts closed, and cards cannot be played on it.
2. Deal the Shared Hand – Shuffle the other number cards and deal 6 cards face-up to form the Shared Hand.
3. Create Draw Pile – The remaining cards form a Draw Pile.
4. Score Cards – Place the Score Cards (points side down) on either side of the Shared Hand. The Score Card on the left is the Player's, and the Score Card on the right is for Alastair. The other Score Cards may be set aside, as they are not needed in Solo Mode.
5. Free Adoption Card – Place the Free Adoption Card face up above the Player's Score Card.

Note: The Cat Bell Symbol is NOT used in Solo Mode. Ignore it during both Setup and gameplay.

Solo How to Play

The Player always goes first. Turns alternate between the Player and Alastair. Each step of the turn must be followed in the exact order they are listed.

The order of the cards in the Shared Hand should always stay in the order they were dealt. The only exception to this is the use of the Free Adoption Card (see Player's Turn).

If there are any gaps in the Shared Hand during play, slide cards from left to right to close those gaps.

Player's Turn

1. Refill new cards one at a time to the left side of the Shared Hand until there are 6 cards total.
2. Play cards from the Shared Hand onto any of the open Stacks. Cards must be 1 or 2 increments (higher or lower) away from the top value of the Stack, and only 1 card may be played on each Stack.
3. Move the Closed Card on top of one of the Stacks that was just played onto.
4. Once per round, the player may use the Free Adoption Card to swap the positions of any two cards in the Shared Hand. The player must flip the Free Adoption Card face down to signify that it has been used this round.
5. Discard the card farthest to the right in the Shared Hand.

Note: On very rare occasions, the player may not be able to play any card. In this case, skip steps 1–3.

Alastair's Turn

Refill new cards one at a time to the left side of the Shared Hand until there are 6 cards total.

Alastair plays cards in two phases, in the following order. If Alastair is unable to complete a phase, skip it.

1. Offense Phase: Alastair will play the highest possible card on the highest possible stack.
2. Defense Phase: Alastair will play the highest possible card on the lowest possible stack.

Examples (as shown on the rulebook pages):

• Offense Phase: Alastair will choose the 9 (instead of the 8) to play on the 7 Stack.
• Defense Phase: Alastair will choose the 3 (instead of the 2) to play on the 1 Stack.

At the end of Alistair's turn, discard the card farthest to the right of the Shared Hand.

Empty Draw Pile

If the Draw Pile ever runs out, shuffle all the cards in the Discard Pile and place them face-down to create a new Draw Pile.

Scoring Points

• When a 9 is placed on any stack, Alastair scores one point.
• When a 0 is placed on any stack, the Player scores one point. The Player may also un-exhaust their Free Adoption Card if it is exhausted after the point is scored.
• If a Stack is scored on, immediately discard all cards on that Stack except for the 5 card at the bottom. I.e., the stack is reset to the starting value.

Note: Don't forget to move the Closed Card after playing on a Stack, even if that Stack was reset to the starting value.

Solo Game End

If the Player scores their 3rd point, they win! All the kittens are now in loving homes.

If Alastair scores his 3rd point, he wins. It's a sad day for the kittens. Perhaps you should try again.

Note: For a shorter or longer game, adjust the number of points needed to win the game.

Difficulty

• Easy — Use the "4" cards as the starting value of each Stack.
• Normal — Use the "5" cards as the starting value of each Stack.
• Difficult — Use the "6" cards as the starting value of each Stack.