Make a Mess: Holy Cat Edition Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Materiel
• Elements of the Game
• Set Up
• Win the Game
• Walkthrough
• Details of Action: Move the Parents Token
• Details of Action: Move the Cat Token
• Details of Action: Play a Prank Card (1/2)
• Details of Action: Play a Prank Card (2/2)
• Details of Action: Play a Bonus Card (1/2)
• Details of Action: Play a Bonus Card (2/2)
• Variations

Materiel

70 Prank cards 24 Bonus cards 1 quick-reference card 24 Paw-pawns 5 room tiles 2 characters tokens (Cat and Parents) 1 personalized six-sided dice 1 rule book

Elements of the Game

Prank cards

Prank cards are colored according to the room of the house where the player has to place it. They also have a figure in the top left corner and in the bottom right corner that shows the score of the Prank. A Prank has a score from 1 to 5.

Room tiles

The 5 rooms of the house are the Bedroom, the Living Room, the Office, the Bathroom and the Kitchen.

Bonus cards

There are 8 Bonus cards (in triplicate each) that can alter elements of the game immediately after the discard.

Example: the Bonus card "Run Forrest, Run!" allows the player to move the cat forward two tiles (instead of one usually).

There is also 1 Parents token, 1 Cat token and Responsability tokens cat-paw shaped.

Set Up

A player is selected at random. The player shuffles the Prank cards and deals some to each player, face down.

For a 2 players game, deal 10 Prank cards per player. For a 3 or 4 players game, deal 9 Prank cards per player. For a 5 or 6 players game, deal 8 Prank cards per player.

Next, the player shuffles the Bonus cards and deals 3 of them face down to each player. The 8 Prank cards and 3 Bonus cards form the Hand of each player.

The players can look at their Prank and Bonus cards but can't show them to the other players.

Each player also gets 4 Responsability tokens (the Paw Pawns) of the same color and place them in front of him/her.

Place the room tiles as shown opposite.

Win the Game

There are two ways to win the game:

1. Be the first player to discard all his/her Prank cards without getting caught by the Parents.
2. Be the last player standing in the game.

Walkthrough

The players owning the younger cat in real life play first. If no player owns a cat, the player who dealt the cards begins. The game continues clockwise. The game is divided in a series of turns in which the players execute 3 actions in the following order:

1. Move the Parents token
2. Move the Cat token
3. Play a Prank card

Once a player completed the 3 actions, the next player starts to play. A quick-reference card reminds these 3 actions.

At the beginning of the game, the first player rolls the dice and moves the Parents token in the room of the same color as shown on the dice side. The player moves the Cat token in the room of his/her choice.

Details of Action: Move the Parents Token

At the beginning of a turn, the player rolls the dice. The player moves the Parents in the corresponding room. (orange = Bedroom; red = Living Room; yellow = Office; light blue = Bathroom; dark blue = Kitchen).

If the dice lands on the blank side, the Parents don't move.

If the dice lands on the same color of the room where the Parents already are, the Parents don't move.

IMPORTANT:

If the Parents move in a room where a player's Responsability token is, this player is immediately eliminated from the game.

All the Prank cards in the rooms where the eliminated player placed a Responsability token must be removed.

Details of Action: Move the Cat Token

The player can move the Cat in a room adjacent to the room where it already is. The player can also decide not to move the Cat.

The player cannot move the Cat in the room where the Parents are.

Example:

In this example, the Cat is in the Kitchen. It can, during its moving phase, choose to go to the Bathroom or to the Office. It can also decide to stay in the Kitchen.

The Cat cannot go to the Bedroom as the room is not adjacent to the Kitchen.

The Cat cannot go to the Living Room as the Parents are in this room (binge-watching Cats of Thrones obviously).

Details of Action: Play a Prank Card (1/2)

The player plays a Prank card in the room where the Cat is (a dark blue Prank card can only be played in the Kitchen, etc.).

The total Prank score in a room is the total amount of the Prank cards figures played in this room.

If a player plays a Prank card that makes the total of the Prank score of a room equal or overtake 10, the player has to place a Responsability token in the corresponding room.

Example:

In the case opposite, the total Prank score in the Office is 9 (Prank 4 + Prank 2 + Prank 3 = total Prank score 9).

The next player who will play a Prank card in the Office will have to place a Responsability token in this room, as the total Prank score will be equal or above 10.

Details of Action: Play a Prank Card (2/2)

A player must play a Prank card during his turn. If he/she cannot do it, he/she has to place a Responsability token in the room where the Cat is, even if the total Prank score does not equal or exceed 10.

Example:

In the case opposite, the player can't move the Cat neither in the Office (as the room is not adjacent to the Bathroom) nor in the Kitchen (as the Parents are in the room). He cannot play any of his/her Prank cards.

The player has to move the Cat and place a Responsability token either in the Bathroom, or in the Bedroom, or in the Living Room.

In the situation where there already is a Responsability token on the tile:

• if it belongs to another player, the player who plays the last Prank card replaces the token by his/her token;
• if it belongs to the current player, he/she does not have to place a second Responsability token on the tile.

Details of Action: Play a Bonus Card (1/2)

At any time during the game, a player can play one or several Bonus cards. A Bonus card that has been played is discarded.

• Before the move of the Parents, discard this Bonus card to prevent the Parents token from moving.
• Before the move of the Cat, discard this Bonus card to move the Cat token forward two rooms.
• Discard this Bonus card to make a player (or yourself) draw a Prank card in the stack.
• After the move of the Parents, discard this Bonus card to roll the dice and move the Parents token a second time.

Details of Action: Play a Bonus Card (2/2)

• Before the move of the Parents, discard this Bonus card to make the current player (or yourself) skip his/her turn.
• When a Responsability token needs to be placed in a room, discard this Bonus card to avoid placing the Responsability token.
• Discard this Bonus card to cancel a Bonus played by another player.
• Discard this Bonus card to swap all your cards with another player (Bonus cards included).

Warning: there can't be any hand swap with a player that has only one Prank card left in his/her hand. (Printed above the swap card on the beta page.)

Variations

During the setup of the game, rooms of the house can be placed in a different way from the initial setup. Another room configuration can add difficulty to the game by complicating the moves of the Cat. Be creative and do as you wish!

Example 1 and Example 2 show alternative room layouts (diagrams in the source; not reproduced here).