Pack the Essentials Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Overview
  • How to Win
• Playing the Game
  • 1. Select Draft Order
  • 2. Take Your Bonuses and Draft Your Tile
  • Tile Placement
  • 3. End of Round Reset
• Scoring
  • Scoring Example
• Solo Mode

Contents

• 4 Suitcase Boards
• 1 Game Board
• 1 First Player Marker
• 1 Drawstring Bag
• 4 Cat Pawns
• 4 Cat Lady Tokens
• 28 Pack Rat Tokens
• 12 Pom-pom Tokens
• 1 Round Marker
• 1 Reference Sheet and 1 Dry-Erase Marker
• 32 Underwear Tiles (8 of each color)
• 40 Sock Tiles (10 of each color)
• 76 Accessory Tiles (19 of each color)
• 4 Reference Cards
• 12 To-Do List Cards
• 14 Cat Lady Cards

Tile colors: Peach, Banana, Lavender, Mint.

Setup

A. Place the Game Board on the table with the 2+ players side face up. (It has "2+" in the bottom right corner.)

B. Place the Round Marker on the "1" space at the top of the Game Board.

C. Separate the To-Do List Cards by group number (#1, #2, #3). Shuffle and randomly select 1 card from each group and place each on its corresponding space on the Game Board. Put the unused To-Do Lists back in the box.

D. Whoever most recently packed a bag goes first. Give them the First Player Marker. In a solo game, you always go first.

E. Each player gets a Cat Pawn and its matching Suitcase Board (Player Board), one Pack Rat, and a Reference Card. Together players decide which side of the Suitcases to play. One side is identical for all players while the other side has a different layout for each player, indicated by shapes on the top of the Suitcase.

F. Place the supply of Pack Rat Tokens and Pom-pom Tokens near the Game Board.

G. Place the supply of Underwear and Sock Tiles near the game board. Separate them by color and shape, with the item side face up and the cat side face down.

H. The remaining tiles are Accessory Tiles with an item on one side (shirts, shoes, etc.) and a cat on the other. Put these tiles in the Drawstring Bag and shake it. Draw four random Accessory Tiles and place them item side face up in the 4 Tile spaces on the Game Board.

I. Place the Cat Lady Tokens near the Game Board in a 1-3 player game. In a 4 player game, return them to the box.

J. Place the Reference Sheet and Dry-Erase Marker to the side of the Game Board. (The end-of-game Score Sheet is on the back of the Reference Sheet.)

K. The Cat Lady Cards are only used in solo games. See "Solo Mode" below for additional information.

Overview

Pack the Essentials is played over 12 rounds. Each round, players select their draft order, receive draft bonuses, draft tiles, and place their new tiles on their Suitcase Board. At the end of the 12th round, scores are tallied and whoever has the highest score wins!

How to Win

In Pack the Essentials, you win by having the most points at the end of the game. There are 3 ways to score points:

1. Connect tiles of matching colors, trying to create larger groups to score more points.
2. Pack Cats into your Suitcase.
3. Complete To-Do List goals.

Playing the Game

1. Select Draft Order

At the start of each round, beginning with the player with the First Player Marker and going clockwise, each player selects their draft order by placing their Cat Pawn onto the Game Board in an empty draft position of their choice. In 1-3 player games, fill each extra draft space with a random face down Cat Lady Token.

Having the First Player Marker does not mean you pick the first tile! It means you pick your draft order first. Tiles are then drafted based on draft order.

2. Take Your Bonuses and Draft Your Tile

Beginning with the first player and going clockwise, each player completes all of the following steps before the next player proceeds to do the same:

1. Retrieve the draft bonuses indicated on your draft order position (Underwear, Socks, Pack Rats and/or Pom-poms). Place these bonuses next to your Suitcase. The Underwear and Sock Tiles are limited, so get them before they run out!
2. Draft an available Accessory Tile from one of the 4 Tile spaces on the Game Board.
3. Retrieve your Cat Pawn and end your turn.
4. Once you've passed your turn to the next player, you place the tile(s) you gained this round.

Whenever a Cat Lady takes their turn, flip over their token to reveal a bold number matching a Tile space on the Game Board. Remove the Accessory Tile from that space and return it to the box. If that tile has already been drafted, follow the numbers along the bottom of the token from left to right until a tile is removed. Then this Cat Lady's turn is done.

Example: (A) The first Cat Lady Token is flipped and drafts 1st removing Tile 2 from the game by returning it to the box. (B) Leyla drafts 2nd, gaining a Sock Tile of her choosing. She drafts Tile 4 and places both of her new tiles item side up. (C) The second Cat Lady Token is flipped. Tile 4 has already been taken, so the Cat Lady removes Tile 1 instead (as indicated on the Cat Lady Token). (D) Nick receives a Pom-pom, a Pack Rat, and the remaining tile on the Game Board.

Tile Placement

Tiles are most often placed item side up. Tiles can be rotated and placed anywhere in the Suitcase that the player would like provided that they:

• Do not extend beyond the edge of the 8x12 grid on the Suitcase.
• Do not overlap another tile.
• Do not overlap prefilled Staple Item spaces. Prefilled Staple Item spaces do count as completed spaces when scoring To-Do List Cards.

Additional placement rules:

• You must place all the tiles collected in the round including the bonus Underwear or Sock Tiles.
• Tiles do not need to touch previously placed tiles.
• Players may try out different placements for their new tiles on their Suitcase before locking in their final positions.
• If after trying out different placement configurations, a player cannot fit one or more of their tiles on their Suitcase, they return any unplaced tiles (including Underwear and Socks) to the box.

At the end of the game, players will score each of their largest color groups for each color. Try to place same-color tiles together (including Accessories, Underwear, Socks, and cats). To be part of a color group, the tiles must share at least one edge.

Placing a Tile Cat Side Up: Whenever you place a tile (Accessories, Underwear, and Socks), you may place it cat side up if you return one of your Pack Rats to the supply. Players begin with one Pack Rat at the start of the game and can gain additional Pack Rats by drafting in 3rd or 4th position.

• Each cat is worth 5 points at the end of the game.
• Pack Rats may be played immediately or saved for future rounds. You can use up to two Pack Rats on your turn.
• Once a tile is placed, it can not be flipped on a future turn, even if a Pack Rat is obtained.

Be mindful of the shape of the tile. Sometimes a tile will no longer fit if you choose to flip it. Other times it will only fit when flipped. It is always helpful to have a Pack Rat available.

Example: Nick decides to spend a Pack Rat to place his drafted tile cat-side up, so that he can nestle it perfectly amongst his other peach tiles.

3. End of Round Reset

Once everyone has drafted and placed their tiles, finish up the round as follows.

• Check to make sure all players have claimed their drafting bonuses, placed their tiles, and removed their Cat Pawns from the Game Board.
• Make sure any Cat Lady Tokens have been removed and shuffled face down.
• Pass the First Player Marker clockwise to the next player.
• Advance the Round Marker forward one space.
• Draw four new Accessory Tiles from the bag and put them on the Game Board item side up.

You are now ready for the next round! Keep playing rounds until the end of Round 12. At that point, commence final scoring to determine a winner!

Scoring

The end-of-game Score Sheet is on the back of the Reference Sheet. Total all scores for each player using the Score Sheet and Dry Erase marker. Points will be earned by:

• Matching Colors - ANY tile of a given color is considered to be part of its particular color grouping, so long as it is touching another tile of the same color on at least one edge. It does not matter if the tile is an item or a cat. Each tile just counts as one tile regardless of its size.
• Cats - Each cat in a player's Suitcase scores 5 points.
• To-Do Lists - Score each To-Do List according to the requirements listed on it. Players should now place all Pom-poms they gained during the game into their Suitcases in order to fill empty spaces. This may help them score more points for To-Do-List #1.

Each player scores points for their largest tile group in each color as follows. (If multiple groups are tied for the largest of a given color, only one of them scores.)

Number of Tiles in Color Group	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12+
Points Earned	1	3	5	8	11	15	19	24	29	35	41	48

Example: Nick has two groups of mint tiles: one with ten tiles connected, and a second group with only one tile. When scoring mint, he would score only the group of ten connected tiles, which would score him 35 points! He would then score points for the other colors on his Suitcase Board in the same way.

After totaling each player's final score, whoever has the highest score wins! In the event of a tie, whoever has the least amount of empty spaces on their Suitcase Board wins. If still tied, whoever has the most Pom-poms on their Suitcase wins. If still tied, the victory is shared.

Scoring Example

To-Do List #1A: 3 points for every completely filled column in your Suitcase.

Player 1 (Nick)

Matching Colors

• Peach - Nick placed 6 peach tiles next to each other, scoring 15 points.
• Banana - Nick placed 1 banana tile, scoring 1 point.
• Mint - Nick placed 10 mint tiles next to each other, scoring 35 points.
• Lavender - Nick placed 2 lavender tiles next to each other, scoring 3 points.

Cat Tiles

• Nick flipped 6 tiles to the cat sides, scoring 30 points.

To-Do Lists

• To-Do List #1 - Nick filled 5 columns (and was just 2 spaces short of a 6th!), so he scores 15 points.
• To-Do List #2 - Nick placed 4 Underwear Tiles and 4 Sock Tiles, so he scores 8 points.
• To-Do List #3 - Nick has 6 five-square tiles, scoring him a total of 9 points.

Total Score: 116

Player 2 (Leyla)

Matching Colors

• Peach - Leyla placed 1 peach tile, scoring 1 point.
• Banana - Leyla placed 9 banana tiles next to each other, scoring 29 points.
• Mint - Leyla placed 7 mint tiles next to each other, scoring 19 points.
• Lavender - Leyla placed 2 lavender tiles next to each other, scoring 3 points.

Cat Tiles

• Leyla flipped 6 tiles to the cat sides, scoring 30 points.

To-Do Lists

• To-Do List #1 - Leyla filled 6 columns to score 18 points.
• To-Do List #2 - Leyla had 1 Underwear Tile and 6 Sock Tiles, so she received 2 points since Underwear had fewer tiles.
• To-Do List #3 - Leyla has 10 five-square tiles to score 15 points.

Total Score: 117 - Leyla is the winner!

Solo Mode

Set up the game just like a 2+ player game, but with the Game Board on the solo side (A) and only one Suitcase Board (B) (flipped to the side with no shape icon on it). Which To-Do List Cards to use will be determined by the Cat Lady Cards. The Cat Lady Cards are double-sided. One side has Cat Lady placement rules and the other side has victory conditions. Select a card to determine this game's Victory Conditions (C) and then shuffle the rest of the Cat Lady cards, placing them Cat Lady placement side down on the designated Game Board space (D). Retrieve the To-Do Lists (E) based on the selected Victory Condition card. You start the game with the First Player Marker (F). Follow the normal 2+ player rules for play with the following exceptions: You have the First Player Marker on odd numbered rounds and may therefore choose any draft position. On even numbered rounds, flip over a Cat Lady Card to its placement side. This shows 1-3 draft positions with an "X" that are blocked for this round.

During every round, place your Cat Pawn on an available draft position (any not currently blocked by any "X"). Then add Cat Lady Tokens to all remaining empty draft positions as usual, even those marked with an "X." Then play the round out in draft order, removing tiles for Cat Lady Tokens, and taking your draft bonus and tile on your turn, as in the standard rules. Discard the drawn Cat Lady Card at the end of each even numbered round.

At the end of 12 rounds, score your Suitcase as you would in a 2+ player game to see how well you packed! After scoring you need to check to see if you beat the Victory Condition point goal for that game. If you did, congratulations! Record your score in the "Purr-sonal Bests" chart (Date, Name, To-Dos e.g. "1A, 2C, 3B", Score). If not, try again or try another Victory Condition card next time.

Note: the per-position draft bonuses, the To-Do List card texts (other than #1A shown in the example) and the Cat Lady card faces are printed only on the game components/illustrations, not in the rulebook text.