Rat Hot
Rat Hot Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
The spice card marked "Start" (the large S in the middle) is placed in the center of the table, leaving enough room all around it.
The other cards are shuffled and turned face down so that the pictures cannot be seen. The chips are sorted by color.
- Gray chips are worth 1 point.
- Yellow chips are worth 2 points.
- The Start card is recognized by an "S" in its middle space.
- Each spice card is divided into three spaces.
- In their own color, each player has 4 different spices as well as a few rats. The spices and rats are distributed irregularly across the cards.
- Each space shows one of the following:
- one of the eight spices,
- a green rat or a red rat,
- or it is empty.
Each player chooses a color.
Turn Sequence
The oldest player begins, then play alternates between the two players.
Starting player, first turn: the first player reveals one spice card and places it next to the Start card [see Card Placement Rules].
Every following turn: a player reveals 2 spice cards and places them as they wish, while respecting the card placement rules.
Card Placement Rules
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Spice cards may only be placed vertically or horizontally.
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A placed spice card must not extend past the edge of the table.
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A spice card must be placed so that at least one of its 3 spaces is adjacent (at a right angle) to one of the cards already placed.
Note: overlapping spice cards are automatically considered adjacent.
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Spice cards may be placed on top of each other:
- but there must be no empty gap left underneath,
- a card must not be entirely covered by a second card.
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Spices or rats that become covered (no longer visible) no longer count for anything.
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It is not permitted to move or remove a spice card once it has been placed.
Scoring
Points are counted every time a card is placed. Whenever a group of matching adjacent spices is formed or changed by that placement, it scores points. What matters is that the symbols are visible from above, no matter which layer of cards they sit on.
- For a group of 2 matching symbols, the player of that color scores 1 point.
- For a group of 3 or more matching symbols, the player of that color scores 2 points.
Players take from the reserve the number of chips corresponding to the points they scored.
Example: it is the red player's turn. Their overlapping card gives the following points: 2 points for red, and 1 point for green. This older combination gives no points at all.
Note: it is also possible to score points on a turn that is not your own.
There is no point scored for isolated spices.
Note: rats never score points by themselves. But they can cause the game to end prematurely, which means losing the game. [see "Premature End of Game"]
Last Turn
When only a single spice card remains, the player whose turn it is places this last card and it is scored. The game then ends.
End of Game
When the last spice card has been placed, the final tally is taken.
Final Tally
At the end of the game, all spices still visible for both players are counted once more.
Here too:
- 1 point for each group of 2 matching spice symbols.
- 2 points for each group of 3 or more matching spice symbols.
The player with the most points wins the game.
Premature End of Game
The game can also end prematurely.
This always happens when the player who has just taken a turn has 3 or more rats of their own color visibly exposed.
The game then ends immediately. No final tally is taken. The player with the three exposed rats has lost.