Shuffle and Swing Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Main Game Concepts
  • The Board
  • The Player Board
• Scoring Points
• Game Structure
• Turn Structure
  • 1. Move Mouse Pawn
  • 2. Select Die & Distribute Reward
  • 3. Take Action
  • 4. Move Die & Tick Up
    • Dice and Break Rooms
• Actions
  • Construct
  • Refresh
  • Inspect
  • Brag
• Instrument Objectives
• End-Game Scoring
  • End-Game Scoring Example
• Three-Player Changes
• Two-Player Mode
  • Two-Player Setup
  • Two-Player Gameplay
• Instrument Appendix
  • Black Department
    • Bass
    • Violin
    • Guitar*
    • Banjo*
  • Orange Department
    • Piano
    • Vibes
    • Organ*
    • Harp*
  • Gray Department
    • Horns
    • Trombone*

Components

• 3 Double-Sided Instrument Boards
• 1 Circular Game Board
• 12 Action Wheel Slices
• 4 Player Boards
• 100 Build Pieces
• 24 Upgrade Pieces
• 90 Cat Workers
• 30 Boost Tokens
• 4 Mouse Pawns
• 12 Supervisor Dice
• 12 Contribution Cubes
• 16 Player Discs
• 4 Point Tokens (50 / 100)
• 3 Inspector Mice
• 1 First-Player Token

Workers and boost tokens are intended to be unlimited. If you run out, use a suitable replacement (or figure out what the heck went wrong)!

Setup

Note: There is additional setup for a two- or three-player game. (See page 12 for more details.)

1. Place the circular game board in the center of the table.

For each department, do the following:

2. Take the four Action Wheel Slices with the matching notches and randomly place them inside the department's action wheel.
3. Choose one instrument tile from that department's supply and slot it into the department's notch. If playing with new players, we recommend Horns, Violin, and Piano.
4. Place one Inspector Mouse on the Inspect action slice.
5. Place the stack of the corresponding boost tokens near the instrument's brag track.
6. Place the cat workers in a common supply near the board, separated by type (orange cats, gray cats, and black cats).
7. The player who last played a musical instrument takes the first-player token. Turns will proceed in clockwise order.

For each player, do the following:

8. Pick a color and take the following components of that color: 1 player board, 1 mouse pawn, 3 contribution cubes, 4 discs, 25 build pieces, 6 upgrade pieces, and 3 supervisor dice, with the "1" face up.
9. Take one of each worker cat from the supply and place it next to your player board.
10. Place one disc on the 0 space of the victory point track. The 50/100 point tokens can be placed near the board (these are claimed and displayed by the players when they cross 50 and 100 points).
11. Stack the remaining three discs on the first space of each instrument's brag track in reverse turn order (so the last player's is on the bottom of each stack and the first player's is on top).
12. Place one contribution cube to the side of each instrument board, near the first space of the brag track.

Main Game Concepts

The Board

Players are working together to construct three instruments, which are placed next to the board in their matching locations. The main board consists of a victory point track around the border and three departments in the center, with each department being separated by a break room. Each department is associated with one instrument and contains:

• Three pawn spots where players will place their pawns to take actions in that department. Only two of these spots are available in a two- or three-player game.
• An action wheel, which consists of four action slices where supervisor dice will be placed.
• A brag track, which consists of eight spaces that players will climb when their supervisor dice are in the break rooms, providing the players with boost tokens and end-game scoring opportunities.

The Player Board

Each player has a player board: a resting area that is made up of 10 quilt spaces. Workers in a player's personal supply are ready workers, while workers that are on quilt spaces are exhausted workers.

Each player's mouse pawn begins in their personal supply but remains on the board after their first turn of the game.

Scoring Points

There are only three ways to score points in the game. Inspector scoring and instrument objective scoring occur during the game. Brag track scoring occurs at the end of the game. Inspector and brag track scoring always work the same way game to game, but each instrument has a unique objective and method of scoring that incentivizes different approaches.

Game Structure

Players take turns one at a time in clockwise order, starting from the first player, until the game ends. The game end is triggered when two of the three instruments have been built. The players finish the current round so that all players have had the same number of turns (and providing an opportunity for the third instrument to also be built).

Turn Structure

A player's turn consists of four steps that must all be taken in this order:

1. Move Mouse Pawn
2. Select Die & Distribute Reward
3. Take Action
4. Move Die & Tick Up

1. Move Mouse Pawn

Move your mouse pawn to any open pawn spot. Important: Your pawn must move to a different spot. This can be in the same department or by passing over a breakroom to enter a new department. At the start of the game, since your pawn is off the board, you can move it to any open pawn spot. A pawn spot is open if it is not occupied by another pawn.

Reminder: Only two of these spots are available in a two- or three-player game.

If you passed over a break room with one of your supervisor dice in it, pick it up and take two brag actions immediately (see page 9).

Note: Your pawn must always take the shortest route to its destination spot, so you only ever pass over one break room when moving from one department to another.

2. Select Die & Distribute Reward

Select a die to use in this department. You may select any die positioned in the die spaces of this department wheel (regardless of whose die it is). Or, you may add a die from your personal supply to this department wheel (showing its current face value), as long as the wheel doesn't exceed the dice limit ...

Important: Each wheel may have a maximum of three dice on it. You may not add the fourth die to a wheel.

Show that you have selected a die by positioning that die on top of the cat worker emblem.

The owner of the die (yourself or another player) now recruits a cat worker from the activated department by taking the corresponding worker type from the common supply and adding it to their personal supply.

Dice in the orange department recruit an orange cat. Dice in the gray department recruit a gray cat. Dice in the black department recruit a black cat.

3. Take Action

Now take the action of the selected die's slice. Each slice of the wheel depicts an action. The actions are Build, Refresh, and Inspect and are described in detail in the "Actions" section (page 7).

Instead of taking the action in the die's slice, you can simply brag once in that corresponding department. The rules for bragging are described in the "Actions" section.

4. Move Die & Tick Up

Move the die to the next open slice on the wheel clockwise and tick it up by one pip.

If the novice die you used was already on its "3" pip face, instead place it on an open adjacent break room. Similarly, if the expert die you used was already on its "4 star" face, place it on an open adjacent break room. If both adjacent break rooms are occupied, bump one of the dice there out back to its owner. The owner now receives one brag action anywhere.

Dice and Break Rooms

Each die represents a supervisor mouse that generally increases in its experience and effectiveness. The dice show the following six faces: 1, 2, 3, "2 star," "3 star," and "4 star."

A player's first three dice are novice dice, placed on their "1" pip face when they enter an action wheel. After each time they are used, they tick up — first to their "2" pip face and then their "3" pip face. These dice go to the break rooms after they are used at a "3" (their highest value).

When your moving mouse pawn passes over one of your dice in a break room, you must immediately pick up that die and place it in front of you showing the "2 star" face. It is now and forever an expert die. Additionally, you get two brag actions at any track(s) of your choosing when picking up one of your dice from a break room. Likewise, a die that is bumped from a break room by another die returns to you as an expert die, but it only grants you one brag action.

Expert dice tick up from "2 star" to "3 star" to "4 star." Their pips are different (stars) so you can track which dice are novice and which are experts. These dice go to the break rooms after they are used at a "4 star" (their highest value). When picking up an expert die from a break room, it remains an expert die (and will reenter the board as a "2 star").

Actions

Each action is stronger with more pips showing on the die. Additionally, each action can be boosted by spending the corresponding boost token.

Construct

Idea: This is the bread and butter of the game and how you will actually build the instruments. All the points you get in the game are ultimately from the results of this action.

Each build space contains room for two pieces — an inner and an outer piece. The first piece to go on a space must always be the inner piece — this represents you building that segment of the instrument. The second piece to go on a space is always the outer piece — this represents you upgrading that segment of the instrument that is already built.

Pips: Each pip may be used as a build or upgrade in the department. For example, if Lucia is using a die with three pips, she can build twice and upgrade once, build three times, or even upgrade twice and forfeit the last pip because she does not want to or cannot use it.

Action: To build, take one of your build (inner) pieces from your supply and place it on an empty space, paying its cost. The cost is depicted by the number and colored icon on the build space. The number tells you how many workers you must exhaust, while the leftmost icon tells you which workers you must exhaust. For example, a number two next to a black paw icon means you must exhaust two black cats.

To upgrade, take one of your upgrade (outer) pieces from your supply and place it on the outside of one of your own build pieces. The cost of upgrading is one less than the cost of building (this means upgrading spaces with a build cost of one is free)!

Notice that each instrument only needs two types of workers to construct, and these are precisely the two types of workers that cannot be recruited at that instrument's department.

Building/Upgrading Onto a Space With the Inspector: Each time you place a piece onto a space that contains the inspector, you immediately score points equal to the number on the space. (Upgrade pieces score the same amount of points as build pieces, even though they cost less to place!)

Over the course of the game, you can track the number of pieces you have placed on an instrument by advancing your contribution cube up the outside of the board. For example, after placing your sixth and seventh pieces on a board, you can advance your cube next to the six. It is not essential that you update this track every time you place out pieces. This track is most helpful as you approach and proceed through the end-game instrument scoring.

Exhausting Workers: To exhaust a worker, take it from your ready area and place it on its exhausted side onto an empty quilt space of your player board (one not occupied by another worker). If none of your quilt spaces are empty, return the worker to the common supply instead. If you don't have room for them on your board, then your cats will find somewhere else to sleep — and no, they won't come back!

Ladder Boost: To boost this action, discard a ladder token to either upgrade another player's build space with your own upgrade piece (paying the normal upgrade cost) OR treat one of your cats as a cat of any other color for this action. You may boost more than once in the same action.

Dane (blue) is using a "4 star" die to take the construct action at the Vibes. First, Dane builds into the gray "3" space by exhausting three gray cats. Next, he upgrades in the black "2" space by exhausting one black cat — this space contains the inspector, so he scores two points. Finally, Dane boosts the action by discarding a ladder to upgrade the black "3" space that contains one of Angelo's (purple) pieces. He only has one black cat to pay for it, so he exhausts that and discards another ladder to exhaust one orange cat. Dane still has one pip left but chooses to forfeit it because he cannot afford to build where he wants.

Refresh

Idea: You have exhausted your workers by building and upgrading with them, so it's time to refresh them!

Pips: The pips on the die dictate precisely which row OR column of your resting area you must refresh.

Action: Refresh all workers in the corresponding column or row by taking them off their quilt spaces and back into your pool of ready workers.

Milk Boost: To boost this action, discard a milk token to refresh the column AND row of the die.

If Lucia uses a refresh with a "3" pip die, she can refresh the black, gray, and orange cat in the "3" row OR the two black cats in the "3" column. She decides to refresh her "3" column and takes the two cats off their beds and back into her ready area.

If she had a milk token, she could have used it to take back the two black cats in her "3" column as well as her three cats in her "3" row, for a total of four cats refreshed!

Inspect

Idea: Each location has an inspector mouse roaming around. The players try to manipulate the inspector to walk by and notice their contributions!

Pip: The pips on the die indicate precisely how many spaces you must move the inspector.

Action: The inspector moves from space to space, following the connection lines. The only condition for movement is that you may not travel the same line more than once in the same turn.

Additionally, each inspector starts off the board. If this is the first time the inspector is being moved, its first move is onto any space of the player's choice.

Whenever the inspector enters a space, each piece there scores the displayed number in points for the owner of the piece. (Upgrade pieces score the same amount of points as build pieces, even though they cost less to place!) If there are no pieces in that space, no points are scored.

Cheese Boost: To boost this action, bribe the inspector by discarding a cheese token per space you wish to "jump over." A space jumped over is not scored and does not count as one of the movement points of the action.

Angelo (purple) is using an inspect "2" at the Upright Bass. Angelo boosts the inspector's first move, discarding a cheese token to jump over the space with two of Lucia's (pink) pieces, then moves directly into the orange "1" space. For the second move, he moves the inspector to the next orange "2" space. Angelo scores 5 points (2+2+1) for his three pieces, and Kris (green) scores 1 point for his one piece. Lucia would have scored 2 points if the inspector moved into the orange space with her two pieces (1+1), but Angelo bribed the inspector to ignore those — how rude!

Brag

Idea: This action allows you to brag about your progress on the various instruments. The main way to brag is from picking up your supervisors in the break rooms, which gives you two brag actions. If your supervisor is bumped off a break room, then you get one brag action. In addition, you may always substitute any dice action with a single brag at that department's instrument instead, though this should be used sparingly as a "fail safe" option.

Action: Move up one space on an instrument's brag track. If you enter a space with a boost token, take it from the supply. If your disc enters a space with other discs, stack it on top of the discs there.

When Angelo picks up his die from the break room, he chooses to move up the Horns brag track and the Vibes brag track. Since his disc in the Horns brag track enters a space depicting a cheese, he takes one cheese token. Since his disc in the Vibes brag track enters a space with other discs, he places his disc on top of the ones there.

Instrument Objectives

The instrument objectives score when a section of the instrument is built. Depending on the instrument's objective, the sections will be denoted differently. Most often, a section will have its own symbol displayed on its spaces. Resolve all instrument objective scoring at the end of the turn.

The section symbols are: an X in a circle, a down-pointing triangle, a target (ring with dot), two vertical bars, a half-filled circle, and a diamond.

A section is built when all spaces in it have been built (the number of upgrade pieces does not matter). All instruments refer to pieces (either scoring points per piece or awarding points for having a majority of pieces). This includes both build pieces and upgrade pieces.

All ties on instrument objectives are broken by the instrument's brag track — whichever player is furthest along the track wins the tie. If multiple discs are on the same space, then the disc on the bottom (i.e., the one that got there first) breaks the tie in their favor.

Each individual instrument's objective is explained in detail in the instrument appendix. The instrument tiles themselves also have a reminder of how they score.

Remember: The only two ways to score during the game are via inspecting and instrument objectives.

End-Game Scoring

The game end is triggered when two of the three instruments are built. Remember, "built" means that all the build spaces have build pieces on them (the number of upgrade pieces does not matter). At this point, players finish out the current round before proceeding to final scoring. The current round ends when the player to the right of the starting player finishes their turn. It is possible for the third instrument to be built as this current round finishes up.

Final scoring is based solely on the brag tracks. Remember, ties on the tracks are broken in favor of which disc got there first (and thus is on the bottom of the stack).

If there is an unbuilt instrument, the player(or players) in last place on that brag track score the penalty (for ties: split the penalty evenly rounded down). They are blamed for the instrument's lack of completion. The penalty is negative 2 points for each unbuilt space on the instrument.

At the built instruments, each player consults their disc's position on the brag track and their cube's position along the side of the board (make sure that your cube position has been updated to the number of your build/upgrade pieces on the instrument). The positions of your disc and cube individually determine the best condition you may qualify for. This means that you will only score the lower of your two pieces: the disc (your bragging efforts) or the cube (the number of your pieces placed on the instrument).

Now look at the lower of your two trackers, the disc or the cube, and score the victory point value there.

After scoring all end-game points, the player with the highest point total is the winner. If players are tied, then the player farthest from the first player in turn order is the winner.

End-Game Scoring Example

The Bass and Vibes were finished, while the Horns was not. Thus, Lucia (pink) and Dane (blue) who are tied for last place on the Horns brag track will score the penalty. There are 2 unbuilt spaces on the instrument, so the penalty is negative 4 points. Lucia and Dane split the penalty, so they each lose 2 points.

Angelo (purple) has 13 pieces on the Bass, thus he earns 20 points for having at least 12 pieces and advancing at least that far on the brag track. Dan (blue) has 8 pieces — he has bragged far more than he has worked on this instrument. Dane scores 15 points for his 8 pieces. Just like Shuffle always says, "Bragging without evidence to back it up is hollow."

Lucia (pink) has only contributed 1 piece, so she scores 2 points for having at least 1 piece. Kris (green) has placed 2 pieces, but he has only bragged enough to score 2 points for having at least 1 piece there. Just like Salem the cat always says, "Working without claiming the credit is wasteful."

Three-Player Changes

When playing with three players, place two build pieces of an unused player color on the denoted spaces for each instrument. These build pieces count as those of "another player" for all intents and purposes. This "neutral" player wins all ties against players for any instrument objectives. Also note that only two pawn spots are available at each department.

Two-Player Mode

In the two-player mode, you will be playing against a Professional Rodent Instrumentician (or Pri for short). Pri will act like a third player in many ways. She will block pawn spaces, move up the brag tracks, and build. However, she has no workers, boost tokens, or points to track. Additionally, her actions are entirely controlled by the two players, providing another opportunity for clever plays and mastery.

Two-Player Setup

Setup the game as with four players, with the following exceptions:

Assign an unused player color to Pri. She will only need a mouse pawn, her dice, her build and upgrade pieces, and three discs for the brag tracks. She does not need a player board, scoring disc, or cubes.

Place Pri on any open pawn space of your choosing.

Place each of her dice with their "2 star" face-up on one of the construct action slices at each department.

Two-Player Gameplay

Pawn: After player 2 finishes their turn, Pri moves to the next open pawn spot clockwise around the board. This could be in the same department or another one.

Dice: Pri's dice will move just like any other player's dice when they are used. However, they will never go to the break rooms. When one of Pri's dice is used as a "4 star," move her disc up that department's brag track twice and then place her die on the next open action clockwise showing its "2 star" face. In this way, she will always have one die at every wheel.

Reward: Instead of gaining a cat worker when her dice are used, Pri gains build pieces. Whenever a player selects her die at a location to take an action, they must place one of her build pieces on an open build space at that instrument before taking their own action. This may trigger instrument objective scoring. The only rule for Pri's build pieces are that she must build on one of the cheapest spaces available (e.g., she can only build on a "2" space if there are no "1" spaces left to build on, and she can only build on a "3" space if there are no "2" spaces left to build on). If the instrument is built, she will instead place an upgrade piece anywhere of the player's choosing.

Scoring: Pri does not score points. She simply competes with the players for instrument objectives and brag track positions at the end of the game.

Instrument Appendix

Thematically, a few of the tiles have multiple instruments, but for gameplay purposes, these are considered one instrument.

The appendix below includes all instruments from both the base game and the Instruments Expansion. Expansion instruments are marked with an *. The Instruments Expansion can be purchased directly from our shop at www.BitewingGames.com

Section symbols used below: X (the "bow" symbol), target (the "left side" symbol on the Bass and Violin), two vertical bars (the "right side" symbol on the Bass and the "strings" symbol on the Violin), down-pointing triangle (the "strings" symbol on the Bass and the "right side" symbol on the Violin).

Black Department

Bass

There are three sections. They represent the left side of the Bass (target), the right side of the Bass (two bars), and the strings section of the Bass (down-pointing triangle). When the left (target) or right (two bars) side of the Bass is built, the player with the most pieces in that section scores 4 points, the second most scores 2 points, and the third most scores 1 point. When the strings (down-pointing triangle) section is built, the player with the most pieces on the entire instrument scores 9 points, the second most scores 5 points, and the third most scores 3 points.

Violin

There are four sections, one representing the bow (X) and the other three representing the left side (target), right side (down-pointing triangle), and strings (two bars) of the violin. When a section is built, the player with the most pieces in that section scores 2 points. Additionally, each player scores 1 point per piece they have in that section.

Guitar*

There are two sections, each representing one guitar. When the first section is built, the player with the most pieces in that section scores 10 points, the player with the second most scores 6 points, and the player with the third most scores 3 points. When the other section is built, the player with the most pieces in that section scores 7 points, the player with the second most scores 4 points, and the player with the third most scores 2 points.

Banjo*

There are two banjos, each split into two, for a total of four sections. One section represents the frame of the banjo and the other represents the strings of the banjo. Each time a section of a banjo is built (the frame or the strings), that entire banjo is scored: The player with the most pieces on that entire banjo scores 5 points, and the player with the second most pieces on that entire banjo scores 3 points.

Orange Department

Piano

There are five regions, each with a variable number of surrounding spaces. Each space is part of any region that it surrounds. Some spaces are only part of one region, while some are part of two. When a region is built (all the spaces around it have a build piece), the player who placed the last piece to finish that region scores 1 point per piece of their own in that region. All the other players score 1 point for every two pieces they have in that region.

Vibes

There are five sections, each with three or four spaces. Each section is a vertical line of spaces. When a section is built, the player with the most pieces in that section scores 3 points, and the player with the second most pieces in that section scores 1 point. Additionally, each player scores 2 points if they have at least one piece in each of the two adjacent sections. Each section is adjacent to two other sections following the connection lines.

Organ*

There are six regions, each with a variable number of surrounding spaces. Similar to the piano, each space is part of any region that it surrounds. Some spaces are only part of one region, while some are part of two, three, or even four. When a region is built (all the spaces around it have a build piece), the player with the most pieces in that region scores points equal to the number shown in that region. The player with the second most pieces scores 2 less than that number, and the player with the third most pieces scores 3 less than that number. Players do NOT score negative points.

Harp*

There are six sections, each with a variable number of spaces. Each section is a straight line of spaces. When a section is built, the player with the most pieces in the section scores 1 point. Additionally, each piece in adjacent sections (following connection lines) scores their owner 1 point.

Gray Department

Horns

There are two sections, one representing the trumpet (ring symbol) and the other representing the saxophone (X). When a section is built, the player with the most pieces on that section scores 8 points, the player with the second most scores 6 points, and the player with the third most scores 2 points.

Trombone*

There are three sections. When a section is built, the player with the most pieces in that section scores 3 points, and the player with the second most scores 1 point. Additionally, each player scores 1 point per space in their longest connected group of pieces that passes through that section.

Drums

There are four sections, each representing a piece of the drum kit: the ride (half-circle), the kick (X), the snare (target), and the hi-hat (down-pointing triangle). When a section is built, the player with the most pieces in that section scores 1 point per piece in that section (no matter whose pieces they are). Everyone else scores 1 point per piece of their color in that section.

Clarinet*

There are four sections, each representing a different sized clarinet. When a section is built, the player with the most pieces in that section scores points equal to the number next to that section. The player with the second most pieces scores 2 less than that number, and the player with the third most pieces scores 3 less than that number. Players do NOT score negative points.