Cat Between Us

To set up, arrange the four room cards in a row to form the interest track, numbered 0 to 35. Place the six double-sided toy cards in any order below the rooms. Each player collects two cat-shaped player markers in their chosen color; one is placed on the leftmost shelf of the first room card, and the other on the '0' space of the interest track. Place the player aid and round tracker nearby, setting the round marker on space '1'. Shuffle all lure cards into a single deck, then draw one randomly to determine the cat marker's starting position on the interest track. Shuffle the drawn card back into the deck. Finally, deal each player a number of cards from the lure deck based on the player count and their current number of wins (initially zero), using the chart on the player aid. Any remaining cards are set aside and not examined.

The objective of Cat Between Us is to be the first player to attract the cat three times. This is achieved by having your cat marker reach the final shelf in the rooms, which is indicated by a crown icon. Players compete over several rounds, using lure cards to influence the cat's attraction to various toys, hoping to position their interest marker favorably on the track.

The game is played over a series of rounds, each consisting of three phases: Prep, Lure, and Nuzzle. During the Lure Phase, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes a turn. On your turn, you select a single lure card from your hand and place it face-up directly under any toy card. The suit of the played card does not need to match the toy. The only restriction is that each toy card can have a maximum of two lure cards placed under it. Players continue taking turns until every toy card has exactly two lure cards beneath it.

After all lure cards have been played under the toy cards, the Nuzzle Phase begins. Each player reveals the lure cards remaining in their hand. The values printed on these cards are ignored. Instead, each player calculates their total attraction value by summing the attraction values of the toys that match the suits of the cards in their hand. The attraction value of a toy is the sum of the numbers on the two lure cards placed beneath it. Players then move their cat marker on the interest track to the space corresponding to their calculated total attraction value. It is permissible for multiple markers, including the cat marker, to occupy the same space.

The game ends immediately if a player's cat marker reaches the final shelf (marked with a crown icon) in the rooms, or if the seventh round is completed. If the game ends due to a player reaching the final shelf, that player wins. If the game ends after the seventh round, the player who has won the most rounds throughout the game is the winner. In case of a tie for most rounds won, the tied player who performed best (i.e., had their interest marker closest to the cat's target value without exceeding it) in the last round wins. If there's still a tie, all tied players share the victory.