2017-09-19

CatSanity Rules

Game Description

In CatSanity you’re competing with your fellow cat lovers to adopt the best sets of cats.

How many players?

Although recommended for 4 players, CatSanity is a card game for 2* to 5 players.

What does the game include?

  • 38 Sun Cat Cards
  • 10 Moon Cat Cards
  • 30 Sanity Tokens
  • 5 Turn Guide/Scoring Reference cards
  • 1 vanity Card
  • 1 Instruction manual (this printed sheet)

How do you win this game?

Collecting cat cards provide the opportunity for points scored after game play ends; the player with the most points wins. On each player’s turn they can collect a Cat Card(s). Each Player’s collection of Cat Cards is called their HOME (which is proudly and publicly displayed for all to see!). The specifics rules of how to collect cat cards will be discussed later, but for now let’s discuss the cat cards.

What are Cat Cards?

Cat Cards are the basis of the game, different cards are worth different amounts of points.

There are two categories of cards:

  • Sun Cat cards
  • Moon Cat cards

Sun Cat Card Types

Sun Cat cards are the majority of the cards and have a pretty straightforward point system. They have points that are sometimes improved by collecting sets of the same type. There is also the Copy Cat card which is a Moon Cat that can mimic an individual Sun Cat.

Card Type:  House Cat

These are plain ol’ boring House Cats. They do not have any special point calculations.

  • Scoring:  Each House Cat = 3 points.
  • Copy Cat Rule: If you make Copy Cat a House cat it will be worth 3 points.
  • Quantity: 8 in deck.

Card Type: Twin Cat

These Twin Cats are worth more when you own the pair of them. 8 pairs are distinguished by the letters: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H.

  • Scoring: Unmatched Twin Cat  = 2 points.  2 matched  Twin Cats = 8 points.  3 matched Twin Cats = 12 points.
  • Copy Cat Rule:  You can use the Copy Cat to complete a matched set of Twin Cats. When you play the Copy Cat to copy a Twin Cat, declare its letter (e.g, “I declare Copy Cat is a D Twin cat”). Using a Copy Cat as a Twin Cat is the only way to possibly get “3 matched Twin Cats”.
  • Quantity: 16 in deck. (2 of each type A-H)

Card Type:  Chorus Cat

The Chorus Cats love to sing together but sound awful in small groups.  When 5 or more Chorus Cats are in your HOME they are worth a lot of points otherwise they aren’t worth any points.

  • Scoring: For 0-4 Chorus Cats = 0 points. For 5 -10 Chorus Cats = 25 points.
  • Copy Cat Rule: You can use the Copy Cat to mimic a Chorus cat.
  • Quantity: 9 in deck.

Card Type:  Fibonacci Cat

Fibonacci Cats are the get-rich-fast pyramid scheme of cat collecting.  Each additional Fibonacci Cat greatly improves the number of points.

  • Scoring: For  1 Fibonacci Cat = 1 Point. For 2 Fibonacci Cats = 4 Points. For 3 Fibonacci Cats = 9 Points. For 4 Fibonacci Cats = 20 Points. For 5 Fibonacci Cats = 40 Points. For 6 Fibonacci Cats = 48 Points.
  • Copy Cat Rule: You can use the Copy Cat to mimic a Fibonacci Cat.
  • Quantity: 5 in deck.

Moon Cat Card Types

Moon Cats have special and often helpful abilities. However collecting Moon Cats come at a steep price, your sanity!

Collecting Moon Cats will cost you Sanity Tokens. It will cost 1 Sanity Token each time you add a Moon Cat to your HOME. As you only start with 7 Sanity Tokens (in a 4-player game) and cannot get more Sanity Tokens, you need to think carefully whether or not a given Moon Cat is worth collecting. When you no longer have Sanity Tokens you are considered INSANE. INSANE players can no longer collect any cats because their turn is skipped until the SCORING PHASE.

Card Type:  Copy Cat

The Copy Cat can mimic any specific Sun Cat Category Card Type.

  • Scoring:  Depends on what it Copy Cat changes into. (Scores as the specific type of Sun Cat declared.)
  • Rule: When you add a Copy Cat to your HOME, you must declare what specific Sun Cat it is mimicking.
  • Quantity: 1 in deck.

Card Type:  Ninja Cat

The sneaky Ninja Cats skulks around at night and “liberates” Sun Cats from your opponents HOME into your HOME.

  • Scoring:  O points.
  • Rule: When you add a Ninja Cat to your HOME, point at one of your Opponents and yell “Banzai! Ninja attack!” Your opponent will then gather up his Sun Cats cards and shuffle them. Without looking at the cards you will take 1 of his Sun Cats and add them into your HOME. If you pick an opponent with no Sun Cats nothing happens, except you look stupid.
  • Quantity: 3 in deck.

Card Type: Recall Cat

The Recall Cat causes some of your opponents cats to runaway.

  • Scoring:  O points.
  • Rule: When you add a Recall Cat to your HOME, sing out “Born free! As free as the wind blows!” Your opponents will need to visibly return 2 Cat Cards from their HOME of their choosing back into the deck. Each player returns their 2 Cat Cards in order starting with the player to your left. All players participate even if they are already out of Sanity Tokens. After they return the cards to the deck, you reshuffle the deck. If an opponent has less than 2 Cat Cards, they return as many as they can.
  • Quantity: 2 in deck.

Card Type:Cat of Cthulhu

Some say this Lovecraftian Cat is the fuzzy form of an old god leading the world into madness. A Cat of Cthulhu if you will. In any case he will drive your opponents mad.

  • Scoring:  O points.
  • Rule: When you add a Cat of Cthulhu to your HOME, all your opponents lose 1 Sanity Token. If any opponent has more Cat Cards in their HOME than you, they will lose an additional 1 Sanity Token.
  • Quantity: 1 in deck.

Card Type: Precious Cat

“My precious!” The Precious Cat is worth a lot of points, but will hasten madness. Definitely not a starter cat.

  • Scoring:  9 points.
  • Rule: If the Precious Cat is in your HOME at the start of your turn, lose 1 Sanity Token.
  • Quantity: 1 in deck.

Card Type:Moon King or Moon Queen

The regal Moon Queen & King awards points based on the number of Moon Cats in your HOME during scoring.

  • Scoring:  Get 2 points for them self plus 2 points for each other Moon Cat in your HOME.
  • Rule: Note that the Copy Cat, despite mimicking a Sun Cat, still counts as a Moon Cat when calculating the points for the Moon King & Queen respectively.
  • Quantity: 1 Moon Queen & 1 Moon King

Setting up the Game

In a 4 Player game, all players are given 7 Sanity Tokens (these must be visible at all times).  (2 Players = 5 Sanity Tokens, 3 Players = 7 Sanity Tokens, 5 Players = 6 Sanity Tokens)

The 38 Sun Cat and 10 Moon Cat cards are shuffled into the deck. From the deck, deal 2 cards face up. Where the cards are dealt face up is called the ALLEY. During game-play, typically the ALLEY has 3 Cat Cards from which to choose.

The player whom touched a cat last goes first, and then the order of play is clockwise.

Turn Steps – What to do on your turn?

  1. If you have PRECIOUS CAT in your HOME, lose 1 Sanity Token.
  2. If you are INSANE (i.e., 0 Sanity Tokens), you turn is done; the turn goes to the NEXT PLAYER. If there are no more SANE players, then PLAY ENDS.
  3. If there are no more cards in the deck, then PLAY ENDS.
  4. From the deck take a card and reveal it in the ALLEY. Repeat this until the ALLEY has 3 cards or the deck runs out.
  5. If the ALLEY has 3 Moon Cat cards, all players should yell “CatSanity!”
    1. All Players lose 1 Sanity Token.
    2. The ALLEY cards are returned to the deck and you reshuffle it.
    3. Your turn is done and the turn goes to the NEXT PLAYER.
  6. You choose whether to call an auction on all the Sun Cats (1, 2, or 3) in the ALLEY. Auctions are where the players can bid Sanity Tokens to collect all Sun Cat Cards in the ALLEY. If you want to declare an Auction yell “Mine! Mine! Mine!”, otherwise go to STEP 7.
    1. Follow these Auction Steps if you declared an Auction.
    2. In a clockwise manner starting from the player to your left,  each player may announce a bid of how many Sanity Points he/she will pay to have all the Sun Cat cards in the ALLEY; they typically do this by placing the bid number of tokens in front of their HOME. Each subsequent bid must be higher than the previous bid. Players may pass on bidding by bidding 0 Sanity Points.
    3. When the bid comes back to you, you can choose to place the final higher bid or bid 0 Sanity Points.
    4. The player with the highest bid adds all the Sun Cats in the ALLEY to their HOME at the cost of the bid Tokens.
    5. Go to NEXT PLAYER.
  7. Adopt (choose) any 1 Cat Card from the ALLEY and place it visibly in your HOME. Sun Cats do not cost Sanity Tokens. Moon Cats cost 1 Sanity Token.
    • If a Copy, Ninja, Recall, or Cat of Cthulhu Moon Cat is adopted in this turn then resolve the “When you add a X Cat to your HOME,..” special action before continuing.
  8. The turn goes to the NEXT PLAYER.

PLAY END

PLAY ENDS when either there are no more sane players (all Players have 0 Sanity Tokens), or when the deck is empty at the start of a Player turn.

After PLAY ENDS the SCORING PHASE begins.

SCORING PHASE

After PLAY ENDS take some time to admire the wonderful collection of cats you adopted into your HOME!

Each Player will apply the Scoring rules to add up their own score based on the cat cards remaining in their HOME at PLAY END.  Each Player should consider the special set rules and pay careful attention to what the Copy Cat was declared to be in order to properly score their new cat-family.

The Player(s) with the highest score wins this round of CatSanity! Take a picture of your HOME to remember your winning Cats fondly for now and all time! #CatSanity #CatSanityFTW

If you’re unsure how to score, please see this page for some scoring examples.

FAQ and Rules clarification.

*2-player games are more fun with the 28-card faster variant.