Introduction

This is a hybrid board-game made for 2-4 players, featuring a resource management aspect in terms of different 'crops'.

Your goal is to keep the cat appeased by fulfilling its every whim and be the last one standing. In order to accomplish this you will need to be resourceful and plan your crop rotation ahead to be able to withstand even the worst possible outcome.

All the physical material needed can be found in downloads section and encompass a printable sheet, including the 'cards', or the crops, you need, as well as a 4x4 Grid representing your field.

Instructions

Zones

Each player has two zones and a shared Bank.

• The Stockpile: This is where all the resources available to you are located. The cat will only ever take resources from here and resources located in this zone can be planted in your field.
• The Field: This is where you grow your crops. It is represented by the 4x4 grid. During the Planting Phase you can plant any number of crops from your stockpile here, given you have the space.
• The Bank: This holds all resources not owned by players.

Starting the Game

To start game, first you need to start the application included with this project. This represents the cat and randomizes its orders as well as generate random events.

Afterwards, each player receives one field to plant the crops in as well as three of each resource, which is added to their Stockpile. 

Each player begins the game with 9 lives, so it is recommended that each player has a pen and paper (or a D10 that can be used to count down on) at hand to count their lives.

The Phases

The Game is split into five phases, on which all players act at the same time. The phase is only advanced once every player at the table is done.

Phase 1 - Starting the Turn: Cat Order

At the beginning of every turn the ever hungry cat will give you an order to fulfill by the end of the turn! The cat only takes resources from the stockpile, so make sure you have these in your stock.  To do so, click the Next Order button!

Phase 2 - Crop Management

This Phase is effectively split into three actions. At the beginning of the first turn you won't have anything to harvest or any crops to grow, so start with the planting phase. Every subsequent turn will follow the underneath order:

Harvesting

Your first action in this phase is harvesting your ripe crops! To do so, simply remove the ripe crop from your field and add an additional one of that type from the bank  to your stockpile, giving you  twice the amount you began with!

Growing

All crops take two turns to fully mature and grow. After harvesting, all your tapped crops (the ones planted last turn) untap in this phase, indicating that they are ready for harvest in the next turn.

Planting

In the last action during this phase you can plant all the crops you want! For this, place any resource in an unoccupied space in your Field, but do so tapped (place the card sideways). This is to show that this crop is not yet ready for harvest!

Phase 3 - Event Phase

In this phase a random Event will happen! To do so, simply click the Next Event button, and pay attention to the message at the bottom of the screen, which will tell you what happens. Some events are instantaneous, and all Events that are not last until they are overwritten by a new Event.

Phase 4 - Trading Phase

Every game needs a bit of interaction. This is what this phase is for. During every trading phase, every player may plant one crop in an opponents field, in a location of their choosing. This can be a benevolent action to regrow an eradicated crop for another player, but some  Events can add some additional intrigue to this!

Phase 5 - Ending the Turn:  Cat eats its Order

This is the last turn of the round, during this the cat will eat whatever it has ordered. To do so, simply put the requested number of each resource back on the resource piles outside of the game.

Each player will lose one life for each one resource they cannot fulfill, however should the player have a part of that resource, that player will still lose a life AND the cat will take whatever they have of that resource.

For Example: The cat wants 5 fish, 2 scratch-posts and 1 shrimp. Player X only has 3 fish and 1 shrimp. That player will lose all 3 fish on their stockpile as well as one life for the fish they are missing, one life for the scratch-posts they are missing, but they can fulfill the order of one shrimp.

After the cat has 'consumed' your resources, its time for the next order!