Gamehelpthecatstrailroute

Objective

Guide your cats along an ever-shifting network of road tiles toward their favorite destinations, rearranging the tiles each turn — though a route that helps your own cat may open the way for an opponent's too. Collect destination tiles as your cats arrive, and be the player with the most points when the game ends.

Setup (3-4 players)

• Destination tiles are laid out in a grid of 6 rows × 2 columns, with road tiles in a grid of 6 rows × 7 columns next to them (both 5 rows in a 3-player game).
• The 10 exchange tiles form a face-down deck, used to replace Mouse Toy tiles as they're claimed.
• Each player is assigned a cat color and dealt 4 of the 16 cards.
• Starting with the last player in turn order and going in reverse, each player places one of their two cat pawns on a starting position; no two cats may share the same starting position. The second cat is placed later, during a turn.

Board wrap-around: the top and bottom rows of road tiles are considered adjacent to each other (for tile swaps, card effects, and cat movement caused by arrows), but the leftmost and rightmost columns are not adjacent to each other.

Turn Structure

On your turn, perform the following actions in order:

1. Swap a road tile (mandatory). Pick one road tile and swap it with one of its up/down/left/right neighbors. A road tile with a cat pawn on it cannot be swapped (neither as the tile you pick, nor as its destination). Destination tiles can never be swapped.
2. Play a hand card (optional). You may play at most one card per turn. Once played, a card can never be used again. If the card's effect causes a cat to land on (or be displaced onto) a road tile, apply that tile's effect as well.
3. Move a cat forward, or place a cat (mandatory, pick one).
   • Move forward: pick one of your cats on the board and advance it one tile forward (to the left), applying that tile's effect. You cannot move onto a tile that already holds a cat pawn or a Wall.
   • Place a cat: if your second cat pawn is not yet on the board, place it on any open starting position. This is unavailable once both of your cats are on the board, and you may never place onto a starting position that already holds a cat.

Your turn then ends and passes to the next player.

Reaching a Destination Tile

Whenever one of your cats reaches a destination tile, you claim that tile (see Scoring) and take the cat pawn off the board — you'll place it again later, during a turn. The destination tile to the left of the claimed tile then shifts one space to the right to fill the gap. If a cat reaches a space where no destination tile remains (because both tiles there have already been claimed), simply return that cat pawn to any open starting position instead.

Road Tile Effects

Effects trigger whenever a cat lands on (or is placed on) a road tile, whether by moving forward, by a card, or by another tile's effect.

• Arrow (colored): each arrow shows two colors. A cat pawn matching either color immediately moves one tile in the direction the arrow points. Arrows pointing up or down wrap around between the top and bottom rows.
• Arrow (black): any cat pawn, regardless of color, immediately moves one tile in the direction the arrow points.
• Mouse Toy: worth 1 point. The tile is claimed immediately by whoever lands on it; the top tile of the exchange deck is revealed and placed in its spot (that new tile's effect only applies the next time a cat lands on it).
• Cat Forward: choose any one cat pawn on the board (yours or an opponent's) and move it forward one tile (to the left only).
• Place a Cat: immediately perform the "Place a cat" action (place your off-board cat pawn on an open starting position).
• Wall: no cat may move onto this tile.
• Tunnel: the cat pawn that lands here is immediately sent back to any open starting position of its owner's choice.

Hand Card Effects

There are 6 different hand cards, 16 cards in total:

• A Hidden Passage (x4): choose up to 3 road tiles (they do not need to be adjacent to each other) and rearrange them however you like. Tiles with a cat pawn on them cannot be chosen.
• In the Deep Fog (x4): choose up to 4 road tiles that form one connected group (each tile orthogonally adjacent to at least one other chosen tile), and rearrange them however you like. Top and bottom rows count as adjacent. Tiles with a cat pawn on them cannot be chosen.
• The Living Path (x2): choose one column of road tiles and slide it up or down by as many steps as you like, keeping the tile order (tiles wrap around between the top and bottom rows). This can be used even on a column containing cat pawns — only the tiles move, the cats stay where they are. No road tile effects are triggered by this slide.
• Wherever Curiosity Leads (x2): choose any one cat pawn and move it one tile in any of the 8 directions (including diagonals), then apply the effect of the tile it lands on. This can move a cat directly onto a destination tile.
• Someone Calling (x2): choose any one cat pawn and move it back 2 tiles (backward = to the right), then apply the effect of the tile it lands on. A wall or cat pawn on the tile 1 step back does not block this. If the tile 2 steps back holds a wall or a cat pawn, the cat moves back only 1 tile.
• The Cat in the Mirror (x2): choose one of your cat pawns, then choose another cat pawn that is in the same column or further behind (including cats on starting positions), and swap their positions. Then apply tile effects first for your cat, then for the other cat.

Scoring

Destination tiles come in two kinds:

• Color-match tiles: each shows two of the four cat colors. A cat whose color matches one of the two scores 5 points; any other color scores 3 points.
• Fixed tiles: worth 4 points or 3 points regardless of cat color. When you claim a 3-point tile, you may also immediately place a cat pawn onto an open starting position.

Mouse Toy road tiles that were claimed during play are also worth 1 point each.

End of Game

As soon as a player claims the 7th destination tile (5th in a 3-player game), the round is played out until every player has taken the same number of turns. Then points are totaled from all claimed destination tiles and Mouse Toy tiles.

The player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie, the tied player whose cat pawn is furthest forward on the board wins. If still tied, the tied players share the victory.