Scram - How To Play

The Game

Create the biggest pile of cats you can, then do it again! Soon there'll be stacks of cats EVERYWHERE.

How To Start

Shuffle all the cards, then deal 5 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards together in the center of the table. This will become your deck.

Flip over the first 3 cards of the deck and lay them face up in the middle of the table. This will be your Pet Store.

The player who owns the laziest cat goes first. If no one owns a cat, the player with the dumbest dog goes first. If no one owns either, reconsider your life choices (and let the youngest player go first).

How To Play

The Turn Players take turns by going clockwise around the table. Each turn is made up of two phases.

Draw Phase

If you have less then 5 cards in your hand, draw cards up to that number.

You can draw from either the face-down cards in the deck or the face-up cards in the Pet Store. If you draw a card from the Pet Store, immediately replace it by revealing a new card from the top of the deck.

Action Phase

You can choose to of 1 of 3 things during your Action Phase.

1. Play a Point Cat card on y our Active Stack.
2. Play a Stray Cat card on another player's Active Stack.
3. Shuffle your hand into the Deck and draw 5 new cards.

The Cards

Cat Cards These are cards that can only be played during your turn. Cat cards are used to create new Stacks or add to existing Stacks.

There are two types of Cat cards:

Point Cat cards

These cards add points to your Stack. Each Point Cat card is assigned a value between 1 and 5. Some of them also have a special power that you can use to help you get ahead in the game!

Stray Cat cards

These cards have a point value of 0. During your Action phase, you may choose to try to play a Stray Cat card on any player's Active Stack. If no one tries to stop you by playing a Scram card, immediately take another turn.

If a Stray Cat card is added to your Stack, you may only play a 1 Point Cat card on top of it.

Reaction Cards These are cards that are never added to a Stack and are discarded immediately after use. There are two types of Reaction cards:

Steal cards

These cards may be played when another player tries to add a Point Cat card to an Active Stack. Stolen cards are immediately added to the top of your Active Stack. If you steal a card that is able to start a new Stack, immediately move your current Active Stack to the Cat Tree and start a new Stack with the stolen card.

If you try to steal a card that cannot start a new Stack, the card must be added to your Active Stack. If you cannot add the card to your Active Stack. return the card to the player who played it and discard your steal card.

A stolen card is awarded to the player who played their Steal card the fastest. If 2 or more players play a Steal card at the same time, the player whose Cat card is being stolen chooses who gets to take it.

Scram cards

These cards may be played when another player tries to play a Stray Cat card on top of an Active Stack. A Scram card sends the Stray Cat card to the Litter Box. If a Scram card is played, the player who played the Stray Cat card does not get to take another turn.