Written and Reviewed by Chelsea Siaca

Welcome to Treasure Cats

You are playing as Treasure Hunting Cat, who is searching for the Location, the Farmstead or Junkyard, which will yield the highest valued Treasures!

Components

Treasure Cats is a very compact sized game! It has 9 scoring cards for each player and 22 cards! There are 11 different types of cards and there are 2 copies of each of those cards in the game. The top part of the same type of cards are identical to each other. Meaning,  they have the same Item with the same ability on both cards. However, the Location on the bottom half is different. You will either have a Junkyard or a Farmstead. On the top left of the cards, they will have a cathead shape with a number, which represents the value of that particular Item. On the top right, they will either have A for an Active ability or a P for a Passive ability. 

Objective

Be the first player to score 5 victory points.

Gameplay

In Treasure Cats, the amount of players will determine how many cards will be included in the game! The rules have recommendations on which of  the different cards you should include in your game.  Once you are more comfortable with the came you can mix it up.  The game kicks off by dealing 2 facedown cards to each player. Lastly, 3 cards will be dealt face-up to the middle of the play area. You are now ready to start playing Treasure Cats!!!

Each round is played in 3 phases. During Phase One starting with the first player, each player will select a Treasure Card and decide which part of their card they want to keep secret from the other players.  The players will use the other card that was dealt to them to cover either their Item or Location.   Once every player has selected their card, you move on to Phase Two – Triggering Active Abilities. During this phase each player that has chosen to display an Item with an Active ability, may use it.  

Once all the Active abilities have been triggered or players have decided not to trigger their Active abilities,  the game moves on to Phase Three – Awarding Victory Points. During this phase, all the players reveal their chosen card in its entirety.  If there are any Passive abilities, they may now be triggered. To determine which Location has the most valuable Treasures, add all the values of the Item’s the player selected for each Location. The Location that has the highest value of Items wins. The players that selected a Treasure Card with the winning Location gain 1 Victory Point.

For example: In a 5-player game, the players have selected: the Abacus with the Farmstead, the Money with the Junkyard, the Shoestring with Junkyard , the Dog Mask with the Farmstead,  and the Snow Globe with the Junkyard. The Junkyard has a Treasure value of 3 and the Farmstead has a Treasure value of 2. The players who selected the Items located at the Junkyard gain 1 Victory Point.  In addition, the player that selected the Money card, gains 1 additional Victory Point because their location won.  

If at the end of the round a player has  5 Victory Points, the game is over. If there is  a tie, the game continues until one player has more Victory Points than all the other players. 

Final Thoughts 

Treasure Cats is a quick, 22-card game that plays up to 9 players!  You can take this game with you anywhere! We traveled overseas with our copy and it was so easy to take with us. It is a quick bluffing game, where you are trying to pick the Location that has the highest Item value, without letting your opponents know what you have picked.  Since the amount of cards that are included in the game are dependent on the player count, the 3 cards in the middle will assist you in determining what potential Items and Locations could be out in play.  You also have to keep in mind the abilities that may be triggered during the game and what triggering them could mean for your Location.  You definitely have to pay attention to what you have in your hands, what others have played, and the cards in the middle.  If you don’t, you might end up losing. Treasure Cats is definitely about reading your opponents actions and using that information to make your own decisions. 

Treasure Cats is currently on Kickstarter and it has already been funded! They have already unlocked 2 stretch goals that add new cards to the game and they are close to unlocking a third card!