BLACK CAT. Memo game for 2 9 players of 4 years and older by Steffen Mühlhäuser. Game components. 5 black hats. 1 small piece of cheese

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1 BLACK CAT Memo game for 2 9 players of 4 years and older by Steffen Mühlhäuser Game components 5 black hats Spielideen und Gestaltung: Steffen Mühlhäuser Graphische Arbeiten: Steffen Mühlhäuser, Bernhard Kümmelmann Spielmaterial: Hauck Fertigung: Ludofact 2008 by Steffen-Spiele Zum Spielplatz Krastel spiele.de post@steffen spiele.de 1 small piece of cheese 1 large piece of cheese 1 piece of chocolate 1 piece of bacon 1 black cat 8 colored mice 40 bits of cheese

2 Preparation For to play Black Cat you need a flat surface of about 50 x 40 cm. One player acts as the game master. He gets the small and large piece of cheese, the piece of bacon, the piece of chocolate, the black cat, and the five black hats. Each of the other players chooses one colored mouse and receives three bits of cheese to start with. The game master keeps the remaining bits of cheese. The game master sits on one side of the game field opposite to the other players, who form a semicircle. A match of Black Cat consists of four rounds. Therefore the cat can set its traps four times. Play The cat sets its trap The cat lays out both pieces of cheese, the bacon, the chocolate, and the black cat in a line with sufficient gaps between the objects so that all mice have a clear view of their order. Behind each of the objects the cat places one of the black hats. During play the game master acts as the cat and is referred to as cat on the following pages. The other players act as mice and are referred to as mice in these instructions.

3 The cat moves the hats When the mice have thoroughly memorized the position of the five objects, the cat covers all objects with the hats and then moves two of the five hats. (perhaps three see: Degree of difficulty) A hat may be moved between two other hats or to the side next to the laid-out line. After the cat has moved both hats, it asks the mice about one of the objects. It may ask about the small or large piece of cheese, about the chocolate or about the bacon. The cat never asks the mice about itself! The cat has to ask the mice immediately after it has moved the hats. Mice on the search Have all the mice been watching closely? If a mouse knows where the item in question is, it can sit on top of the relevant hat. If a number of mice are of the same opinion, they can just sit in front of it. Only one mouse can sit on top of the hat at any one time the mouse that made the fastest decision. When moving the hats, the cat has to keep in mind the following rules: 1. The cat may only use one hand to move one hat after another. 2. The hats may not be moved too fast. All mice must be able to clearly follow the moved hat.

4 The cat lifts the hats Once all the mice have positioned themselves, the cat lifts each hat, one by one. All the mice that made the right choice get a piece of cheese from the cat s supply. All the mice sitting in front of an incorrect item each have to give the cat a piece of their cheese. Any mice sitting in front of the black cat have to give it two pieces of their cheese. Once all of the pieces of cheese have been handed out, the cat lifts the hat that had no mice chose. All five items are now visible once again and the mice return to their home at the side of the playing area.

5 Rounds two, three and four The position of the items changes when the hats are moved. The new order is the starting setup for the next round. The game is played in the same way: The mice try to memorise the new positions, the cat covers everything, moves two of the hats and asks for...? It pays to be quick! The following rule is added with the second round: The mouse that is sitting on the correct hat gets more cheese than the mice sitting in front of the hat. In the second round, this mouse gets two pieces of cheese. In the third round, the fastest mouse gets three pieces of cheese. In the fourth round, this increases to four pieces. All the other mice sitting in front of the correct hat always get a single piece of cheese. Eaten Once a mouse has lost its last piece of cheese, the cat is allowed to eat it (i.e. the token is removed from the game). End of play The mouse with the most cheese after the fourth round wins the game. If two or more mice have an equal amount of cheese, they can face each other in a fifth round play-off. After some games a different person can play the black cat. Degree of difficulty If you want to make the game more challenging, the number of moved hats can of course be increased. However, you can easily take this too far. When more than three hats are moved, most players can no longer keep track of the movements. The brain switches off and the players no longer have fun with the game. When playing with smaller children it might be sufficient to move only one hat. Furthermore, to make the game easier, you can also reduce the number of hats (and objects) to four or three. Two-player game The more mice, the more fun you will have with Black Cat. However, you can of course play the game with two players. In this case you play two matches with three rounds each. Scoring bits of cheese: A mouse at the right position scores one bit of cheese in round one, two bits of cheese in round two, and so on. The player who plays the cat in the first match plays a mouse in the second match and vice versa. After the second match the amount of cheese of both players is compared. The player who was able to steal more bits of cheese from the cat is the winner. Have fun with Black Cat!

6 atmosphere Black Cat is about memorizing objects but also about playing a role. Therefore the game strongly relies on the atmosphere between the mice and the cat. It is very important that the game master (the cat) tries to create this atmosphere. A simple sentence at the beginning of play, such as Now I am the cat and you are mice and with this nice trap I will try to catch you all! Hints for cats immediately creates suspension and attracts the attention of the mice. But keep in mind that smaller children may even be frightened of a wooden black cat that hides under one of the hats. The game master should get a feel for the situation and for how much suspension is needed. Overview Basically, the cat has quite a simple job to do as the player actually does not have to remember which object is under which hat, after he has moved them. However, it is recommendable that the cat at least knows the position of the object in question and the position of the black cat. This is especially important when mice are sitting on different hats. When the searched for object is already revealed under the first hat that the cat lifts, the suspension is immediately lost as everybody else knows that they are sitting at a wrong position. Furthermore, the cat should always lift hats first under which there are wrong objects, then lift the hat, under which there is the black cat, and only in the end lift the right hat. Degree of difficulty If you want to make the game more challenging, the number of moved hats can of course be increased. However, you can easily take this too far. When more than three hats are moved, most players can no longer keep track of the movements. The brain switches off and the players no longer have fun with the game. When playing with smaller children it might be sufficient to move only one hat. Furthermore, to make the game easier, you can also reduce the number of hats (and objects) to four or three.

7 More mice, black noses, yummy rewards Birthday party Eight mice are a lot already, but sometimes even more children come together to play. No problem everyone can join in. Any number of players is possible. A mouse can be just everything stones, small pieces of wood, or other animal figures. You can even create mice from paper or modeling clay. If the cat has no cheese left, it may of course also use fake cheese of any kind. Black nose In the German card game Schwarzer Peter, a variant of the card game Old Maid, the loser of a round gets a black spot of make up on his face. You can also do this for Black Cat. Instead of losing two bits of cheese when a player meets the black cat, the cat uses black make up to paint a black spot on the respective player s face first on the left cheek, then on the right cheek, and finally on the tip of the nose. The cat then eats a mouse with three spots. yummy Cats can be nice, too. After round three, the cat gives the mouse with the most bits of cheese a small reward. This can be cheese, chocolate, or whatever else the mouse likes best. They certainly love marshmallow mice or black licorice kittens or even other things Changing roles Very often, a grown up player will act as the cat and children will play as mice. However, many children like to play as the cat, too. There you go! The grown up player will soon realize how hard it can be to keep track of those five little black hats!