About Meow!
Meow! is a party card game by Peter C. Hayward, illustrated by Tina Bongorno and published by Jellybean Games (the boxed edition is called Meow! The Cult of Cat). It takes the idea of Mao, the card game where nobody tells you the rules, and makes it fair: every rule is on a card, each player holds a few of them, and you learn the rest by watching what other players do on their turns, or by breaking them. You are a neophyte at the Cult of Cat’s initiation. Complete the ritual without breaking a single secret rule and you are in.
The print-and-play comes in two decks: Kitten Cabal, with gentler rules for families and younger players, and The Cult of Cat, the sillier gamer version; they can be mixed. The publisher’s product page says ages 6 and up and 5 to 10 minutes; the rules, the print-and-play page and BoardGameGeek all give 3 to 12 players. It is loud and physical (expect hissing and pretend paw-licking) and good with non-gamers. The files are free for personal use on jellybean.games, so the download button goes there.
How to play in one minute
- Shuffle the rule cards. Deal 2 each with 3–5 players or 1 each with 6 or more, put 1 card face down as the draw pile and box the rest. Everyone reads their cards, then passes their whole hand to the left.
- On your turn, choose a card from your hand, read it out and play it: it states a rule of the cult, and you must perform it right now.
- Then act out any other rules you think are in the other players’ hands, in full view of everyone.
- Point to each other player in turn and ask whether you broke any of their rules. The first player who says yes reveals the broken rule; both cards go into the draw pile, you each draw a replacement, and your turn ends.
- If every player says you broke nothing, you win. Advanced modes use 13 rule cards at any player count, and Before/After cards that fix when a rule must be performed.
What’s in the PDF
- Rules: 2 pages in colour, including the accessibility note (swap out any rule a player cannot perform) and the advanced modes.
- Kitten Cabal cards: 6 Letter sheets in colour. The Cult of Cat cards: 6 Letter sheets in colour. Print either set, or both, on card stock and cut.
In the PDF
- Rules sheet (2 pages) with the advanced modes
- Kitten Cabal card set (6 pages, Letter), the family-friendly version
- The Cult of Cat card set (6 pages, Letter), the gamer version