How to Play Cat in the Box: Tricks, Color Declarations & Paradoxes
Cat in the Box is a trick-taking game where cards have numbers but no fixed color until they are played. Each declaration occupies one number-color space on a shared research board, so every card played reduces future possibilities.
Scope: Bezier Games Deluxe Edition.
Predict your tricks before play
At round setup, record how many tricks you expect to win. Hitting that prediction later unlocks the research-board group bonus.
Play a numbered card and declare its color
When you play a card, choose a legal color for that number and place one of your tokens on the corresponding space of the shared research board. A number-color combination already occupied cannot be declared again.
Follow the lead color when possible
The declaration system tracks which colors your hand can still legally represent. When the rules establish that you no longer have the lead color available, you may declare another legal color, including trump when permitted.
Trump enters through declaration
Once trump becomes legally declared in the round, normal trick-taking hierarchy applies: trump beats non-trump, while matching lead-color cards compare their numbers.
The research board is also a scoring map
Your tokens form groups on the shared grid. If your trick prediction is correct, the size of your largest orthogonally connected token group becomes your bonus score.
A paradox ends the trick phase immediately
If you cannot legally assign a color to a card you must play because all valid number-color spaces are unavailable under the declaration rules, reveal your hand and declare a paradox. The round proceeds directly to scoring with a penalty for the paradox player.