BoardGameArchiveThe Isle of Cats Scoring: Families, Lessons, Rats, Rooms & Treasures
Understand The Isle of Cats base-game final scoring for cat families, rare treasures, Lessons, visible rats, unfilled rooms and the standard tiebreak.
The Isle of Cats scores after day 5. Positive points come mainly from cat families, rare treasures and Lessons; visible rats and unfilled rooms subtra
The Isle of Cats scores after day 5. Positive points come mainly from cat families, rare treasures and Lessons; visible rats and unfilled rooms subtract points.
Key takeaway
Understand The Isle of Cats base-game final scoring for cat families, rare treasures, Lessons, visible rats, unfilled rooms and the standard tiebreak.
About this guide
Original rules, scoring explanations, related links and editorial references are retained in the sections below.
Topics covered
Cat families
A family is a group of at least 3 orthogonally touching cats of the same color. A family of 3/4/5/6 cats scores 8/11/15/20 points, and each additional cat beyond 6 adds 5 more points. Separate groups of the same color score as separate families.
Oshax
Each Oshax takes a chosen cat color when placed. Use that assigned color when determining family membership and any compatible Lesson conditions.
Rare treasures
Each rare treasure on your boat is worth 3 points in the standard base-game scoring system. Common treasures mainly help fill space and cover maps/rats rather than scoring this same fixed bonus.
Lessons
Add points from every personal/public Lesson you satisfy. Lesson text adds to normal scoring; it does not replace the standard rat, room or family rules unless it explicitly says otherwise.
Visible rats: −1 each
For every rat symbol still visible on your boat at game end, lose 1 point.
Unfilled rooms: −5 each
A room is filled only when none of its squares remain visible. Lose 5 points for each room that is not completely filled.
Highest score wins
Add all positive categories and subtract penalties. Use the standard rulebook’s tiebreak procedure if final totals are equal.