# Boop

## Game Overview

**"boop."** is a deceptively cute, oh-so-snoozy strategy game. Players compete to place their cats on a quilted bed, pushing other pieces out of the way.

- **Players:** 2
- **Ages:** 10+
- **Play Time:** 15–20 minutes

## Components

- 1 Quilted Fabric Board (the "Bed") — 6×6 grid
- 8 White Kittens and 8 White Cats
- 8 Black Kittens and 8 Black Cats

## Objective

Be the first player to line up **three Cats** in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) on the 6×6 grid.

## Setup

- Each player takes their 8 Kittens into their personal supply.
- Cats are kept off to the side until a player "graduates" their Kittens.
- The board starts empty.

## How to Play

On your turn, perform the following steps:

### 1. Placing Pieces

Place one Kitten from your supply onto any empty space on the bed.

### 2. The "Boop" Mechanic

Placing a piece causes a **"boop."** Every piece (yours or your opponent's) in the 8 spaces immediately surrounding the piece you just played is pushed one space away from the placed piece.

- **Chain Reactions:** A "booped" piece does **not** cause another boop. Only the piece being *placed* triggers boops.
- **Obstructions:** If there is a piece behind the piece being booped (i.e., the space it would be pushed into is occupied), the boop does not happen — both pieces stay put.
- **Falling off the Bed:** If a piece is booped off the edge of the 6×6 grid, it is returned to its owner's supply.

### 3. Kittens vs. Cats (The Hierarchy)

- **Kittens** can boop other Kittens.
- **Kittens** **cannot** boop Cats.
- **Cats** can boop both Kittens and other Cats.

## Graduation (Getting Cats)

To win, you need Cats. You obtain Cats by lining up Kittens:

1. **Three in a Row:** If you line up three of your Kittens in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), they "graduate."
2. **The Process:** Remove the three Kittens from the board and return them to the box. Replace them in your personal supply with three **Cats**.
3. **Multiple Rows:** If placing a piece creates multiple rows of three, you graduate all pieces involved in those rows.
4. **The 8-Piece Rule:** If a player has all 8 of their pieces on the board (a mix of Kittens and Cats) and no one has three-in-a-row, the player must graduate one of their Kittens on the board into a Cat to free up a piece.

## How to Win

A player wins immediately when they get **three Cats in a row** on the bed (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally).

> **Note:** If you line up three Cats during a Kitten graduation move (e.g., three Cats are moved into a row because of a Kitten being placed), you also win.

## Strategy Tips

Because every move pushes other pieces away, players must think several steps ahead to "trap" their own pieces into a row while knocking their opponent's pieces off the board or out of alignment.