The mice have been planning a big feast and are just waiting for Cora the cat to finally fall asleep. Only then can they safely scurry past Cora and fill their pantry with the best tidbits – but Cora has a sharp ear! Who will manage to get hold of the most treats?
In Miau!, the player mice want to be the first to collect ten tidbits of food without all members of their household falling prey to Cora. To set up the game, lay out 6-18 tidbit tiles (1-3 each of six types), the single cat tile, and 1-3 mouse holes (one fewer than the number of players). Each player has four mouse tokens and a score marker that moves along a track to mark the number of tidbits collected.
On a turn, a player rolls the animal die and the tidbit die, giving one of three results:
The cat's asleep: Time to get food! The first player to slap a tidbit tile matching that die scores one point.
The cat's awake: Ignore the tidbits and head home! The player who fails to slap a mouse hole flips one of his mouse tokens to the cat side.
The dog barges in: Either slap the tidbit showing on that die or slap the cat tile. Whoever slaps something first receives either one point (in the former case) or the flipping of one of his mouse tokens to the mouse side.
If all of your mouse tokens are flipped to the cat side, you're out of the game. (Remove a mouse hole to keep players scrambling.) If all but one player are eliminated, that player wins; otherwise, the first player to collect ten tidbits wins!