Pack the Essentials

About this board game

Pack the Essentials is a lightweight abstract strategy game for 1–4 players, with plays lasting about 30 minutes. Across twelve rounds, players draft and place tiles in their suitcases while working to score the most points.

Your suitcase becomes the focus of a careful packing challenge. Use tiles to pack items, cats, and kittens, while also collecting cat toys and making use of the friendly neighborhood Pack Rat Service.

Scoring opportunities come from several parts of play. Players attempt to complete “To Do” list goals and create the largest sections of each color tile, adding competing priorities to every drafting and placement decision.

• Draft and place tiles in your suitcase.
• Pack items, cats, and kittens.
• Collect cat toys and use the Pack Rat Service.
• Complete “To Do” list goals.
• Create the largest sections of each color tile.

When fewer than four people are playing, The Cat Ladies Club joins the game as a simple AI opponent. It removes tiles from the draft pool just as other players do, creating the sensation of a four-player game while preserving the central drafting challenge.

After the twelfth round, players total their points. The player with the most points wins. With its compact play time, accessible premise, and multiple ways to pursue points, Pack the Essentials offers a focused packing puzzle for solo and multiplayer games.