Rattus

About this board game

Rattus is a medium-strategy game for 2–4 players that takes about 45 minutes, set in Europe during the Black Death of 1347. As the plague spreads across the continent, players settle different regions and struggle to keep their populations alive.

Over the next 4–5 years, the disease will halve Europe’s population. Each player seeks help from the classes of the Middle Ages, but no role can guarantee safety when the rats arrive. The plague makes no distinction, turning every region into a potential threat.

• Peasants provide population growth.
• Monks help keep the rats away.
• Merchants flee when the plague approaches.
• Knights spread the plague to new areas through warfare.
• Witches use magic and witchcraft to control its spread.
• Kings avoid the plague by remaining in fortified palaces.

Players must decide how to use these different forms of assistance while the disease continues its relentless advance. Farmers, magicians, knights, nobles, and other medieval figures can help hold off the infection, but the rats keep coming and no one remains completely secure.

When the plague finally withdraws and the game ends, the winner is the player with the highest surviving population. Rattus combines a dramatic historical setting with accessible strategic choices, asking players to balance growth, protection, and the danger of spreading disease across Europe.