If you are reading these rules for the first time, you may skip the highlighted summary boxes. These serve as a quick reference to jump back into the game at any time.
🦋 Caterpillars 🐛
The sun is shining an the trees are bursting into leave. In your backyard
three hungry caterpillars gear up for a leafy lunch. Feed them with care:
only the one who's eaten their fill, no more and no less, will take flight.
Game Components
1× Scorepad with 3 caterpillars
1× action die (Expert level)
Overview
In Caterpillars, you roll the dice to feed your hungry caterpillars. Choose
the best way to use your rolls and aim for the highest score. The game offers
4 difficulty levels. In its simplest form, it's perfect for young children
(suitable from age 5 or 6, depending on their math skills).
Or step it up a few notches and play all the way to EXPERT level!
Game Setup
In 2 or 3 preparatory rounds, the blank label fields (...) on the three caterpillars are filled with die rolls.
Prepare the game as follows
- Give every player a scoresheet and a pen.
-
Each of the 3 caterpillars on your scoresheet has 4 boxes (12 in total).
6 Of these boxes are already labeled with a number (1, 2, 5, or 6).
Let's assign numbers to the 6 blank labels (...) on your sheet:
-
Roll the 3 regular dice. All players will label 3 of their blank labels with
the 3 rolled values (each die value goes to one label).
- Keep rolling and filling in labels until all score boxes have a label.
-
Take the 3 regular dice, unless you are playing the BEGINNER level,
then take 2 regular dice. The action die is only used at EXPERT level.
At all other levels, you can leave it in the box.
- Hand the dice to the yooungest player: they are the starting player.
✨ Setup Variation
To add an extra challenge, you can use this setup variation for step 2
in the INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED, or EXPERT levels:
Roll all 3 regular dice. Choose 1 die and assign its value to a blank
label. Then, add up the values of the other 2 dice, and assign that total
to another blank label. Each player will use the same dice values, but may choose how to
group and assign the dice values themselves.
💡 Note: The value you assign to a label may now be higher than 6.
Scoresheet
Your scorepad features 3 caterpillars: Alex (Green), Bobby (Blue), and Charlie (Purple).
Each caterpillar contains 4 score boxes.
1
Pre labeled boxes
Six of these are already labeled.
2
Blank Label Slots (...)
The other 6 score boxes are labeled during setup.
3
Sum Boxes (=)
Below each caterpillar you'll total score...
4
Bonus Boxes (A, B, C)
... and fill in their linked
Bonus box (ADVANCED and EXPERT level only)
5
Final Scoring Track
At the end of the game the caterpillar with the median total will be your final score.
Game overview
The game lasts 12 rounds. Each round, dice are rolled and all players simultaneously score points on their caterpillars.
The core gameplay for each difficulty level is the same:
- The game is played over 12 rounds.
- Each round, the next player clockwise rolls the dice once.
-
Each player records one score per round in one of the 12 score boxes
on their caterpillars. At the ADVANCED and EXPERT levels, players may also fill in
one of the 3 Bonus boxes (A, B, and C).
-
After all 12 round, it's time for final scoring and t� determine the winner.
More about scoring later, but to give you an impression:
You'll score based on the caterpillar with the median total, not the highest
or lowest.
Base game: BEGINNER
Let's start with the Beginner level, which is the foundation for the other levels.
You'll only need 2 regular dice; the action die is not used.
Each round, you'll choose one of the rolled dice as your score,
and use the other die to determine where to place it. To assign
your score, look for an empty box labeled with the number on the other die.
This can be a pre-printed label or one you assigned during setup.
If multiple labels match your die, you're free to choose the one
that suits you best. If there's no empty score box with a matching label or no score box witth
that label at all, you must write a zero in an empty score box of your choice.
When all 12 score boxes are filled, continue with scoring.
Example
You rolled a 3 and a 5:
- You choose to use the 5 as your score.
-
That means the 3 determines where to place it. You must find an
empty box labeled 3 and wrtie the score (5) there.
Scoring
After 12 rounds, all 12 boxes are filled. Only the caterpillar with the median score + its bonus box wins!
After 12 rounds, each of your 3 caterpillars will have all 4 score boxes filled with scores.
Now it's time to see which one takes the flight!
-
Add up total score for each caterpillar, and write the totals in the
=, =, =)
boxes on your scoresheet
-
Strike out the caterpillar with highest and lowest totals.
In case a tie, choose which caterpillar to strike out.
-
the remaining caterpillar is the one that takes flight. Write its
score in the = box on the bottom line of your scoresheet.
-
If the Bonus box linked to the caterpillar that took flight contains a value, write
it as a bunus in the ABC box on the bottom line.
-
Add upt the =box an the ABC box to
get your end total.
The player with the highest end total wins. In case of a tie, the tied
player with the highest combined score across all 12 score boxes wins.
Level 2: Intermediate
At the intermediate level, add the
third regular die and roll all 3 dice
together each round. Most of what you've learned in the base game still applies, but now each
round, you must choose whether to...
-
Use 2 dice to create your score (by adding them together),
and use the third die to determine which empty box to assign that score to
or
-
Use 2 dice to determine the box label (by adding them togehter),
and use the third die as your score.
This new rule gives you a lot of extra options each round. It also means the scores you
assign can now be higher than 6. And if you're using the Setup variation described earlier, you
may even need to combine 2 dice just to assign a score to a box with a label higher than 6!
Example
You roll 2, 3, and 6.
-
You could add 2 + 3 = 5 to get your score, and assign it
to an empty box labeled 6.
-
Or, you could add 3 + 6 = 9 to determine the box label, and
place the remaining value (2) as your score in an empty box labeled 9
(this of course only works when you use the setup variation).
Level 3: Advanced
At the Advanced level we introduce the 3 Bonus boxes, labeled
A, B and C. You'll find them below the regular scoring boxers on the scoresheet.
Each Bonus box is linked to one of your caterpillars.
Each round, you may choose to assign the value of one of the 3 rolled dice to an
empty Bonus box (A, B, or C). If you do, that die is no longer
available to you this round, and you'll continue the turn using only the
remaining 2 dice (like in the base game).
At the end of the game, the score of the Bonus box linked to the caterpillar that takes
flight will be added to your final score.
💡 Note:
You may fill in only one Bonus box per round, and
each Bonus box can only be used once in each game.
Example
You roll 2, 3, and 5.
You decide to assing the 5 to Bonus box A. That leaves you
with 2 and 3 for this round. You choose to score 3 and assign it to a box
labeld 2. After the final round, your caterpiller A(lex) takes flight and you
add the 5 points from Bonus box A to your final score.
Level 4: Expert
At the EXPERT level, you'll use all 3 regular dice plus the action die,
which adds a new twist to each round. The action die has 6 unique faces:
A, B, C, 2x, 10, and Butterfly
Each round, roll 4 dice together. The action die introduces a special effect,
explained below. You all use the same action die result, but how it affects each of you may differ,
especially when it references your personal Bonus box.
-
The action die takes on the value written in your Bonus box A, B, or C. If the referenced Bonus box is
empty, the die is not relevant for you this round (you'll still pay with the 3 regular dice).
-
Choose any one of the other 3 dice and treat its value as doubled for this round.
-
The action die counts as a fourth die with a fixed value of 10.
-
You may write the total value of all the available dice into any empty box of your choice.
💡
At this level, you have 4 dice available if you roll A, B, C, or 10. This means you must use 1, 2, or even 3 dice to
choose a box or determine the score. Note that you may not, in the same turn, both write a number in a Bonus box
and use that Bonux box's value.
Example
You roll 2, 5, 6, and the Butterfly.
You decide to assing the 6 to Bonus box C. Using the Butterfly,
you write the total value of the remaining two dice (2 + 5 = 7) in any empty box of your choice, ignoring the
label.
Next round, you roll 1, 2, 2, and a C.
Not a great roll, but the action die shows C,
meaning you can use the 6 stored in Bonus box C as an extra 6 die value.
You now have 1, 2, 2, and 6 to play with, and choose to score 2 + 2 + 6 = 10 points in an empty box labeled 1.
❌ Crossing out a box (0 Points):
If a player cannot make a valid placement, they must cross out any open score box with a 0.
Note (Levels 3 & 4): Even if you cannot match any score box and must enter a 0, you are still allowed to assign a die value to an open Bonus box in the same round!