A HISTORICAL ESPIONAGE STRATEGY GAME INSPIRED BY DECLASSIFIED OPERATIONS

CATASTROPHE game box
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Be the least INCOMPETENT AGENT
In a mission Destined to fail!

🕵️ 2–4 AGENTS |⏱️ 90–120 MIN |🧠 MED-WEIGHT

THE MISSION

Rival CIA agents are tasked with eliminating Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

THE PROBLEM

It's an impossible mission and everyone except your superiors knows failure is inevitable.

1. PLAN ABSURD OPERATIONS

Plan the HONEYPOT, EXPLODING CIGARS, POISON SWIMSUIT, and more outlandish plots!

2. MANIPULATE SUSPICION

Redirect Castro’s security toward your rivals’ plans and AVOID THE BLAME at all costs!

THREE EASY STEPS...
COUNTLESS WAYS TO FAIL

SO DONT MESS UP.. BUT IF YOU DO.. BLAME SOMEONE ELSE

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

1. HEADLINE DEBRIEFING PHASE

Reveal event from history that impacts the game state

2. RESOURCE ACQUISITION PHASE

Spend dice to acquire the Resources for your mission.

3. STRATEGIC PLANNING PHASE

Players plan Operations and manipulate Castro’s Suspicion Level across Cuba’s seven Regions.

4. MOVEMENT ASSESSMENT PHASE

Reveal which Region Castro moves into.

5. DEPLOYMENT EXECUTION PHASE

Attempt to deploy your Operations while navigating Fidel's suspicion and possibly your fellow AGENTS...

The Mission's Termination

THE GAME ENDS ONCE AN ATTEMPT OCCURS IN EACH REGION.
HEAD OFFICE WILL THEN AUDIT YOUR PERFORMANCE.

RESOURCES TO USE AT YOUR DISPOSAL

153 Deeply Thematic Cards

60 Material - 39 Intel - 13 Operative
7 Movement - 7 Headline - 20 Government Checks

67 Colorful Dice

40 Colored D6
7 Black D8
20 Grey D6

68 Casino Style Tokens & Trackers

36 Operation Tokens - 8 Player Tokens
21 Security, Strength & Conflict -3 Track Tokens

6 Key Mission Elements

1 Game Board
1 Rulebook
4 Player Aids

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

THE DECLASSIFICATION

Operation Mongoose began with a truth stranger than anything we could have invented:
a real government program filled with improbable schemes, ambitious objectives, questionable judgment, and enough paperwork to conceal nearly any mistake.As we studied the operation, we stopped seeing only spies and political leaders. We began seeing managers, committees, impossible deadlines, shifting priorities, office rivalries, and employees desperately trying to survive their next performance review.In CATASTROPHE: Operation Mongoose, players are not simply rewriting history. They are navigating its office politics—competing for Resources, launching questionable Operations, managing suspicion, claiming credit, and ensuring failure becomes someone else’s responsibility.Every disaster becomes a meeting, every mistake becomes a metric, and every failed mission becomes an opportunity for professional development.

We blurred the lines between what we're told and the humor of what we heard.

Tap the Rulebook to view the rules & download!

Leather looking notebook that when clicked will open the Rules to Catastrophe Operation Mongoose the boardgame

Like the plans from the mission, we aren't perfect, but here are the corrections!

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MAKING STRANGE HISTORY

MAKING STRANGE HISTORY
GAME WORTHY

GAME WORTHY

Whippin 8s Games began with two things we love:
HISTORY AND BOARD GAMES!

We’re inviting you to travel with us through time and space, revisiting remarkable events through a completely different, and occasionally ridiculous lens.Our goal is simple: to create games we’re proud to put on your table and that you and your friends will still want to play for years to come.We’re proud to begin this journey with our first crowdfunded game, CATASTROPHE: Operation Mongoose.
And we’re only getting started—EMU and KHANDEMNED IN DEVELOPMENT!Pull up a chair, join the adventure, and help us build what comes next.

Rules FAQ

Click Here for the rules

  1. Headline Event #4 — "Materials only acquired during Resource Acquisitions with 2-6"

  • While this Event is active, the minimum pip cost to acquire a Material Card is a 2-pip die.

  1. William Harvey's Operative Bonus

  • William Harvey allows you to plan up to 2 Operations with his single Operative Card.
    You may discard two separate sets of Materials/Checks to plan 2 Operations, and they may be 2 different Operation types.

  1. Allen Dulles' Operative Bonus

  • Take a Government Check from the supply.

  1. Operative Bonuses that state "+1 die when planning…"

  • Immediately after planning the Operation that grants the +1 die, place a die showing 1 pip in the slot beneath your Operation on the map.
    This die is simply a tracker to help you remember how many bonus dice you will receive during the Deployment Attempt in that Region.
    If you later acquire the same Operative and plan the same Operation again (increasing its Operational Strength), rotate the die to show 2 pips as a reminder that you now receive 2 extra bonus dice during the Deployment Attempt.
    Continue rotating the die up as the bonus grows.

  1. Advancing along the Demerit Track

  • Players can never gain positive points. Whenever a rule says a Player receives a Demerit, that Player's Demerit Token always advances further along the negative direction of the Demerit Track.

  1. Just The Tip — Operation Recipe in Rulebook

  • There is a misprint in the printed rulebook: the recipe shows a purple square but no poison bottle icon. Just The Tip does require a Poison Material Card.
    The Player Aid shows the correct recipe including the poison bottle icon.

  1. Ties in a Deployment Attempt

  • If both sides roll an equal number of successes, the entire Deployment Attempt is re-rolled. All Intel Cards played during the attempt are lost and discarded, but Dice Modifier cards remain in effect
    (for example, if a Player or Castro has a re-roll Dice Modifier, they may use it again).

  1. Acquiring Materials in the Resource Acquisition Phase

  • The rules state that multiple dice may be combined to acquire Resources, except for Materials. In other words, you may only ever use a single die to acquire Materials.
    For example, you cannot combine two 3-pip dice into a 6-pip total to take 2 Materials from the Material Marketplace.

  1. Trading and Exchanging Resources

  • Trades with other Players and exchanges with the supply may be made during both the Resource Acquisition Phase and Strategic Planning Phase on the active Player's turn.

  1. Planning into a No-Conflict Region

  • You may plan Operations into a Region containing a No-Conflict Token.
    A No-Conflict Token simply marks that Castro moved into the Region on a previous round and there were no Operations in the region, so no Deployment Attempt occurred.
    It does not lock the Region or prevent future planning.

JOIN US IN WHAT COMES NEXT!!!

CATASTROPHE: Operation Mongoose is only the beginning.We have more incredible stories to uncover,
more history to bring to your table,
and many new games waiting to be created.
By joining us, you’re not simply following what comes next,
YOU'RE HELPING MAKE IT POSSIBLE!Together, we can bring history into the present
and build our future as game designers, publishers,
and friends around the table.

JOIN US IN WHAT COMES NEXT!!!

CATASTROPHE: Operation Mongoose is only the beginning.We have more incredible stories to uncover, more history to bring to your table, and many new games waiting to be created.By joining us, you’re not simply following what comes next,
YOU'RE HELPING MAKE IT POSSIBLE!Together, we can bring history into the present
and build our future as game designers, publishers,and friends around the table.