How to Play Calico, a game of cats and quilts.
Watch the Video
Read the Rules
The aim of the game
To win, sew the cosiest quilt, to attract the most cats and score the most points.
To set up
- Give each player a board and 6 matching goal tiles - select 4 at random, choose 3 to place on the marked spaces and put the rest away.
- Lay out 3 cat tiles - Millie, Tibbet and Coconut are suggested for beginners.
- Assign each cat 2 black and white tiles at random underneath and place their corresponding cat tokens above.
- Put the patch tiles in the bag and shake ‘em up.
- Each player draws 2, then lay 3 face up to form the market.
- Place the button scoring tile and tokens nearby.
- The player who most recently pet a cat begins and play proceeds clockwise.
To play the game
Placing tiles
On your turn, choose 1 of your quilt tiles and place it on your board in any empty space.
When placing tiles you’ll aim to complete goal tiles, sew buttons and attract cats.
Completing goals
To complete a goal tile, you’ll need to completely surround it with the tiles it needs. You can complete it’s goal using colours, OR patterns. If you manage to do both, you’ll score more.
For example, if a design tile requires a set of 3, a set of 2 and a set of 1, I could surround it with 3 blue tiles, 2 yellow tiles and 1 green tile OR 3 striped tiles, 2 spotty tiles and 1 floral tile. Doing so would score me 7 points.
However, if I surrounded it with 3 blue striped tiles, 2 spotty yellow tiles and 1 green floral tile id core 11 points for completing the goal with both colours AND patterns.
Sewing buttons
To sew a button, you’ll need to make a connected group of 3 or more patches of the same colour. When you do, place a corresponding button on them.
- Tiles around your board edge can count towards this.
- You only gain a button for each separate group of tiles.
- If you have at least 1 button of each colour, sew a rainbow button on your quilt.
Attracting cats
To attract a cat, you’ll need to make a group of connected tiles, using 1 of their preferred patterns, in either their desired shape, or size, depending on the side you use. A cat’s points are shown in the top left.
For example, Millie likes spots or stripes in groups of 3. If you make a group of either, place her on it.
- Tiles around the board edge count towards this.
- If you want to attract the same cat again, you’ll need to make a separate group of tiles.
Finally, after placing a tile and checking for cats and buttons, draw a new one from the market, replacing the tile you took with one from the bag.
Game end and scoring
Take it in turns, placing tiles, sewing buttons and attracting cats until every player has completed their quilt. Then scoring begins.
Total the points of design tiles you successfully surrounded and the cats you collected,
and score 3 points for every button on your quilt.
Whoever has the most points wins! In the case of a tie, the player with the most cats on their quilt wins, if that’s tied, whoever has the most buttons wins… and if that’s tied, share the victory.
There’s also a solo and a family mode, check the rulebook for how they work.
That’s Calico, a puzzly game of kitties and quilts.
Enjoy!