Returning to Play Calico and Cozying Up with Quilting
Craft colorful and cozy quilts from bright patterns to complete challenges and attract all the cats with Calico.
My shelves house plenty of unplayed or underplayed solo games, and it felt like the right time to take a closer look at a loose trilogy. Calico, Cascadia, and Verdant have lots in common with their designs, and each one is beautiful! I went back to the very beginning to see how my quilting skills have evolved… Or devolved, as is more common. Ha!
Game Overview
Game Name: Calico
Publication Year: 2020
Designer: Kevin Russ
Artist: Beth Sobel
Publishers: Alderac Entertainment Group & Flatout Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Such a lovely experience! The goal is to place tiles in specific patterns to sew bonus buttons and see cats flock to certain areas. Scenarios provide different challenges with goals, which increase in difficulty over time. It’s all very calm, relaxing, and quick… An excellent cozy time!
First Play
August 20, 2020
Complexity
2
Latest Play
December 9, 2023
Expansions
1
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
26
Play Time
15 Minutes
High Score
72
Game Area
18" x 18"
Low Score
37
Cozying Up for a Nap
The box cover is absolutely adorable, and I wanted to make sure I managed to capture the most cozy pose possible. The tile draw bag served as an extra quilt!
I loved playing through this one in the past, although it’s been years since I brought it back to my table.
With so many new releases all the time, this is a hobby that often isn’t the best in terms of getting games back to the table consistently. Yet it’s still a fun element!
It was lovely to see the components again as I went through the rules quickly, ready to be a master quilter.
Solo Scenario Fun
Although it’s possible to play with randomized elements, the set of scenarios is my favorite way to play. These start off relatively easy, and then get progressively harder.
It isn’t exactly a campaign, though, as this is a game more about solving puzzles or making the most of the tiles.
With years since my last play, I started off at the lowest level to make sure I remembered some of the strategies!
Having some parameters in place can be a great way to enjoy a solo game, too, as there is a definite victory condition to strive towards. Maybe I would get lucky… Ha!
Planning a Quilt
The empty board at the start provides a few connection points on the exterior, along with design goal tiles.
Figuring out how to meet these requirements is a lot trickier than it first might appear. There are also intersecting points to think about and how those interact.
Buttons come into play when 3 or more tiles of the same color are connected, and cats show up when specific patterns are created. Lots to consider from the start!
I was reminded that with all of the busy patterns and bright colors, I sometimes can’t see everything clearly.
A Mediocre Outing
My first attempt should have been pretty easy, yet dark blue tiles almost never showed up. Without that button, I missed the requirement to sew on a rainbow button.
This quilt might look lovely, yet I had trouble seeing the tiles underneath the button and cat tokens. So cute, though! But the visuals weren’t really working for me.
I was also surprised by the amount of luck, since there was no way to cycle out the available tiles for the round.
Many of my decisions were about making the best of bad choices, rather than focusing on a winning strategy.
Finding the Right Balance of Luck and Strategy
Lately, I’ve found myself being a little pickier about the amount of sheer luck I depend on in some solo games. There are some that are made even better with luck, so I’m not against it entirely! Yet it’s important to figure out how to make strategic decisions and learn over time. Striking the middle ground is going to be different for everyone.
I loved this one for a time, and had it not been succeeded by others that refined the mechanics, it would likely stick around longer. But for me, it shows some early design decisions that make luck a little too important. If I can’t find a dark blue tile at all, I can’t really work on getting better… I just need to draw the right tiles! Ha ha!
Earning the Award
Much better! When the tiles were in my favor, I managed to add lots of buttons and bring over the cats. Fantastic!
This was a much better feeling, although I’m not one who loves experiences where luck plays such a major role.
I possibly made better decisions this time, yet a lot of my scoring came down to the right tiles coming out early on. It’s hard to do well when nothing is working out.
This might also explain why I gravitated away from this game. It’s lovely and oh-so-cozy, but as the first game in this trilogy, it doesn’t have the benefit of refinement.
Another Failed Project
Confident in what I accomplished with that victory, I moved onto the next scenario. Another disaster for me!
This time, the tile patterns were the real problem. I think I might have made a mistake with a cat token, too, looking at how Tibbit shows up on adjacent tiles. Still a loss!
Are dark blue tiles just rare? Once again, I didn’t see many show up in the available row during play. The cats must have stolen them all to make me confused. Ha ha!
All in all, this is definitely a wonderful sort of game, yet I’m content knowing I spent enough time with it.
Session Overview
Play Number: 24-26
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Scenarios 1 & 2
Outcome: 47, 65, 54 (1 Win & 2 Losses)
Maybe the cats themselves were being mischievous… I ran into some situations where I could have placed a cat token with a different tile pattern! Although I wasn’t too thrilled about the luck element and my own issues with the visuals, there were definitely fun moments. As I said, I decided to play through the others in this trilogy to see which ones I might like… Good news is coming up next!
%
20 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
3
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
6
+ Pros (Positives)
- Gameplay is generally relaxing with a very calm sort of theme and goal of making a quilt for cats to hang out on.
- Scenarios present different challenges and goals that get progressively more difficult to complete.
- Play time moves along pretty quickly with lots of decisions, but not too many rounds require endless thinking.
- Cats provide a wonderful visual element that brings a bit more personality to the overall game experience.
- The dual-layered player board is an excellent way to keep all of the tiles organized from beginning to end.
- Although there are a decent number of icons, the rulebook is very clear with definitions and visual examples.
– Cons (Negatives)
- There is a great deal of luck in the tiles that are available, yet without a way to cycle them out, bad luck is a focus.
- Buttons and cats look adorable on the quilt, but they’re on the larger side and can obscure the tiles underneath.
- Although the colors and patterns are very different, the visually busy play area can make it hard to tell these apart.
- It can feel like there are too many things to keep track of with design tiles, cat tiles, buttons, and scenario goals.
Victory Conditions
Meet the Scenario Requirements
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete scenario 1.
Complete scenario 2.
Complete scenario 3.
Complete scenario 4.
Score at least 40 points.
Score at least 50 points.
Score at least 60 points.
Score at least 70 points.
Continue the Conversation
What are your favorite things about Calico? Have you completed all of the scenarios? This is a beautiful and cozy sort of puzzle that I still highly recommend! My time with it may be over, yet it was enjoyable and introduced me to this trilogy. Now, onto the other games in this series… Off to explore nature, and then create a house filled with plants!
It’s been a few years since I played Calico, but I do intend to pull it out soon and try out the scenarios! (I haven’t done any of them yet.)
My favorite game of this trio would be Verdant, just because I love plants and those little leaf and pot meeples. I did start the scenario for that game and really enjoyed it!
While I’m at it, I’ll also have to play Cascadia again and the new expansion.
I hope you have a great time with the scenarios! Great notes about the other games in this trilogy. No surprise here that I’ll have some upcoming posts about the others. I think everyone will have their preferences, yet each one is great in its own way. Hurray for these beautiful, cozy games!
What do you mean by “way to cycle out the available tiles”? In Calico solo you’re supposed to discard one tile from the market every round, so they change fairly quickly.
Correct, they do change with the conveyor belt method in solo, but I often run into the issue of not having any good choices with the new tiles drawn. It makes for some interesting decisions in terms of which tiles to choose knowing that the furthest one will be discarded each round, though!