Calico

Prepare the table

Give each person a quilt board and six matching design-goal tiles. Shuffle each player's goals, reveal four, and choose three for the board's three marked spaces. Choose one cat scoring tile from each dot-number group and randomly choose its face; give each cat two random black-and-white pattern tiles, using all six patterns. Put matching cat tokens and the button reference nearby.

Bag all 108 patch tiles. Each player draws two for a private hand; reveal three as the shared market. Choose a starting player. Read the three cat shapes or group sizes, their values, and everyone's goal requirements before playing.

Play a turn

On your clockwise turn place one of your two hand tiles in any empty quilt space. Check for new cats and buttons immediately. Then take one of the three market tiles into your hand and refill that market slot. Placed tiles cannot move.

A connected group of at least three tiles of one color earns one matching button, worth three points. Printed border tiles may help. Growing that group earns no additional button; a separate group can. Collect one button in each of the six colors to earn a rainbow button, also worth three.

For a cat, make its shown shape or minimum connected size using just one of its two assigned patterns. Rotate a shape if needed and include printed border tiles. Take a cat token worth the value on its card. A touching extension of the same pattern does not earn another cat; another token requires a separate group. Colors do not matter for cats.

Finish and score

After everyone places their twenty-second patch, quilts are full. Score each design goal from its six surrounding patches. Meet the printed grouping using colors or using patterns for the smaller value; meet it independently with both for the larger value only. For example AA-BB-CC requires three different pairs, with no requirement that a pair touch. Add cat values and three per button, including rainbow buttons. Most points wins, then most cat tokens, then most buttons; share any remaining tie.

Host the first game

Show how one patch can help a color group, a cat pattern and a neighboring design goal at once. In the Reddit Sagrada/Azul/Tiny Towns comparison, players describe Calico as a demanding puzzle despite its inviting appearance. Explain that completing every goal is not a requirement; deliberately abandoning one can be the useful move.

Already know the game?

Ideas & Twists

Choose a variation together before you start.