Overview

Calico is a competitive tile-laying puzzle game where players draft and place colorful patch tiles onto their personal quilt board. Each board has 3 design goal tiles that award points for meeting specific pattern or color requirements. Players also try to create groups of matching patterns to attract cats and place groups of matching colors to sew buttons. The player with the most points from design goals, cats, and buttons wins.

Components

• 4 dual-layer Quilt Boards
• 108 Patch Tiles (6 sets of 18, in 6 colors with 6 patterns)
• 6 Black & White Patch Tiles
• 24 Design Goal Tiles (4 sets of 6 in 4 player colors)
• 5 double-sided Cat Scoring Tiles
• 80 Cat Tokens
• 52 Button Tokens (8 of each color + 4 rainbow)
• 1 Button Scoring Tile
• 1 Score Pad
• 1 Master Quilter Tile
• 1 Cloth Tile Bag

Setup

Beginner Game

1. Place Millie, Tibbit, and Coconut Cat Scoring Tiles with matching Cat Tokens in the center. Return others to box.
2. Randomly assign 2 Black & White Patch Tiles to each Cat Scoring Tile.
3. Shuffle all Patch Tiles into face-down stacks (or use the bag).
4. Place Button Scoring Tile and Button Tokens centrally.
5. Each player gets a Quilt Board and 6 Design Goal Tiles in their color.
6. Place the not-equal, AA-BB-CC, and AAA-BBB Design Goal Tiles on your board (return others to box).
7. Each player draws 2 Patch Tiles into their hand.
8. Reveal 3 Patch Tiles as the market.
9. Most recent cat-petter goes first.

Standard Game

Use all 6 Cat Scoring Tiles and choose which 3 Design Goal Tiles to place on your board from your set of 6.

Turn Structure

On your turn:

1. Place a Patch Tile: Take 1 tile from your hand and place it on any empty space on your quilt board.
2. Draft a Patch Tile: Take 1 tile from the market into your hand.
3. Refill the Market: Draw a new tile from the stacks/bag to refill the market to 3.

The game ends when all players have filled their quilt boards.

Actions

Placing Tiles

Choose any empty space on your board. Orientation does not matter since tiles have a single color and pattern.

Attracting Cats

Each cat has a specific pattern requirement shown on its Cat Scoring Tile. When you create a group of adjacent tiles matching that cat’s pattern requirement, place a Cat Token on those tiles.

Cat requirements vary — some need a specific arrangement of patterns (e.g., 3 tiles of pattern A and 3 of pattern B adjacent, any colors), while others require specific combinations.

Each cat can only be attracted once per board. A group of tiles can only attract one cat.

Sewing Buttons

When you create a group of 3 or more adjacent tiles of the same color, place a Button Token matching that color on the group. Each group scores 3 points per button.

Rainbow buttons: If all 8 buttons of a color are taken, use rainbow buttons instead.

Design Goal Tiles

Each design goal tile sits on a specific space and defines a requirement for the 6 tiles surrounding it. Requirements involve specific patterns or color combinations. Points are awarded at game end if requirements are met.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

End-Game Scoring

1. Design Goal Tiles: Score each goal tile based on whether surrounding tiles meet its requirement. Point values vary by goal (shown on tile).
2. Cats: Score points shown on the Cat Scoring Tile for each cat attracted (typically 3-11 points each).
3. Buttons: 3 points per button placed on your quilt.
4. Sum all points. Highest total wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Adjacent means sharing a side on the hex-like quilt grid (not diagonal).
• A tile group can only satisfy one cat — you cannot attract the same cat twice.
• You must always place a tile and draft a tile; no passing.
• In the beginner game, specific Design Goal Tiles and Cat Scoring Tiles are used to simplify play.
• The Master Quilter Tile variant adds an additional challenge for experienced players.
• Solo mode is supported with specific solo rules.
• Tiles have 6 colors and 6 patterns, creating 36 unique color-pattern combinations.

Player Reference

Turn Summary: Place 1 tile → Draft 1 tile from market → Refill market

Scoring Summary:

Category	Points
Design Goals	Varies (per goal tile)
Cats	Varies (per cat scoring tile, typically 3-11 each)
Buttons	3 points per button

Cats (Beginner Game): | Cat | Requirement | |—–|————-| | Millie | See Cat Scoring Tile | | Tibbit | See Cat Scoring Tile | | Coconut | See Cat Scoring Tile |