The Cat's Meow

While there are a number of new board games being made today that could be completely abstract, just about every game now has some kind of theme at least draped over the top. There might be room to argue whether this actually adds to the value or appeal of the average game. But one game where it clearly does is Calico.

Calico is a tile drafting game. Each player has a small double-layered board in front of them, with sockets to place 22 hex-shaped tiles. Every turn, you place one of two tiles from your hand somewhere onto your board, then draft one of three face-up tiles to replenish your hand for the next time your turn comes around.

Each tile has two characteristics: color and pattern. (There are six different colors, and six different patterns.) Three scoring spots on your board are looking for specific tiles to be placed in the 6 adjacent spaces -- two sets of three, three pairs, or some other requirement. They score you one lower point reward for fulfilling the requirement with either color or shape, and a second higher value if you manage to satisfy both color and shape.

Meanwhile, there are additional goals to chase. Every set of 3 adjacently placed colors nets you a 3-point bonus chip for the end of the game. And then there are 3 special conditions (different in each game) that ask for specific configurations of patterns somewhere on your board to earn still more bonus points. In the end, the player who has best juggled the fulfillment of multiple criteria at the same time will score the most points and win the game.

That's the rules-oriented explanation of what's going on in Calico. You could probably put any number of flavorful scenarios on top of that rules set. But the one chosen by designer Kevin Russ is definitely going to get more eyeballs on the game: each hex tile is a piece of a quilt. You're trying to assemble a quilt in a pleasing pattern that attracts cats to come nap on it.

You could argue that this is a cheap trick, using cats to attract gamers. But at least it's in service of a pretty good game. Squint enough, and you could argue that there's similarity here to Sagrada, another game that's fundamentally asking you to arrange things with two aspects on a board in point-qualifying patterns. But while the nature of the task may be similar, there are many meaningful differences in the gameplay of Calico. (Also, I happen to love Sagrada, and don't object to there being another "variant" of it.)

Calico plays quite fast. Even though players take turns in sequence, there usually isn't much down time between turns (even with the maximum 4 players). There's an interesting decision arc here that helps that pace: early on, it's fairly easy to draft tiles, since you can imagine anything working somewhere on your board; later on, you're looking to fill specific holes with specific things, so you will eagerly snatch them up if they're available.

There's some great art design here by Beth Sobel. It addresses color-blindness in a clever way that still works even though the normal method for helping -- pattern -- is another facet of the gameplay. There are also some adorable illustrations of sleeping cats, all based on that actual pets of different people who worked on the game. My only objection with the art? The game is called Calico, but the cat featured on the cover looks like a tabby to me.

If it's a contest, I don't think Calico is going to displace Sagrada for me. But I also don't think it has to be a contest. I'd certainly like to play Calico more. I think it deserves at least a B+, and I could see myself growing to like it even more as I replay it. (For one thing, I still need to win it some time; my regular gaming group includes some skilled "spatial thinkers" that consistently do well at these sorts of games, which makes any victory a real triumph.) So here, kitty, kitty... I have a warm, fluffy quilt for you to nap on!