Quilts and Cats of Calico

Story behind the scenes

Have you heard about Quilts and Cats of Calico? What about the board game Calico?

Calico is a tile-laying board game where you compete to sew colorful quilts to attract cats. Each turn, you add a new tile to your quilt, striving to create patterns that attract cats, patch buttons, and complete different goals.

Quilts and Cats of Calico is a digital adaptation of Calico, available to play on Steam.

Long story short

Last year, Monster Couch invited us to participate in the open beta testing of Quilts and Cats of Calico on Steam. This was surprising, given that we primarily use Steam to playtest unpublished board game prototypes on Tabletop Simulator and are not avid online gamers.

Given our love for Calico, we decided to try the digital adaptation. Upon opening Quilts and Cats of Calico, we immediately noticed that the multiplayer mode was not yet available. This presented another challenge, as we are not used to playing solo either.

Despite our reservations, our increasing curiosity about the digital adaptation compelled us to try it. We are glad we did, as it turned out to be fantastic!

Features

Cat editor

Starting with the cat editor, a feature not found in the board game Calico, you can configure your own cats based on specific criteria. Upon accessing Quilts and Cats of Calico, we immediately explored this feature, configuring cats that resembled real-life kitties in our lives.

Tutorial

If you're new to Calico or want to learn how to play, there's a tutorial mode that thoroughly explains the rules step by step. For seasoned players, it's worth exploring how well the game has been adapted for digital play, including the various mouse shortcuts available for different actions.

Play

When starting a new game and you're already familiar with the rules, you have the option to play solo or against one or more AI opponents. Additionally, you can incorporate the cats you've previously set up in the cat editor into your games. It's quite enjoyable to play the game with real-life cats, pet them once more, and observe them as they stroll about and sleep on our newly knitted quilt. As for the AI opponents, you have the choice among three different levels of play, a feature that we appreciated because the difficulty level of the AI opponents is noticeable.

Master Quilter’s Challenge

Entering the master quilter's challenge presents various scenarios, each with unique objectives. You unlock these as you meet the goals of the preceding scenario. This additional layer of challenge promotes diverse thinking from one scenario to the next, making it genuinely engaging.

Play online

This is the only feature we haven't explored yet. It provides two distinct modes of play: real-time with a maximum limit of 3 minutes per turn, or asynchronous play with a maximum limit of 72 hours per turn.

Story

We won't reveal much about the story mode to avoid spoilers, but tackling some of the tasks has been a true challenge. It's hard to resist replaying it repeatedly.

Final notes

We thoroughly enjoyed playing Quilts and Cats of Calico on Steam and anticipate many more hours of gameplay. Our positive experience with Calico, one of our most played games, has been reaffirmed and we intend to continue playing it as well.

A special thanks to Monster Couch for providing us with access to the open beta and beta testing phases, as well as early access to the final product.

If you don't want to miss your chance to play it, you can check their page on Steam. The game is set to launch on March 5th, 2024. Until March 19th, Monster Couch is offering a 10% discount.

If you're interested in the board game edition of Calico by Flatout Games and Alderac Entertainment Group, you can visit its page on Board Game Geek.

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