Calico

Scope and objective: These rules use AEG's official retail Calico rulebook, bearing a 2020 copyright, for 1–4 players. Multiplayer is competitive; solo adjustments are identified separately. Do not import early print-and-play rules or the digital game's campaign features. Each quilt has three design goals and 22 patch spaces to fill, with points from goals, cats and buttons.

Shared standard setup: Group cat scoring boards by their corner dots, randomly choose one from each group and randomly select a side. Alternatively, agree on three cats. Randomly assign two of the six black-and-white pattern tiles to each cat. Put out the matching cat tokens, button scoring board and buttons. Shuffle the colored patches into a bag or face-down stacks and reveal a three-tile market. All players use the same selected cat conditions and preferences.

Personal setup: Take a quilt board and its matching set of six design goals. Shuffle the goals, reveal four and choose three, assigning them to the board's three designated goal spaces. Return unused goals to the box. Draw two random patches for your hand. The player who most recently petted a cat starts; continue clockwise. Goals are not chosen afresh each round or replaced after placement. Leave the printed border unchanged.

Beginner setup: Use Millie, Tibbit and Coconut, with two randomly assigned pattern preferences each. Each player uses the all-different, AA-BB-CC and AAA-BBB goals in the positions shown in the rulebook's beginner example. Goals still score normally; this setup does not remove them. Once familiar with the game, use standard cat selection and individual goal choices.

Turn sequence: First place one of your two hand tiles in any empty patch space, then check for newly earned cat and/or button tokens. Next choose one of the three face-up market tiles for your hand and refill the market from the supply. You cannot draw directly from the bag into your hand, draft before placing, or wait to see the replacement before deciding which market tile to take. Your other hand tile remains for a later turn.

Placement and shared uses: Standard placement need not touch the tile played last turn or match neighboring colors or patterns. A placed patch remains part of the quilt rather than being freely relocated. Its color can help a button group, its pattern a cat group, and its location a design goal. These are different scoring systems, so earning one reward does not consume the patch or prevent another kind of reward.

Design goals: At game end, evaluate the six adjacent patches using colors as a complete test and patterns as a separate complete test. Completing either test scores the lower blue value; completing both scores only the higher yellow value, not both numbers added. You cannot mix color pairs and pattern pairs to satisfy one test. An incomplete goal scores zero without an additional penalty.

Goal notation: All-different means six different colors or six different patterns. AAA-BBB means two different triples; AAAA-BB a four-of-a-kind and a different pair; AA-BB-CC three different pairs; AAA-BB-C a triple, a pair and a distinct single; AA-BB-C-D two different pairs and two distinct singles. Letters describe multiplicities within one attribute. Matching members need not be adjacent to one another around the goal.

Cats: A cat accepts either of its two assigned patterns, but any one qualifying area must use a single pattern. Build the connected group size or illustrated shape required by the cat; required shapes may rotate. Take its token when achieved and place it on a patch in that area. Each token scores the cat board's printed value. Beginner cats Millie, Tibbit and Coconut need at least three, four and five connected matching-pattern tiles and score three, five and seven points respectively.

Separate scoring areas: One connected pattern area attracts one corresponding cat. Enlarging it does not award another token whenever it reaches another multiple of the size threshold. Another cat of that type requires a new, separate pattern area that does not touch the scored area. The same area principle applies to buttons. A shape-based cat requires its illustrated shape, not just an equal number of tiles in any arrangement.

Buttons and border patches: A connected group of at least three tiles of one color, in any shape, earns one matching button worth three points. Expanding the area to six or more does not earn another. Collecting at least one button of each color earns one rainbow button, also worth three points. Both partial and whole patches printed around the border may contribute to cat and button areas. Tokens record achievements and do not occupy additional patch spaces.

End and ties: Finish after all players fill their 22 patch spaces. Add all design-goal scores, cat-token points and button points, including the rainbow button. Most points wins. A tie is broken first by number of cat tokens, then number of button tokens; a further tie is shared. Compare token counts rather than the points those tokens contributed. Unplaced hand tiles are not additional patches on the quilt.

Solo: Use beginner or standard setup and follow the normal placement-and-drafting order. After taking a market tile, also discard the tile farthest from the supply stack or bag. Slide the single remaining tile away from the supply and refill the two nearer positions one at a time, conveyor-belt style. Do not replace all three or omit the extra discard. Fill your quilt and score normally; the rulebook's scenarios can provide specific objectives.

Optional variants: Family play turns the three design goals face down as obstacles, removing their scoring while retaining cats and buttons. The two-player lower-variance variant removes one set of 36 patches, one of every color-pattern combination, before setup; solo may also use it. Scenarios and achievement restrictions use their specified cats, goals and extra conditions. They are optional formats, not automatic restrictions on standard placement or scoring.