Board With Each Other
A podcast that looks at Board Games / Tabletop Gaming through the lens of playing as a couple or with a regular gaming partner. Hosted by Al & Hannah, We review a game each episode.
Board With Each Other
Episode 04: Calico - Kitten Mittens
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In this episode of Board with Each other, Al & Hannah tackle the brain burning abstract puzzler Calico.
We talk through the gameplay, components and complexity as well as bringing our usual 2-player / couples lens to it. Al waxes lyrical about charity shops and Hannah talks about cats. A Lot. We hope you enjoy!
Hello everybody and welcome to episode five of Board with Each Other, the board gaming podcast that looks at tabletop gaming through the lens of playing as a couple, playing with a good friend, or in the case of this game, perhaps uh the most intelligent of your cats. My name is Al Simpson, I'm your host today, and I'm joined as ever by my lovely wife, co-host, and player two, Hanukkah Lee.
SPEAKER_01:Hi guys.
SPEAKER_00:So today we are going to be talking about Calico. Calico is an abstract competitive puzzle tile laying game. I think that that's enough uh descriptives. Uh published by AEG. And it has the theme of basically sewing together a calico quilt that will attract nearby cats.
SPEAKER_01:Sounds suitable for your granny? Possibly. Also, probably a little bit more to it than that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, as I as I will get into. Um it's one of those games that appears very, very deceptively cutesy and simple on the surface, but is actually uh quite quite deep. Um how play works is when you start the game, you basically have a playmat. Uh each player has a playmat and plays from one to four. And on that playmat, you have three buttons. Uh they're not really buttons, they're sort of like scoring tiles, which are randomly chosen. Uh, you get a choice to pick three out of four from a random pool of about seven tiles in total. And those scoring tiles basically denote what it is that you're trying to do in the game. So they'll have uh two victory point values on them. The first one for getting particular matching pairs, triplets, or quads of uh either a colour or a pattern on each of the tiles, and the a second victory point value for doing both. Um, but they do they sort of change configuration. So you'll have one that that'll say like A B B C C, which means three three pairs basically. And you manage to pair both colours and patterns, you will then get the the full whack of victory points in the the tiles surrounding it. Um, there are some quite interesting ones. There's one that wants you to match nothing, which is actually harder than it looks, so no no colours or or patterns the same. And how gameplay basically works is on your turn, you will place one tile onto your onto your player board, and then if it triggers anything, so one of the things it can trigger is if you've got three colours in a row, you get a button that you can place on, and you could also attract a cat. The cats are drawn randomly from a pool of five at the start of the game, you get three, and each one will have two patterns associated with them, and they will have a configuration that those patterns need to be in. So some of them will be a shape, so like five in a row, basically. Some will just say a number plus, so any any sort of shape configuration of those particular shapes in that in that will then allow you to place a cat on the on on your quilt. The cats are worth different victory points values, depending on how complicated or difficult they are to attain. And again, at the start of the game, you you you choose randomly whether the cats are going to be in a in a pattern sequence or in a simple number of them. There is a uh basically like a marker place in the middle of the table, which is comprised of three tiles. So you place one and then draw one of those three to replace it in your hand. You have two tiles in your hand at any one time, and you just go back and forth. Um, you go back and forth until you both filled up your quilts, and then you calculate victory points at the end.
SPEAKER_01:It's also probably worth noting that um Al mentioned buttons, so if you get three colours in a row, you get a button, which I think is a fruit. If you get the full number of fruits, of which they are six.
SPEAKER_00:There are six colours and six patterns.
SPEAKER_01:No, yeah, six six uh colours, then you get a rainbow badge. And that's an addition.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's worth additional points. So while it appears quite simple, there's actually quite a number of things you can sort of be chasing after during the game. It's not uh it's it's not as simple, it's not as simple as oh I, you know, you need to get colours matching or you need to get patterns matching. There's a lot more. You can sort of decide to try and go for the cats, you can decide to go for the buttons, you can decide to go for your scoring tiles. There's quite a lot of options, uh, which is good because you quickly run out of options, I found in this game.
SPEAKER_01:It starts off with this wonderful I could do anything, then oh fuck, I screwed up.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, it's it's one of those games that you again you need to you need to think about five or six turns ahead, I think, if you if you really want to play it optimally, which I very rarely do. Um I usually mess up within the first third of the game and then have to spend the rest of the game sort of trying to catch up with it. Um but I guess that's that that's abstract games, really. I mean, what what are your thoughts on this kind of thing in general?
SPEAKER_01:So this is I think the first game that I've really played like this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think the only thing similar we've played is Hive.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, see Hive I did not get on with at all. Um and I found that far too um complicated, and there was a third, there was a second level to it as well, so we have to mount other pieces. Um but actually I found this quite straightforward. It was it was um it it was something new that I'd not done before, and yeah, I've I've found it really good. It's also got one of the best probably starting uh rules that I've ever come across, which is whoever petted the cat last gets to go first, which is usually me. Cat's not very fond of you, I don't think.
SPEAKER_00:That's a lot fair. Um but yes, uh it's uh it it's an incredibly easy game to to pick up the rule set for. You could explain it to somebody in five minutes, I reckon. Um but that simplicity hides a as is often the case with these games, a huge amount of depth. Um I think there's levels of strategic depth that we haven't begun to scratch the surface off because we're so I think when we play we're we're so fixated on what we're doing on the board that you don't really pay any attention to what the other person's doing.
SPEAKER_01:Until the end.
SPEAKER_00:Until the end, yeah. But I imagine once you get really good at it, you're probably looking at the other board state quite a lot and trying to you know.
SPEAKER_01:But I also think that because of that, it doesn't have to you don't have to play it with you know your full attention and focus. Actually, you can step back a little bit, play a couple of tiles, go off, talk to somebody, yeah. You know, so it doesn't have to be that all in.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's quite a gentle game to play in that sense, I suppose. But yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, you can't get really angry when you are playing with cute cats and it's hard to because they're so cute.
SPEAKER_00:Um, yeah, I mean yeah, it it can be frustrating at times, but usually I like I I can find it a bit frustrating, but that's usually just like why are you being so boneheaded? Why did you do that three turns ago? You've you've ruined everything out. The conversations I have myself while playing. Um yeah, I mean we'll get onto some of the the aspects of you know the competitive nature of it, I guess, during our scoring criteria, but um yeah, it it it is a game that you can probably make as competitive as you would like. Um as it doesn't sort of force you into it.
SPEAKER_01:Do you want to mention where you got it from?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean this this this uh game kicked off my charity shop addiction. Um I've always I I've always seen posts online of people getting very lucky in charity shops, and you know, I just thought, oh, you know, there would never be anything in there. And I walked into one of our local ones and they had this sitting on the shelf, uh sealed and unpunched for£2.50.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I do have to be honest, I when you did bring it home saying to me, I don't know, I've scored like the most amazing game ever, and I was like, oh, really excited, maybe it's Gleam Haven. And no, it turned out to be a box with a cat on it. I did look at you and think, hmm.
SPEAKER_00:You were proven wrong that.
SPEAKER_01:I was proven wrong, I really was, I take it all back. Um and now I encourage you to go on a weekly basis.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I now I check on a weekly basis. I have I've had a few more scores over the past few months. So I'll I'll well well I think we we'll put up a picture on our social media of the stuff I've acquired. But yeah, I I think I've said it on a previous episode, but do check your local charity shops, people, you never know. Um you can get some really really good bargains.
SPEAKER_01:So how long how long do you reckon it runs for?
SPEAKER_00:Um I'd probably say about half an hour.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Give or take. But I think that's it's quite a malleable one because it depends how long I I can imagine people sitting and having a very long think about their turns with this one.
SPEAKER_01:Um or even actually, because it's I'm gonna get onto this, but because it's quite easy to it doesn't take up a huge amount of space, actually you could play a few turns and come back to it if that was like chance.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, you could just leave the ball there and go off and do something else.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, if that's the way you want to play.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, um, so yeah, I would say if you're just playing a regular sort of clip, you go, I go probably about half an hour at the most. Um so it is fairly quick to play.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Uh I guess just before we go into scoring, one of the things I always tend to address with every game is expansions, and as far as I know, this one doesn't have any. There are a couple of uh promo extra cats uh that I'm aware of that I think were part of the Kickstarter version, which you could probably pick up on eBay if you're interested in in expanding anyway, but I don't think you could expand it in any other way.
SPEAKER_01:Um I think uh don't think so, but also because he doesn't love more cats.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yes, I know. It's true that. Um I mean there's a line.
SPEAKER_01:I think I'm out as very aware that if I could, I would probably have about 15 cats. Yes, there's always a danger. Yes, yeah. Maybe I can live vicariously through this game. You get 15 cats, gotta catch them all.
SPEAKER_00:So a strong theme for you then. Yes, cats.
SPEAKER_01:I like cats.
SPEAKER_00:I do too. Not that as much as that, but yeah, I do too.
SPEAKER_01:That's why you never get to go first in the game. Me, I've always petted the cat.
SPEAKER_00:Fair enough. Right, so should we go on scoring then?
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Um, so as ever, we'll split our categories down into general scoring, so just how the game plays, etc., and then we'll move on to our couples rating. So our first category under general scoring is the components.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Do you want to talk about it first, or do you like me to jump in?
SPEAKER_01:Um, so I think it's a fairly easy, quick game to set up. Um, everything comes, um, it's got baggies, but nice fabric baggies to match obviously the theme of the game. Um, tiles are fairly small and um decently sized, the boards are really lovely, they're quite thick. Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I'd echo all of that. The player boards are really, very nice. Um, everything go comes out and goes back into the box really quickly and easily. The big sort of cloth bag for the tiles that comes with it is really nice. Um all the cards are fairly cool, the cards, the the boards tiles are are fairly weighty. Um so yeah, it's just it's a generally nice package.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. And aesthetically, I mean it is an aesthetic game, isn't it? You know, it's about building a patchwork quilt and it's pretty.
SPEAKER_00:It is very, very pretty.
SPEAKER_01:It's pretty to look at, and also it's got cats. Have I emphasised enough how much I like cats?
SPEAKER_00:You're just gonna give it a ten for everything because it's cat-based. I mean, there are some leather schools I don't think that well, I'm gonna give it an eight for components because I think it is really nicely made and it's a nice package, it's easy to set up and strip down. So eight for me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I gave it a six, mainly because you know who wouldn't like some cat figures?
SPEAKER_00:Cat miniatures. Cat miniatures. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01:So you like big tanks if you sandwich this, but I like cat miniatures, apparently.
SPEAKER_00:Alright, well maybe the second edition if you write to them. Shall we go on to complexity then?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So we don't give a game a high or low score on this just because it's complex or easy, it's more around how much the complexity uh supports the gameplay and sort of the designer's vision as such, and how how much the complexity suits the game. Um it is not a very, very complex game at all, but it doesn't need to be. Um, and as I said earlier, I think there's a huge amount of depth to it. Um, there's a huge amount of various configurations and what have you, of scoring buttons and whatnot, and what you're trying to go for. So I I think I think the rule set fits it just fine. Um so I give it a seven.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I would also say that when the rules are really easy to understand, I mean it's not it's not complex as you said, but the rules are really easy to follow. And there's also um like a not a legacy version, like a lifetime achievement towards the game.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, there's like an achievement tracker at the back of the book, isn't there?
SPEAKER_01:Which is quite nice, and I think that's really lovely, especially when you're playing two player, that you can you have to keep keep the same player maps um and play them throughout.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But that's a really nice sort of added thing or aspect to it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it adds a bit of sort of permanence to it, I guess, and a bit of linking between the games that you play, you know. Oh, you know, you can add a game, but oh, I've finally hit the score threshold, or I've done this, and I get to take it off on my my achievement tracker.
SPEAKER_01:What I would say is that it's not uh, in my opinion, particularly well balanced. So what I'm gonna say about that is you our talks about at the beginning, you randomly pick three uh objective tiles if you like, and then you have to match the patterns and or the the colours. For a good two or three games, I was really hunting after that that getting both, and I don't feel that the payoff for that was perhaps maybe as much as it should have been.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, fair enough. It's really hard to do, it's really hard to achieve. Referring to getting both the patterns and the colours on one score. Yeah, I would agree the the extra level of the extra number of victory points that you get for doing both. It's like three, and even I think it's you may as well you're better off basically sacking that off from what we found anyway, and going after something else like a cat, for instance.
SPEAKER_01:But my completionist nature and my desire to want to do that overrides the button collecting, so you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, I I give that I I get the completely because it's so hard to do, it seems like it should be like the easy the not the easy path, but the the the obvious path to victory in the screen.
SPEAKER_01:Well I think I first did it, I was expecting to get both the scores. Yeah, but you only get one of them. If you only get one of them, you can get the higher one, and I was a bit put out by that, but I still continue to do it every time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um so yeah, what did you give it for complexity?
SPEAKER_01:I also want to talk about analysis paralysis here. Oh yes, of course. Yeah, so obviously, um those of you who've listened to us before will know that I tend to get locked in my own brain trying to puzzle out five, six, seven moves ahead. Um I would actually say that despite on paper this really like ticking all those boxes for me and making me overthink, I don't find that.
SPEAKER_00:No, you don't. I really surprised me. This is one that I expected to really really get to you in that sense. I think I'm worse than you on this one. I think I take longer on my turns than you do sometimes.
SPEAKER_01:And I think that's because you only have two tiles in front of so you only pick two and then you have a choice of which of the two that you play, and then you get to pick from a flop in in the middle. So you can really only think, yes, you might have a longer term goal and longer term strategy, but you can really only pick with what's on the table at the time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So I think for me it kind of locks that down, which was really refreshing because I did panic to begin to think, oh my god, this is the one. Yeah, for half of my turn.
SPEAKER_00:Um, I was I was actually really surprised that it didn't hit you, where it does hit me quite badly. Although I I will say it's worse in the I would say the first half of the game. I think in the second half of the game you get a bit locked down. I at least I feel I get a bit sort of locked down. Yes, fine, okay, then that might be. Um but I anyway, I I tend to start slower and get quicker as the the game goes on. Um but that could just be my boneheaded nature of playing, as Hannah says.
SPEAKER_01:But based on all of that, I would score it an eight.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, I gave it, as I said, I gave it a seven, so I I think that's I think that's fine. I think the reason I gave it a seven is that I feel like, as you said, some of the some of the the victory stuff is more difficult. The payoff isn't there for it. And I feel like that's almost an added level of complexity that doesn't need to be there. Yes. Or isn't unrewarded, so that caused me to shave a few points off, basically. But aside from that, I think the complexity suits the game.
SPEAKER_01:So then our next category is shelf life. So we're talking about things like value for money, replayability, those sorts of things. How do you how do you score it?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I think that these kind of abstract games, you'll find people that can play these for two decades. Because once you find one or or a group of them that you really like, it's always a nice, easy thing to throw down and go, right, okay, and let's let's just have a game of this, it's half an hour, we all we always enjoy it. I mean, watch chess's shelf life, you know, it's it's that kind of thing. It's it's mileage may vary really, it depends how much you like it. But I think because of the abstract nature, that's one of the things that kind of makes it infinitely replayable if you still enjoy it. Um, I think for me it's always around progression. Do I feel like I'm getting better at it as I play for these kind of games anyway? Um and this one I'm not too sure I do yet. Um, I think time will tell.
SPEAKER_01:I I completely disagree with that. So absolutely, I think you have. If you compare our scores, because again, we've tracked our scores as we've gone along, and that's part of the the um the options in the game. But actually, last time we played, we had the highest scoring game on both both our sides.
SPEAKER_00:That's true, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And you see me.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, maybe. Okay, so maybe I I am getting better the more I play. And I think that I think that's key. I think if I feel that progression, then it'll keep it'll keep my interest in it alive.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um that said, it's not going to be the game that I'm reaching for first time.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, no. But also that's probably why it will hold its shelf life better than but it is a great game if we play something a bit more involved on an evening and we've got we've we finished earlier than expected. It's one of those that we'll reach for and go, oh, we can fit in a game of this, can't we?
SPEAKER_01:Or sometimes when we're just oh I'm not quite sure, should we play this or this? Oh, well we'll have a quick game of calico or something like that. Or something like that, yeah. Just to get into the swing of things and decide what we want to play. Yeah, and that works.
SPEAKER_00:That gets the brain flowing, doesn't it? Um so yeah, I give it a seven for this, but I think I think mileage will vary.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, same Z. Seven.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, okay. Alright. Uh finally, fun and emergent storytelling.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Have we had any um crazy stories about cats as a result of this game? I I don't know that we did.
SPEAKER_00:No, I mean for an emergent storytelling, it's so quilt, cat will pitch up. So another quilt, cat will pitch up.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, uh you'd probably watch like an entire movie franchise based on that, but I mean in my head I've got narratives going, like you know seven characters, there's been like a plot twist, a murder.
SPEAKER_00:Um but as a grimdark sci-fi fan, I don't know if it really pushes my buttons, but you know, it's cute.
SPEAKER_01:It is. Um I do enjoy playing it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I do, uh, and I have a good good time playing it. Like don't know that it's gonna be one of those ones that I rave about.
SPEAKER_00:No. I mean this again, this is kind of tied to the last point. I have a feeling that my rating for this might go up the more in control I feel. Because I find it very, very satisfying when things do go right, and I actually I I execute a plan. I think which is why I managed to do now you mentioned it the last time that we played. I I did I have I had something in mind I managed to execute it, that was really satisfying. Um so I think in the first few games where I'm literally just sort of going, ah and putting things down on the on the on the the board, perhaps less fun. So I I think my my score may go up as my um competency increases, I guess. Yeah, I think I can see that for a few people.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and again, as you as you learn more about the game and about playing strategies and stuff, actually, yes, no, I can see that. I mean I scored it a five just because uh it's not that thing that I'm gonna be first reaching for, and it's not gonna be the thing that I'm telling all our friends about, oh my god, we've just got calico. Yeah, um, but yeah, I do really enjoy it. I can see us playing it for a long time. And I'm also really excited to teach the kid.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. It's one of those uh because there's there's no reading involved or anything like that. If you do have a young child, um I'd say sort of five, six-ish, they could probably learn it. Um yeah, quite looking forward to that. But yeah, I also gave it a five, but I do I do think that might go up slightly as I think it ties a little bit into their competitiveness as well. It's a very non where we are at our skill level at the moment, it's an exceptionally non-competitive game. And sometimes with something's not a co-op, I do need a little bit of bite there. Um, and I think they could be. I think once you get good and you're watching each other's board, I've done it to you.
SPEAKER_01:I've done it to you, and that's been really good fun.
SPEAKER_00:You could you could have some massive gotcha moments, um, which I think would be quite fun, but I'm so I'm so wrapped up in my own board state most of the time that that hasn't really presented itself, and again, that would probably knock my score up one or two if that had happened a bit more often. So again, it might just do be to speaking to my skill level of where I am with the game. So, yeah, five for me as well.
SPEAKER_02:Cool.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so that gives us an average of six point six. We always round up, so that's a seven, the general rating. Which I think is quite high. I think the components has definitely knocked that up a bit. If you take that out of the equation, then you're probably looking at more like a six.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Agreed. Right, shall we go on to our two player couple ratings?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So our first category is table talk. So that's how much interactivity there is, how much dead time there is, uh, getting to know you, um, and what I there's very little dead time, I don't find. Um again, uh if you perhaps maybe we will you were a kind of person that thought more about uh I don't mean you specifically are I mean you dear listener like to spend more time thinking thinking about your turns and obviously probably there would be some more dead time. Um but actually it's fairly fluid.
SPEAKER_00:Um yeah, I mean out of all the games that we've ever played, I don't know what you can say, this is the one that has had the most silence. There have been games, entire games of this that we played without saying anything. I don't know if you've noticed.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, no, I have. I have, but I also think that's about where we are, and again, if we were more experienced, again with chess, for example, we could just take a step back and have a chat.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you uh you know? Yeah, I guess. But I guess for me, part of this category has always been about the game facilitating that. Yeah. And I think what you're describing is you have to stake a step away from the game to have a chat, almost. And I think when you're talking about it for playing as a couple, um, particularly with somebody you're trying to get to know, I don't want to get to know it's great. Well you already know me.
SPEAKER_01:No, I know that's fine. Silence is gold.
SPEAKER_00:Um so yeah, I think uh for the for that reason I don't think this works very well at all in that sense.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, we talk about FOMO and and that later on, but I also don't think having more players will necessarily help. We'll come to that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'll come to that now in in that score. So yeah, I mean I've actually given up my my lowest score so far, which is a two.
SPEAKER_01:Oh really? That's brutally low. I gave it a five.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Is that because rather than talking to me, you just like to think about cats?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, maybe maybe I'm having this whole narrative in my head about the cats and about attracting cats.
SPEAKER_00:And this just gives you the space to do that be alone with your cat thoughts. Yes. Yeah, okay, alright. So that's the the comment when your relationship is that currently?
SPEAKER_01:How can you rate a game with cats on them and this number lower than a five?
SPEAKER_00:I can definitely rate it lower than a five when it doesn't fit the bill for this for this category.
SPEAKER_01:I'm my score stands.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, that's fine. Uh we would leave it there. Two from me.
SPEAKER_01:Five from me.
SPEAKER_00:What would you say about competitiveness then? I know we've touched on this.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's very tricky, and I didn't know how to rate it. Um I think we've talked about this before, uh, besides actually, you know, this idea that you're off on your own with your own play mat, doing your own little thing, and come to the end of it, score it, and we'll see who wins. I think the way in which that we're playing it, we don't particularly look at other people's play mats. I have a vague awareness of how many buttons you're getting and if you're getting a lot. Um, but I don't feel like there's that interactivity and there's that um like I'm fighting for you for over resources, for example. Yeah, yeah. Or um I do fight you sometimes over tiles and you know get quite cross because you've taken the tile that I want, but also you don't know that you're taking the tile that I want.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, I don't. Um I think that's where this one's interesting. I mean, as a basic game, totting up scores one against the other, fine, you know, that that that would kind of be sort of middle of the road territory for me. I do think there is there is potential for it to be quite competitive once you get really good. So I've been I've been loath to give it a a a low score because I think that's more of a me problem. I think as as competency is in it increases, it it has the potential to be quite not nasty, but quite back and forth, and you would you would be uh screwing over the other player just as much as you were doing your own thing.
SPEAKER_01:What I would point out though is that in terms of your tiles and your um sort of spare spaces on the mat, so the ones that aren't immediately completing those tile objective tiles. Yeah. Um you've only probably got about maybe six spare tiles. So actually taking another tile just to screw someone over isn't actually in your interest.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, potentially, unless you've you've you've obviously called for the same thing.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:There's that as well. Um or trying to yeah, there's levels to it, I think, that you that that would sort of bump it up. Um and for that reason I've given it a six because I think there's a potential there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I've given it a five mainly for that reason. I just think, yes, probably if if if we were better at it, you would probably play a bit more competitively like that. But I still think fundamentally that's not going to do you any favours, and I think it wouldn't bite you in the arse eventually.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I guess unlike unlike a scythe, there is um the ability if you paid attention, you could pretty much see how somebody's scoring during the game because uh everything's free information. You could you could you could tot it up as it were and and know whether you're winning or losing. So there is that, and again, we don't do that, but you you could if you wanted to.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So what about uh scalability FOMO? Would more players make it better?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so this is fundamentally would we find adding a third person or fourth to it make it any better? And I think absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00:No, I would agree with you completely. I think all it would achieve is slowing the game down.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Um again, because you're not competing over resources. I mean, I suppose there would be more um rotation in the flop. Yeah. You don't call it a flop, what do you call it?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, flops are in poker. Marketplace is usually what it's called on this kind of setup.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so marketplace, so you'd have a higher turnover of tiles. And what I have noticed is that sometimes when we are after the same tiles, actually that flop it can become really static and a bit of a dud. So actually, maybe that would help. But aside from that, because you're playing on your own, yeah, I d I don't think adding a third would help in any way, shape, or form.
SPEAKER_00:No, I don't I don't think so. I mean there there there is the the possibility that if you played with like four players and three of you were all going for the same pattern or colour, it could turn into like a fight in a phone booth kind of scenario. But I think people would quickly sort of back out and go for something else.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm really stuck on the expression of fight in a phone booth.
SPEAKER_00:You've never heard that before.
SPEAKER_01:No, absolutely not. It's a stupid place to have a fight, don't do that.
SPEAKER_00:Let's not get you started on idioms, please. Um so yeah, I I gave this a really high score because I just I don't I gave it an eight because I just I don't think any adding more people would essentially add much to the game. I gave it an eight as opposed to a ten because I do feel like there's probably some strategic possibilities there with three or four players, but it's not something I would reach for if I if if I was playing with three or four players, it'd be very far down the list.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I gave it a ten because probably out of all our games, especially the ones that definitely suit two player, I don't think I would even offer that to other people. I think I think it absolutely works perfectly as a two-player game. I think it would be not important. Yeah, yeah. So I gave it a ten.
SPEAKER_00:Alright, so that's two and that's ten kind of balance out each other, we end up with a six. So general score of seven and two player score of six.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that seems fair. I think probably the general score does seem a bit high.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it does seem to have come out a little bit higher. I feel like the the components and the the general custiness of the game has probably bumped it up a little bit higher than it should be. Um, but there you have it. That is Calico.
SPEAKER_01:If you like cats, probably should play it.
SPEAKER_00:Also, abstract games. It's a good abstract game.
SPEAKER_01:Cats.
SPEAKER_00:Cats and abstract, abstract cats.
SPEAKER_01:Oh god, no. Can you imagine cats or cats? That would just be awful.
SPEAKER_00:So thank you very, very much for joining us. We have all of our usual social media platforms, so Insta, Twitter, Facebook, and the Facebook discussion group. So if you want to engage with us over there, um I look forward to hearing from some of you. Um if you would leave us a rating on your podcast uh platform of choice, so that would be massively appreciated. As long as it's a five, obviously, nothing less than a five.
SPEAKER_01:Five star man.
SPEAKER_00:Um but yeah, I think next time we are going to be talking about Eon's End, which I'm very much looking forward to. Um so until next time, be good to each other, have fun, and play loads of games.
