Clash of Chaos and Confetti #14: Calico

The Premise and Standings

Each week we’ll face off in a best of three series playing a different board game from our collection.  The winner claims the moniker of C&C Clash Champ for the week.  The loser contracts cat scratch fever.  The lesser player also gets to choose the game for the next week.

We will maintain a record of wins and losses throughout the year to see who finishes 2022 as the ultimate board game champ in our household.

Our current C&C Champion is Chaos after winning last week’s Gizmos Gauntlet.

Pre-Clash Current Standings:

• Weekly Winner: 7 Chaos – 6 Confetti
• Individual game wins:  20 Chaos – 17 Confetti

After losing last week, Chaos has chosen Calico (Amazon Affiliate Link)

The Game – Calico

Calico is all about sewing the quilt that will attract the most cats.  To do this, players will take turns placing tiles (quilt pieces), trying to meet requirements that cats will find impressive.

Each turn, a play will add one tile to their quilt from the two they have available.  They will then replace their played tile with a new one selected from a pool of three.  Play will continue until each player has filled in their board, finishing their quilt completely.  

The pieces placed come in different combinations of six colors and six patterns.  It’s how these different piece types are arranged that will score players points and feline affection.  Three of one color touch allows players to sew on a button (worth 3 points).  Each game has three cats overseeing the quilting process.  If a player meets one of the cats’ specific requirements, they gain that cat and its points.  Finally, each player will also have three unique tiles on their board that ask for a unique set up from the tiles touching it.  The players can score points for meeting that requirement with either colors or patterns, or even more points for achieving the goal with both colors and patterns. 

The turns are simple, but the strategy runs deep.  You’ll have to work hard to earn some attention and love from these cats.  When it comes to your quilt, they expect purrfection.  

Chaos’ Pre-Clash Thoughts

Once again I walk into a Clash as champion and once again Confetti tries attacking me with cats.  Shame on her again trying to take advantage of my cat allergies.  A lesser champion would complain or call foul, but I plan to rise above.  She better watch out because this cat has claws!

Confetti’s Pre-Clash Thoughts

Eventually, I’m going to run out of cat-themed games to pick for clash challenges and I’ll be so sad. Thankfully though, that is not happening today! Calico is such a cute, fun game and I’m looking forward to crushing Chaos. Cats definitely like me better.

Game 1 –

Game one had both players focusing heavily on meeting their goal tile requirements.  While they did step on one another’s toes occasionally, their goals and tile requirements were different enough that they mostly stayed out of each other’s way. 

Despite having different looking quilts, both players’ strategies mirrored the other.  In the end, they ended up scoring the same amount of buttons and cats points.  It was the goal tiles that decided the outcome.  Chaos and Confetti did well with their respective goal tiles, but because Confetti had one of the higher difficulty tiles on her board (all unique tiles touching it), she was able to eke out a few extra points and seize the win.

Final Score: Chaos 47 – Confetti 53

Game 2 –

The second game saw both players doubling down on their strategy of points through goal tiles.  Chaos and Confetti each started with the higher difficulty, higher reward goal tiles.  The name of the game was “high-risk, high-reward.”  

While buttons and cats came as a consequence of standard gameplay or minor actions, the goal tiles drew the majority of the focus.  Confetti outdid her first game self slightly by scoring a couple extra points from her goal tiles.  Chaos on the other hand felt the pain of plans never fully coming together.  Again and again, he witnessed Confetti claim the tiles he needed.  By the time he realized there would be no way to capitalize on all the potential goal tile points, it was too late to switch courses effectively.  His gamble did not pay off.

Final Score: Chaos 42 – Confetti 54 

Game 3 –

Not wanting to go out without a single win, Chaos opted for his final game even if this week’s championship was already out of his reach.  This time, Chaos went for the much easier to achieve goal tiles.  Confetti still opted for mid to high scoring goals.  

Confetti stayed true to focusing on goal tiles while also trying to harvest buttons from her adjacent color placements.  Chaos played to his goals when he could, but he invested a lot more mental energy toward individual cat requirements and gaining buttons. 

In the end, Confetti once again scored well with goal tiles and here button-based points also came in well.  Unfortunately, her individual cat category turned out to be a big zero.

Chaos on the other hand, did well enough with his goal tiles but raked in points from his cats (21) and buttons (24).  He still had no way to salvaging the week’s clash, but he at least won a single game and grabbed the highest single game score of the week.

Final Score: Chaos 61 – Confetti 42

Your winner and NEW C&C Clash Champion: Confetti (with support from Oliver)!!

Chaos’ Post-Clash Thoughts:

Achoo!  Turns out my cat allergies definitely extend to cat based tiles as well.  I’m sure I am unique in that sense and someone could write a medical journal on my condition.  Achoo!  Woe is me.  Also, leave it to Confetti to use cats against me and to try further undermining me.  You should have seen her grabbing the tiles I needed just to spite me.  She’s a vicious one.    

Confetti’s Post-Clash Thoughts:

I wish I could have swept all three games, but I’m still proud of my victory! I’d like to retain the C&C Championship again though, so hopefully I can keep this momentum going!

Next Week:

Our next clash will once again determine who is top dog in our household as we face off in Agility, the two-player dog training and show game. We’ll find out who has style and flair beyond compare and who stinks like a wet dog.