Calico is a game that looks deceptively cute and cuddly, possessing an adorably floofy kitten on the cover atop a pastel quilted backdrop. Inside the gameplay, however, is a brutal brain-burner of a puzzle where players are challenged to optimize among 36 unique tile types within a slew of overlapping scoring opportunities that all seem possible at first, but ultimately require a series of agonizing compromises as placement options dwindle. An apt metaphor for raising children, maybe? I mean, there are more buttons and less poop for sure.

Calico now has a sequel, Knitting Circle, designed by Emily Vincent, which features the same—I think—adorably floofy kitten on the cover, but this time set within a basket of yarn. Knitting Circle is Calico’s somewhat less punishing abstract cousin that has 1-4 players competing over 30-45 minutes to draft 12 types of yarn from a rondel in an effort to create various knitted masterpieces that hopefully avoid any ugly buttons and score the most cumulative points.

Gameplay Overview:

Knitting Circle contains 6 rounds, each consisting of drafting, crafting, and clean-up phases.

During drafting, players take turns moving their cat tokens 1-2 spaces around a shared rondel to collect a total of 4 yarn pieces. Yarns come in 6 different colors, each possessing 2 different pattern options.

Crafting is carried out simultaneously. The key available options are:

• Acquire a new knitting pattern: discard yarn pieces to collect garment cards of matching color-type.
• Knit: Add yarn to existing garment cards top-to-bottom
• Mitigate bad luck/planning:
  • Discard a yarn piece to flip as many remaining yarns as desired to their patterns on the reverse side
  • Discard a grabby-paw to claim any yarn from the draw bag
• Complete a knitting pattern and add buttons: Button objectives come in three flavors:
  1. Color requirements (1-3 different colors)
  2. Pattern requirements (one of four types)
  3. Garment types (one of six types)

In-game bonuses may be claimed as they are achieved.

After 6 rounds, tally up points from completed garments, button bonuses, garment bonuses, and shared objectives.

The smaller rondel for 2 players is shown here at the beginning of a round. The cat-shaped player tokens will be moved clockwise to select from yarns of 6 different colors, each available in two pattern types: purl or knit.

Game Experience:

Knitting Circle provides a much more thinky puzzle-like experience than the cozy cover might portray. Short-term strategy is often dictated by your buttons; you’ll start each round with 2 buttons, rewarding points for each of 3 categories: garment types, color arrangements, and color presence. Ample planning ahead is required to align the requirements for up to 3 buttons for any given garment.

During the drafting phase, I typically have a specific placement in mind for each of my four drafted tiles. Even if you’re unable to craft your garment to meet one or more button objectives, you must still attempt to arrange the colored tiles such that they meet requirements for one of four specific color arrangements: solid, striped, symmetric, or colorblock; if not, you’ll be forced to take an “ugly” button and -3 points upon completion.

A playerboard is shown here at the end of a drafting round. The four recently drafted yarn tiles are up top. The six button objectives show which garment types (square buttons), color combinations (circle buttons), and patterns (triangle buttons) will award points.

With all this in mind, there is still much flexibility in tile choice when starting a garment, and players may tactically take advantage of what is available for draft each round. If your scarf simply needs to contain green to score a button, that green can be combined with any other available colors in a variety of arrangements. As tiles get added to a given garment, however, flexibility decreases. If you’re aiming for a non-ugly symmetrical scarf and have already laid down pink, green, and purple from the previous round, it’s already too late to pivot to solid, striped or colorblock; you must find a way to finish the scarf with purple, green, pink, in that order, (in correct alternating purl/knit patterns) to maximize scoring.

Adding further complexity is the end-game scoring associated with many garment cards. Any time you obtain garment cards, you’ll draw two and keep one, so there is some element of choice here. Scoring conditions have no caps, so they can potentially reward big points if you lean into them heavily. Examples include scoring 3 bonus-points per completed sweater or 1 bonus-point for every two pink yarn incorporated into finished garments. These conditions may align or conflict with your existing buttons or shared objectives.

Two garments that fulfill the “Ready for Winter” advanced objective are shown here. The requirements were to knit a mitten and a hat consisting of identical colors, length, and pattern. This player managed to have these garments align with several button objectives as well.

Playing in “advanced mode” offers the greatest complexity by introducing 4 shared objective cards (of 18). These are fairly challenging goals involving multiple garments, but they award decent points if achieved, and the first to achieve any one gets a luck-mitigating grabby-paw. Examples include “favorite color,” which requires a minimum 7 tiles of the same color across completed garments. There’s also “full wardrobe,” which requires having completed one of each of the six garment types. It’s often not possible to complete these until mid- or late-game. Advanced mode definitely elevates the gameplay and is highly recommended for anyone desiring a more crunchy experience.

While ample planning ahead and solving for multiple different, often conflicting, scoring requirements sounds similarly brain-burning and punishing as Calico, Knitting Circle is definitely the more forgiving game. The biggest difference is that in Calico, viable tile-placement options become more and more restricted as the game progresses. In Calico, there are also 6 potential patterns for each of the 6 colors, and with only 3 available for drafting at a time, you might not luck into finding the perfect piece at the right time. By comparison, Knitting Circle only has 2 patterns for each of its 6 colors; there are means to flip any given tile to the reverse pattern, and the drafting rondel allows you to choose from 12-20 yarn tiles per round (playercount pending). Notably, the Knitting Circle rulebook has instructions for adapting its rondel for use with the Calico game to enhance its drafting experience.

Examples of the four possible patterns are shown here. From left to right there’s striped, symmetrical, solid, and colorblock. Note that each garment card contains a unique in-game reward or end-game scoring opportunity at the bottom.

Another key difference with Knitting Circle is that, rather than becoming more restrictive over time, each new garment you begin represents a fresh start with regard to committing to specific colors and arrangements thereof. Tense moments still occur, for example, if you need a purl green tile to finish a solid pattern scarf. If an opponent takes that tile, however, it’s possible to pivot by working on a different garment or finishing the scarf with two tiles of a different color and calling it colorblock. Notably, players are typically finishing at least 5+ garments each game, so one low-scoring garment (even with an ugly button) doesn’t necessarily kill your game.

The main frustrations of Knitting Circle, with regard to luck, are generally drawing buttons and/or garment cards with scoring objectives that don’t synergize with each other or possibly with the shared objective cards. Obtaining the necessary yarn tiles can be difficult as well, especially at 4-players where the drafting rondel can feel more chaotic. Some players may dislike the upkeep of having to place out 8-16 new yarn tiles in between each round, but the crafting phase is simultaneous, so if whoever finishes first completes this task, it’s not too bad.

Final Thoughts:

Knitting Circle is a much more challenging abstract-puzzle experience than its cozy box-art might suggest. Similar to Calico, players draft tiles of varying colors and patterns, attempting to place them such that they satisfy multiple different scoring conditions, requiring ample forward-planning. Knitting Circle is a somewhat more forgiving game, however, offering a drafting rondel with much more choice than Calico, although this rondel can be re-purposed for Calico.

Knitting Circle furthermore provides options to dial down the complexity much further with “family mode” or to boost it with “advanced mode.” Either way, there is a certain amount of luck regarding how well your buttons synergize with other objectives. Altogether, Knitting Circle is a really nice abstract follow-up to Calico; which one is more purr-fect for you depends on tolerance for restrictive play.

Final Score: 3.5 Stars—a knitting-themed abstract game that’s a veritable ball of fun

Hits:
• Simultaneous crafting leaves little downtime
• Plenty of puzzle-like crunchy abstract goodness
• Cozy, well-produced theme

Misses:
• Unlucky non-synergistic button draws can be frustrating
• Player-interaction may be too light for some
• Clean-up phase can feel a bit fiddly