Quiltable: The Card Game

Gator’s Game Overview

Navigating Quiltable
Quiltable, designed by Jared and Madeline Richardson, and published by Circle J Games is an abstract strategy, puzzle-style game about – you guessed it, making quilts! The quilt with the highest score receives the prestigious Quick Quality Quilter Award, a virtual recognition of your quilting skills and strategic prowess.

Key Coordinates
Players: 1-4
Time: 30 minutes
Ages: 8-199

Mapping the Mechanics
To set up a game of Quiltable, place the pattern cards in about four equal piles. Then, turn 12 cards to the quilt block side, surrounding the pattern cards. The player with the most colorful socks begins!

The rules of Quiltable are designed to be clear and straightforward, with three choices during a player’s turn: Plan, Choose, and Return. These actions can be taken up to two times. To PLAN: place available pattern cards in your player area. To CHOOSE: Add two or three connected quilt blocks to your quilt. Immediately refill the Pattern Area. Quilt cards must stay connected the way they were taken but can rotate. To RETURN: Move 1-4 connected cards from YOUR quilt to the outside ring of the pattern area.

The game of Quiltable is not just about creating beautiful quilts; it’s also a strategic competition. The end game triggers when the pattern cards run out or someone completes a 4×4 quilt. To score, look at the pattern cards you chose throughout the game and match the icons. Examples like A and B mean two separate quilt pieces. If it’s A A, then they are the same. Patterns can be rotated as needed for scoring. The player with the most points wins!

Navigator’s Notes

The Journey’s Feel: Quiltable is a game that feels like wrapping yourself in Grandma’s hug. While it provides deep strategy and turns on the puzzle-working side of the brain, it also creates a relaxing, comforting environment around the table. The game feels like sitting at a quilting bee, cherishing this nostalgic heritage craft. Creating a colorful mosaic of originality is difficult in a game or physical quilt. Yet, Quiltable makes this seemingly daunting task of quilt-making into something every player can participate in, regardless of age, and most importantly, fun!

Memorable Encounters: This is the type of game where players are usually in their own zone, working on their quilt. As you can imagine, with a standard quilting bee, there are moments you’re entirely focused on your own project. Then, you interact with other people. Since this is a competitive game, in Quiltable, that interaction usually means looking up to the community pattern area and jaw-dropping because someone else took the quilt piece you need. These moments bring you back to the player interaction, usually lamenting, “Wait, no! I needed that piece! How dare you!” All this with light-hearted laughs and the pivoting of your plans. We had a few of these moments playing the game. The most candid comment, “How dare you…” was made one specific time, making us laugh at the sincerity of those emotions.

Strategic Depths & Tactical Choices: The game has a quick-paced flow. Possibly, there are times when someone is stuck in “Analysis Paralysis” for their next step; there isn’t too much time wasted between player turns. There are many moments in this game where you start with a plan, literally, with a plan you have chosen, and as the game progresses, you realize this is not going your way. Players must decide whether it is worth continuing with the original plan or shifting directions if the quilt piece they need isn’t coming up in the quilting area. More decisions arise when you must decide to go for more minor points and easier-to-achieve quilt pieces in larger quantities or the larger points with intricate patterns to create in smaller amounts.

Visual, Vessels, and Treasures: A surprisingly nice treasure is the minimal language dependence. Suppose it’s a young player still learning to read, or a different language is spoken. In that case, this game plays into the visual side instead of reading dependency. From the box cover to each card in Quiltable, it feels like it was designed by a quilting expert. The look of the cards, especially when placed in the players’ quilts, feels like you’ve pieced together your story through these stitching memories. Early in the game gives that feeling I mentioned previously of sitting around a quilting bee, and the end game is walking through a county fair of quality quilts.

Flying Solo

Albatross’s Assessment: The solo variant is just as easy to learn and play. There are multiple solo characters to choose from to keep each solo game fresh and challenging. The solo player goes head-to-head against a Quilting Master and moves a QM card around the quilting ring, giving it a similar interaction experience to another player. I found the solo version just as relaxing and enjoyable as the multiplayer game.

Who Should Embark?

If you’re into abstract puzzle games or games that give that nostalgic home feeling, Quiltable is for you. This is a fantastic friend and family game for nearly all ages.

The Navigator’s Chart

Calm Coastline: A light and easy-to-learn game, perfect for casual play or introducing new gamers.

End of the Voyage

I had a wonderful time playing Quiltable. I consider myself an “omnigamer,” but almost everyone knows how much I favor abstract and puzzle games. Quiltable hits multiple points of a game I will continually come back to and enjoy again and again.