Patchwork

Why it's in our library

Patchwork is a puzzle race to sew the best quilt, turning and flipping oddly shaped patches until they fit snugly on your own board.

How to play

Each player has a square grid board and a few buttons. Buttons are your money and also your points. Patches in many odd shapes sit in a ring around the table, and a neutral marker shows where the choices begin.

A shared time track decides who goes next. Whoever is furthest behind takes the turn, so one player can sometimes play several turns in a row.

On your turn, choose one of two things. You can buy one of the three patches just ahead of the marker. Pay its button cost, move your time token forward by its time cost, and fit the patch anywhere on your board, turning or flipping it as you like. Or you can skip ahead, moving your token to just past your opponent's and picking up a button for each space you moved.

When your token passes certain spaces on the track, you collect income: one button for each button printed on the patches already in your quilt. Other spaces hold tiny single-square patches. The first player to pass one takes it and places it straight away. The first player to completely fill a large square area on their board earns a bonus tile.

The game ends when both tokens reach the end of the track. Count your buttons, lose points for each empty square on your board, and add the bonus if you earned it. The highest score wins.

Keep in mind that early patches build your income, but the time you spend on them is turns you give up.

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