Patchwork

"It's like tetris, but with clothing."

Designer: Uwe Rosenberg

Players: 2

Age: 8+

Game Time: 15-30 minutes

Objective of the game: "Make a quilt and collect the most buttons to win the game."

Board Game Contains:

• Central time board

• 2 Quilt boards

• 33 Patches

• 1 Neutral token

• 5 Special patches

• 2 time tokens

• Button tiles: 32 “1 butt on” ti les 12 “5 butt ons” ti les 5 “10 butt ons” ti les 1 “20 butt ons” ti le

Game Summary:

In Patchwork, both players compete to build the most aesthetic (and high-scoring) patchwork quilt on a personal 9x9 game board. At the beginning of the game, lay out all of the patches at random in a circle and place a marker directly clockwise of the 2-1 patch. Each player takes five buttons — the currency/points in the game — and someone is chosen as the start player (flip a coin or maybe the last person touch a needle). On your turn, you can either choose to purchase one of the 3 patches placed clockwise of the spool or you can choose to pass. To purchase a patch, you pay the cost in buttons shown on the patch, move the spool to that patch's location in the circle, add the patch to your game board, then advance your time token on the time track a number of spaces equal to the time shown on the patch. Very much like Tetris, you're free to place the patch anywhere on your board that doesn't overlap other patches. Keep in mind that you're trying to build a whole quilt not a "holely" quilt. So try your best to keep them all the pieces nice and tight.

The first player to completely fill in a 7x7 square on the game board earns a bonus til worth 7 extra points t the end of the game. This doesn't necessaricly mean they win the game, the chances of them getting a better score is just higher than the other player. As each player finishes a turn, their tokens placed on the Central time board also moves indicating the number of turns that have been played out. Once both players reach the center of the time board, the game ends and scoring begins. Each player scores one point per button in his possession, then loses two points for each empty square on his game board. Scores can be negative. The player with the most points wins.

Game Review:

Patchwork is a wonderful game with a unique and humble objective; to make a quilt! Quilt tiles are jumbled and arranged in a circle. There is a start piece, currency in the form of buttons and time. Pick a piece up to 3 pieces from the start piece and advance your token along the board equal to the time it takes to add it to your quilt. Players do this until they run our of time then, whoever has the most buttons, shown on the quilt tiles, wins the game!

Patchwork is a true delight! Who knew quilting could be fun? The tiles are cheerfully coloured and the game itself is calming and simple! Even if you're not a big fan of real life quilting, you'll still find this game fun to play. It doesn't require you to have sewing skills or pattern arrangement. The challenge is for you to piece together a whole quilt with the most buttons. The best quilts come with buttons, of course!

This game is perfectly engineered for 2 players; no more, no less! I love this game because it's so straight forward. You don't exactly have a lot of decisions to make on any given turn. As you can only look at the next 3 patches in the circle, just decide whether you want any or not. Patchwork is also a brilliant mix of money management, spatial planning, opponent reading, and time management. Another challenge to this game is deciding whether or not it's worth to buy a piece you don't really need but it's cheap. What do you do?

If you're the type of gamer who loves puzzles, this is the game for you.

Pick it up and practice quilting with a partner!