Patchwork Board Game - A Two-Player Quilting Strategy Game by Uwe Rosenberg! Interactive Puzzle Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 8+, 2 Players, 30 Minute Playtime, Made by Lookout Games

~ Rainy/snowy/too hot weekend? Got the stew stewing or pie baking? Not all friends could come over? Got about 20 minutes to kill? Well, this is the perfect game for you to play with your friend/roommate/partner/husband/child/anyone you've got there! But please note that you can only play this with one friend; not the whole squad - for this is strictly a 2-player game! ~ What's all the stuff here? Well, you've got a lot of blue buttons, 33 patches, two quilt boards (lime green and yellow) and two time tokens of the same colors corresponding to these quilt boards, One Time board (the one with the spiral steps), One Neutral Token (the one that looks like Chess coin), Five 1x1 patches (the tiny leather patches), One 7x7 button tile (special tile). ~ Rules: 1. Each player picks one quilt board and the time token of the color corresponding to the color of their quilt board. Sit opposite to each other. 2. Place the time board at the center. Both the time tokens have to be placed at the beginning of the spiral in the time board (As the game progresses, you literally spiral your way through time!). Place the 1x1 patches at the corresponding blanks on the time board. Arrange all the 33 patches randomly around the time board. 3. Locate the smallest of the 33 patches. You'll find a tiny 2x2 rectangular patch. The Neural token (the grey chess like coin) has to be placed between this patch and it's immediate patch in the clockwise direction (refer to picture attached). The game proceeds in the clockwise direction from the neutral token. 4. Each player gets 5 buttons to begin with. 5. The player who last picked a needle must start the game. If neither of you have done that, just toss for it! 6. During your turn, you have two choices: Choice A: Buy a patch of your choice by paying the number of buttons indicated on that patch. You are eligible to buy any of the first three patches that are immediately adjacent to the neutral token in the clockwise direction. When you do pick a patch, move the neutral token to the now empty spot created by you taking this patch. Now you can use this patch to create a quilt on your quilt board. Use the patch wisely! Next, move your time token as per the number of steps indicated by the hourglass on that patch that you've just used. As long as your time token is further behind or on top of your opponent's time token, it is still your turn! Yes. This game does not necessarily alternate turns. Choice B: You decide to rest. Here you just pass over your opponent's time token; exactly to the next space. Not one step more or less. You'll receive one button for each of the spaces that you've crossed. Now that your time token is in front of your opponent's, your turn is over! 7. When your time token spirals it's way through the time board, You might happen to pass through some special places. When you cross a button checkpoint, count the number of buttons on the quilt that you've created on your work board (this doesn't include the buttons that you spent buying the patches but rather the huge buttons on the patches). You receive these many buttons from the reserve. Also, in case you are the first player to land onto or pass over a 1x1 patch, you get that patch. These patches go to the first player to land on or pass over them and MUST BE USED IMMEDIATELY. 8. The first player to build a complete 7x7 quilt (without any empty spaces) on their work board gets the special 7x7 tile. This corresponds to 7 buttons. (PS. The work board itself is 9x9) 9. So that's it. When both the time tokens reach the center of the time board, the game ends. 10. Point calculation: Add all the buttons that you have left. From this subtract the number of empty spaces on your work board multiplied by 2. ~ So that's pretty much it. You can refer to the pictures that I've attached to get more of an idea. ~ You'll definitely get familiar with the rules when you play a game or two. The rules are very simple. And the game is fun! ~ Also, I've noticed that this game does not involve much fighting or cheating. Just a fun and friendly game that helps you while away a max of 30 mins .

This is quite a fun two player game. The game length depends heavily on how long players spend analyzing their turn. We've found it takes us roughly 20 minutes or so. Do note that the game is only for two players. It's printed rather largely on the box cover, but I just wanted to reiterate in case it were overlooked. The artwork on the game pieces has a cute feel to it and was actually the reason i chose to buy the game (my wife loves sewing crafts). While it certainly doesn't hurt gameplay, one improvement i'd make is to include real plastic buttons rather than cardboard ones. If someone felt so inclined, this could be an easy upgrade you could add to the game yourself without much cost.. some people, like my grandma, have jars full of buttons laying around! The rules of the game are short and rather simple. At the start of the game you feel as if the game might be too trivial and might not have enough strategy incorporated. However, it wont be long until you realize that's far from the case. For being such a simple game concept with a small rulebook, it is packed full of strategy. There's the obvious layout concern for your card, but then there are additional considerations such as managing your button income, defensively choosing a piece or advancing beyond a piece so your opponent can't get their ideal piece, not progressing too quickly around the board, but also not going so slow that you're strapped for funds. There's a bonus scoring of filling a certain sized region of your board, however we usually are unable to achieve this without making sacrifices or just getting lucky. One possible twist you can add to the game is to come up with your own regions/shapes to achieve points.. kind of like how bingo can be an X, a square, etc. You could make any type of regions/bonus points you want. The simple concept of the game would make it a good gateway game.. but it would really need a 4 player variant for that to work for us. I'd love to see a 4 player expansion put out for this game where you got a couple quilt boards and it doubled-up the patches and buttons (these would need to have an indicator on them so you could remove them for a 2 player game again). We enjoy this game quite a bit, but i don't think i'd consider it in our main rotation.. but it's very close. The game is well balanced and has good strategy involved.. it just doesn't have enough dynamics to it to make it something you play on high rotation. That said, i'm glad we bought it and I'd still buy it again. If they ever do come out with that 4 player expansion i'm sure we'll pick it up.

A game about quilting. That kinda threw me for a bit but everyone and their sister were raving about it so I had to find out for myself. Turns out, everyone and their sisters were right. Patchwork is a game for exactly 2 players, ages 8+ and plays in about 30-45 minutes. How to play Thankfully this game involves no actual sewing because the last time I tried that I ended up in the ER with a sheepish grin on my face. You’ll find Patchwork to be a bit different than your average game in both set up and play. To begin with, each player will take a Quilt Board representing their as of yet not started sewing project. The Quilt Board is divided up into a number of 1×1 squares. They’ll then take 5 Buttons (the currency in the game) and a Time Token. There’s a third board in the game which is the central Time Board. Players will each place their Time Token on the starting space of the Time Board. Now, the most fun setup can really begin. There are a whole bunch of Patches – shaped, Tetris-like tokens – that you’re going to arrange randomly in a (fairly large) circle around the Time Board. Locate the smallest Patch (a 1×2 square Patch) and place the wooden Neutral token between that and the next patch, going clockwise. Each of these Patch tokens will have a little tag image on it that will show a number next to a button to indicate how many Buttons they cost, and a number next to a timer icon, to indicated how many spaces on the Time Board you’ll move your Time Token if you choose that Patch. Lastly, you’ll lay out the special 7×7 bonus token and place the five special 1×1 patches on the Time Board. The first thing you should know is that Patchwork doesn’t necessarily alternate turns. The player who’s Time Token is furthest back on the Time Board will get the next turn, which could (and will) mean players take multiple turns in a row. On your turn, you can do one of two things. Advance your Time Token to the space just after the other player’s Time Token on the Time Board and get yourself some buttons or take and place a Patch on your Patch board. In the first option you’ll receive as many buttons as spaces you’ve moved to get past the other player’s Time Token – advance three spaces, get three buttons. And that’s it, since the other player’s Time Token is now behind yours, it’s their turn. Remember, Buttons are currency in this game. If you choose to take a Patch, you’ve got to follow these five steps. First, the patch must be within three patches in front of the Neutral Token you placed amidst all those patches in the game setup. Second, you’ll move the Neutral Token to be next to the Patch you’ve chosen. Third, you pay the number of Buttons indicated on the patch (some patches are free). Fourth, you will place the Patch you just bought on your Quilt board. Last, you move your Time Token on the Time Board the number of spaces indicated on the Patch token you just placed on your Quilt Board. Some of the spaces on the Time Board have some special powers on them. There are five Special Patches, which are 1×1, leather looking Patches. These can only be gotten off the Time Board, and you only receive them if you are the first to move your Time Token onto or past them. The second special power are the Button icons. If you move past a Button icon, you then receive Button tokens! Look at your Quilt Board – many (but not all) Patches will have graphics of buttons sewn into them – count each individual button and take that many Button tokens. When you’re placing that patch on your Quilt Board, you have to follow a few simple rules too. You can flip or turn the Patch any way you like as long as it fits entirely on the board and doesn’t overlap any other Patches. That’s where the Tetris aspect of the game comes in. Finally, there’s a special 7×7 token – the first player to fill in a 7×7 grid completely on their Quilt board receives this token and scores an extra 7 points at the end of the game. Speaking of which…. End of the game and scoring. The game ends when both player’s Time Tokens reach the last space on the Time Board and players determine their scores. Add up the number of Button tokens you have left, and subtract 2 points for each empty 1×1 spaces on your Quilt board. That’s your score. If you had for example 11 buttons left and had managed to snag the 7×7 token, you’d start off with 18 points. If you had six empty spaces (6*2=12) you’d subtract 12 from 18 and end the game with 6 points. Why you should play Answer this question truly and honestly. How many games in your collection have a sewing or quilting theme? Now how many games in your collection with this theme are really engaging, allow for some interesting and thinky strategy, have just a bit of a puzzle aspect to them, allow you to build something of substance during the game, and are extremely well balanced? Patchwork checks all of these boxes and does so in a really compelling way. You’re looking ahead in the Patches portion of the table to see where the Neutral Token will next fall, while trying to calculate how many spaces forward you want to move to get more Buttons and maybe grab that 1×1 patch you need to fill in your 7×7 grid so you can finally get that extra points token. You’re opponent is doing that very same thing too, and perhaps plotting a way to take two turns before you’ll get your next so that the Neutral Token will skip over that one Patch you really need. It’s a lot of fun and sometimes a little frustrating in that good “oh, I can’t believe you just did that to me!” kind of way. I’ve enjoyed quite a few games while waiting for another friend to show up or between my wife and I or Luca and I. Patchwork hits that sweet spot of a 2 player filler game that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome and still offers a complete gaming experience. It’s what I’d expect from Uwe Rosengberg who’s designed (among many, many wonderful games) another tight, small game I love, Bohnanza. Be warned however, for such a small box the game ends up taking up quite a bit of space! It’s those Patches you’ve got to spread about. There’s a whole bunch of them! Other than that extremely minor thing I don’t have much in the way of criticism – rather I’m still pleasantly surprised that a game with a quirky theme is so much fun.

I love this game - it's a nice premise, making your own quilt kind of Tetris style with different shaped fabric scraps from a shared "deck" where you can only choose from a few at a time. Friendly competition for resources, planning and chance all keep this game engaging while still being easy enough to learn / explain with ease. There is a balance of simplicity yet challenge with each game you play. The game doesn't last super long either. Once you get the hang of it, I would say it takes me around 40 mins. Quick enough to play another round without it feeling like a huge commitment, short enough to fit a round in for fun. I've grown up playing a lot of games, still play a lot, especially during the pandemic. This is easily one of any favorite games of all time - the maker of these games is good at everything he does, and I highly recommend anything he makes. The ambiance of coziness with this game is everything - and the satisfaction of building your quilt and admiring what you've made at the end, each time with a unique result.

My sister and I love games. This is our favorite one and we play it almost every day, and sometimes twice a day. You rarely know who's winning till the game ends which we think adds more excitement. It takes about twenty minutes to play one game. There are different versions and also versions for children as well. It is a clever puzzle game that is easy to learn and no game is the same ever which adds variety.

Ease of play: My little sister and i got the game and spent 5ish minutes reading the rules and setting it up. We were off playing directly after having done that! I haven't found many board games that are as easy to learn how to play as patchwork. This is a two player only board game and isn't as stressful as some of the other more "strategic" ones i.e. Chess and go or reversi. There is some strategy as to where you place your patches and which one you will purchase next and we just had a game that we were both able to completely fill our board so it is possible. Great game to pick up and play and I would recommend it to anyone wanting a new and interesting two player game to try out.

I bought this game after seeing that it was very highly rated for two players. My wife and I love playing games, but it is usually just us two, so finding a great two-player game is important. We have only played it once so far, but it was surprisingly fun. The concept of the game seems weird, but trust me, it is actually really enjoyable. The box and game pieces are all of good quality so I'm sure we'll be able to enjoy this game for years to come. The game board is a pretty standard size and will fit on any table. We played the game in about 45 minutes. Next time we play, it will likely take less time, which makes it a perfect option for a quick game night.

This game is wonderful. I bought to play mainly with my mom, who is an avid quilter. She likes games but does not like complex rules. Patchwork is exactly up her alley; she really enjoys it. The rules are not very complex (basically: use buttons to buy pieces of your quilt to place and get more buttons depending on what pieces you get) and overall it can be played either quickly or slowly. It really depends on the players. Since Patchwork is a 2-player game, that also means it is not one of those games you have to wait for friends to come over for playing, e.g. those 4-6 player board games. Perfect for a quiet night in with some tea. The game is pretty visual and requires the players to think about how to translate, rotate, flip a piece to have it fit on their quilt (game) board. This might be difficult for individuals who are better with tactile placements than imagining how shapes change in space. My family decided to just let the players try out pieces on their board before "buying" them with the buttons, even though that is not part of the original rule set. It doesn't detract from the game at all, even though it sometimes takes longer to finish a single game. After multiple plays, the little cardboard pieces that are the quilting blocks are still in pretty good condition. So far no missing pieces as everything tidies up well into the box. The box itself is also not too large -- while it's probably not something you'd want to carry on a plane, it's the size of a game I could see taken on a road trip easily. The only con? There's no 3+ player version of this game, so I have to wait until my parents play one round to play myself! Not a bad problem to have at all.