The complete guide: buying shaped patches with buttons, moving along the time track, income, filling the 9×9 quilt and scoring. Controls on muta.pro and tactics.
Patchwork is a duelling puzzle about assembling a quilt. Each player buys shaped patches with buttons and packs them tightly onto their 9×9 board. Buttons here are both currency and points. By the finish, the winner is whoever has more final points: every uncovered cell carries a −2 penalty. There is no luck — it all comes down to calculation.
Two play: you and the bot "Needle". Each has an empty 9×9 quilt and 12 buttons to start. Both tokens stand at the beginning of the time track (0–18). The patches lie in a circle in front of the players; the three nearest are available. The player whose token is further behind on the time track always moves — so you can take several turns in a row.
From the three nearest patches, press "Buy" on the one you want. Each shows its price in buttons (🔘), time cost (⏳) and income (+🔘/lap).
A purchase spends buttons and moves your token forward along the time track by the patch's "time" value. Time is the main limited resource.
A patch can be rotated with the "⟳ Rotate" button (or the R key) and placed on the quilt without overlaps. A green outline means it fits, red means it does not.
Patches with income yield buttons whenever your token passes marks that are multiples of 6 on the time track. The more "income" patches you own, the higher the regular payout.
If you do not want to buy, press "⏭ Skip ahead". Your token lands one cell past your opponent, and you earn 1 button for every step you pass.
Rewards sit on certain cells: buttons and free 1×1 patches that are placed on the quilt right away. And a fully filled 7×7 square gives +7 points at the finish.
The game ends when both tokens reach the finish of the time track (position 18). The result is worked out by the formula: buttons minus 2 for every empty cell of the quilt, plus 7 if a full 7×7 square is assembled. For example, "🔘12 − 18 +7 = 1". Whoever has more points wins; if they are level, the game is a draw. So it matters not only to earn but also to leave no holes.
Income patches pay off better the earlier they are bought: they will pass more income marks.
A cheap but "slow" patch can cost you your opponent's move. Count not only buttons but also steps along the track.
Every empty cell at the end is minus 2 points. Sometimes it is better to take an awkward patch than to leave a gap.
A full 7×7 square is an instant +7 points. If it is within reach, plan your placement around that bonus.
In Patchwork a button is at once money and a point. Everything you do boils down to one question: does the move bring in more buttons than it costs — allowing for time? A strong player thinks not about a patch's price but about its return per step of time.
A patch costing 2 buttons and 3 time is often better than a "cheap" one costing 1 button and 5 time: time is the scarcest resource, and every extra step hands the move to your opponent.
An income icon is worth more the earlier it is bought: before the finish (18) it will pass more marks that are multiples of 6. A "+1/lap" patch bought at the start returns 3 buttons, while the same patch near the end returns one or none.
An income patch is worth it if it passes as many income marks as it cost. Estimate how many "sixes" are left before 18 from your current cell — that is the ceiling on its profit.
Income marks on the time track: from the start an income patch collects buttons three times (6, 12, 18), from the middle less often.
Every empty cell at the finish is minus 2 points, and a full 7×7 square is an instant plus 7. So you build the quilt not for looks but for the fewest holes and a reachable big square. A patch's shape matters more than its colour.
Begin laying from a corner and along the edges: that way you control the shape of the remaining empty space and less often create single cells with nothing to cover them.
Try to keep the border of the filled zone in a straight line. A ragged edge needs rare "L"- and "T"-shaped patches that may not be in the queue.
Save awkward notches for the free 1×1 bonus patches from the track: those are exactly what plug single holes without overpaying in time.
The even front on the left closes easily; the gold-highlighted single hole is a −2 trap, and only a 1×1 patch can save it.
The player whose token is further behind always moves. So being behind is a resource: while you are at the back you can make several purchases in a row while your opponent waits. An experienced player deliberately moves slowly to "buy an extra move".
If you are on cell 4 and your opponent on 9, you keep moving until you overtake them. Take patches short on time to stretch out this run.
"Skip ahead" puts your token one cell past your opponent and gives a button for every step you pass. That is pure income when there are no worthwhile patches in the queue.
Reaching 18 first is a bad deal: your opponent gets a long run of final moves. Stay one step behind right up to the end.
"Me" is behind the opponent "Op": while my token is at the back, I keep moving — with short patches you can make several purchases at once.
Losing at Patchwork is almost never one catastrophe but the sum of small leaks: overpaying in time, holes in the quilt, missed income. Here is what most often costs the game.
Two gold holes are −4 points; they wipe out almost half the bonus for the big square.