How to play patchwork - a quintessential 2 player quilt making game.
Watch the Video
Read the Rules
The aim of the game
To win, stitch together as much of your quilt as possible, while collecting the most buttons.
To set up
- Give each player a gridded board and 5 buttons.
- Put the time board in the centre of the table and place the remaining buttons in a pile nearby.
- Place the regular patches in a circle around the board and the neutral token between the smallest patch (1x2) and the next patch in clockwise order.
- Layout the special tile and place the special patches on the spaces marked on the time board.
- Finally, Place your time tokens on the start space.
- The player who used a needle most recently begins.
To play the game
On your turn you can either:
- Move along the time board and gain buttons
- OR Take and patch and pace it on your quilt.
After the first turn, the player whose time token is the furthest behind takes a turn.
If you are still at the back after taking a turn, you can take another one.
If two tokens are on the same space, the one on top goes first.
To move, simply place your token in the spot directly in front of your opponent. You gain 1 button per space moved.
To take a patch, choose one of the 3 in front of the neutral token, in a clockwise direction.
Place the neutral token by the desired patch, take it and pay the number of buttons depicted on it, before placing it onto your quilt board.
- You can rotate your patch any way you like, as long as it fits on the grid.
- Patches do not have to touch.
- Patches cannot overlap
- You cannot move patches on your quilt once placed.
After placing a patch, move your time token along the board the number of spaces depicted on the tile.
Every time you pass a button icon on the time board, receive the total number of buttons depicted on your quilt board, across all your patches.
If you pass a special patch, take it and place it onto your quilt - these are the only ones that will cover a single square.
The first player who completely fills a 7x7 square on their quilt receives the special tile, worth 7 points.
Game end and scoring
The game ends when both player’s time tokens reach the end of track.
Your time token stops on the last space, even if it would pass it and you only receive buttons for how far you moved up to it.
Total up all of your buttons, including the special tile if you have it and subtract 2 points for each empty space on your quilt board to get your final score.
The player with the most points wins!
If it’s a draw, the one who reached the end of the time board first wins the game.
That’s patchwork, a classic about fabrics for 2 players.
Enjoy!