Patches: today's puzzle, free

How to play Patches

Each clue is a shape: a square, a tall rectangle, a wide rectangle, or the crossed marker for any rectangle. A number on the clue is how many cells its patch has. Press on a cell and drag to the opposite corner to draw a patch over a clue; tap a patch to remove it. Every patch holds exactly one clue, patches never overlap, and together they cover the whole board. Full rules and three practice boards on the how to play page.

Want another one? Unlimited Patches has 2,240 boards from 5×5 to 10×10 in three difficulties. Missed a day? Every past day is in the archive.

The week's puzzles

Patches strategy and tips: how to tile the board without guessing

Every Patches board is solved by one idea: each clue sits in exactly one rectangle, every cell belongs to exactly one rectangle, so the rectangles that could contain a clue are limited by the other clues, the edges and the cells nobody else can reach. A clue shows a shape, square, tall, wide or any, and sometimes a number, the patch's area. On Monday every clue has its number and only about 1.8 possible rectangles; on a Saturday 8×8 hard board only 29% of clues are numbered, 33% accept any shape, and a clue has about 16.4 candidate rectangles before the other clues cut them down. These are the cuts, with numbers from a year of Puzzlune's daily boards.

What do the clue shapes mean in Patches?

A square clue's patch is as wide as it is tall; a tall clue's patch is taller than wide; a wide clue's patch is wider than tall; an any-shape clue accepts all three. The number, when there is one, is the patch's area in cells, so a square 4 is 2×2 and a wide 6 is 3×2 or 6×1. A tall clue with no number is still a strong clue: it rules out every rectangle that is wider than it is tall, which on a board edge is most of them.

Where do you start a Patches puzzle?

With the clue that has the fewest possible rectangles: a numbered clue in a corner or against an edge, or a clue hemmed in by other clues. A rectangle cannot contain two clues, so every other clue is a wall for this one, and the board edge is a wall too. A square 4 in a corner has one placement. On an easy board our solver places every clue with one forced deduction each, 7.3 steps for 7.3 clues, and the first three or four are always edge and corner clues.

How do you solve Patches clues without numbers?

Use the cells no other clue can reach. A cell that only one clue's rectangles can cover must belong to that clue, and once a cell belongs to a clue, every rectangle of that clue that misses the cell is gone. On hard boards this is most of the game: with 31% of clues numbered, the numbers alone place only a few patches, and the rest come from these forced cells. Look at the cells between two clues of the same colour first; they usually belong to one of them and not the other.

How do board edges and corners help in Patches?

Every corner cell has to be in some patch, and that patch has exactly one clue, so the corner belongs to the nearest clue whose shape and number allow a rectangle reaching it. Edge cells work the same way one dimension at a time. Since a hard 8×8 board has about 10.4 clues for 64 cells, each patch averages 6.3 cells, and a corner is rarely more than two cells from the clue that owns it.

What does a red dashed patch mean in Patches?

The patch you drew does not match its clue: wrong shape, wrong area, or it covers a second clue. The game lets you place it anyway, counts it as misplaced, and shows it red and dashed so you can see what to fix. A correct patch takes its clue's colour. If the board is full but not finished, look for the red ones first; if there are none, two correct-looking patches have the wrong clue each, which is what the hint is for.

How do Patches hints work?

A hint first checks whether a placed patch is wrong and tells you which; if all are right, it finds the next deduction, either a clue with a single possible rectangle or a cell only one clue can reach, and explains it before placing anything. Every daily board is generated so that this chain of deductions reaches the end without guessing, and the hint follows the same chain, so three hints a day is three forced steps shown to you.

Which day has the hardest Patches board?

Saturday and Sunday, 8×8 hard boards where most clues have no number and a third accept any shape. Board size and difficulty follow the weekday. For each, the number of clues, the share with a number, the share that accept any shape, and how many rectangles a clue could be before the others are considered, over 365 daily boards.

Patches daily, Patches practice or the Patches archive: which should you play?

Play the daily when you have five minutes, practice when you want to get better, the archive when you want a worked example. The daily. One board, the size set by the weekday, the same for everyone. It is the only mode that counts for your streak, and the one to share.

Endless practice. Every size from 5×5 to 10×10 in three difficulties, as many boards as you like. Nothing you do there spoils the daily.

The archive. Every past daily with its first placements explained and the solved board. Every page has the full solution, so it doubles as a worked example when a technique from the strategy above hasn't clicked yet.

Patches FAQ

What is the Patches game?

Patches is a rectangle-tiling logic puzzle. The board holds a handful of clues; each clue shows a shape (square, tall rectangle, wide rectangle or any rectangle) and sometimes a number. Draw one rectangular patch over every clue so that the patch has that shape, has that many cells when a number is given, contains no other clue, and the patches together cover the whole board without overlapping. Every puzzle has exactly one solution.

Is this the LinkedIn Patches game?

No. Patches is a daily game on LinkedIn (since March 2026) with one puzzle a day and no archive. Puzzlune's Patches uses the same rules with boards we generate and check ourselves: a daily puzzle that follows the week from 6×6 to 8×8, unlimited mode from 5×5 to 10×10, an archive of every past day, hints that explain the deduction, undo and dark mode. We are not affiliated with LinkedIn.

How do I draw a patch on a phone?

Put your finger on one corner cell and drag to the opposite corner. The outline turns into the clue's colour when the rectangle contains exactly one clue; let go to place it. Tap a patch to remove it. A patch with the wrong shape or size can still be placed, but it's marked with a red dashed border so you can fix it.

How is difficulty decided?

By how much the clues tell you. Easy boards show every shape with its number. Medium boards drop about half the numbers. Hard boards drop every number the puzzle can spare and turn some shapes into "any", so you solve them from the cells only one clue can reach. Every board, at every level, can be finished by deduction alone; nothing needs a guess.

How do hints work?

A hint first checks whether a placed patch is wrong. If not, it finds the next deduction a person could make: a clue with only one patch that fits, or a cell only one clue can reach. It dims the board, marks the cells involved and explains it in one sentence. You can apply it or do it yourself. Daily puzzles allow three hints; unlimited mode has no limit.

Is Patches the same as the LinkedIn Patches puzzle, or Shikaku?

Patches is LinkedIn's 2026 rectangle puzzle, a cousin of Shikaku: in Shikaku every clue is a number, while Patches clues are shapes with optional numbers. Patches game, patches puzzle, play patches online and patches unlimited are all searches for what this page has: a free daily with LinkedIn's rules, endless practice and an archive of every past day with the solution.

Do I need an account?

No. Progress, streak and stats are stored in your browser.