How to play
How to play Patches
Patches is a rectangle-tiling puzzle: draw one rectangular patch over every clue, matching its shape and its number, until the patches cover the board with no overlaps. Three practice boards below let you try each idea.
1. Drag a patch over each clue
Every clue shows a shape and a number. Press on a cell and drag to the opposite corner to draw a patch; it must cover exactly one clue and have that many cells. Tap a patch to remove it. Cover the whole board.
2. Shapes without numbers
A clue without a number only fixes the shape: a square, a tall rectangle or a wide one. Its size comes from what's left once the numbered patches are in and every cell has to be covered.
3. Any shape, no numbers
The crossed marker means any rectangle. With no numbers at all, work from the cells that only one clue can reach: a corner, an edge, a cell boxed in by other clues. That's how the hard boards go.
Read the clues
Every clue marker is a shape: a solid square, a tall rectangle, a wide rectangle, or two crossed rectangles meaning any shape. A number on a marker is the exact number of cells its patch must have. No number means any size.
Draw a patch by dragging
Press on one corner cell and drag to the opposite corner. The outline takes the clue's colour when the rectangle holds exactly one clue and nothing else; let go to place it. Tap a placed patch to remove it. Undo, redo and clear are in the toolbar.
One clue per patch, no overlaps, no gaps
A patch must contain exactly one clue. Patches can't overlap. When the last cell is covered and every patch matches its clue, the board is solved. A patch with the wrong shape or size can still be placed, but it's shown with a red dashed border until you fix it.
Start with clues that have one option
Look for a clue that can only be drawn one way: a numbered square in a corner, a tall rectangle hemmed in by other clues, a number that only fits along an edge. Place those first; each one narrows the rest.
Then ask who can reach this cell
Pick an empty cell, especially a corner or one wedged between clues, and ask which clues could stretch a rectangle over it without crossing another clue. If only one can, that cell belongs to that clue's patch. This is the whole game on hard boards with no numbers.
Hints
A hint checks your placed patches first, then shows the next deduction: a clue with one possible patch, or a cell only one clue can reach. It explains why; you choose whether to apply it. Daily puzzles allow three hints, unlimited mode any number.
Strategy tips
- Corners first. A corner cell can only be reached by clues whose rectangle fits between the corner and the nearest other clues. Often that's a single clue.
- Numbers are factor puzzles. A 6 is 1×6, 2×3, 3×2 or 6×1; a square 9 is only 3×3. Combine the shape with the number and count how many of those fit around the clue without touching another clue.
- Every cell needs an owner. A cell that no remaining clue can reach means an earlier patch is wrong. The hint will tell you which one.
- Big shapes with no number are pinned by their neighbours. They fill whatever the numbered patches leave behind, so place the numbered ones first.
- Count the leftovers. The cells not yet covered must split into rectangles, one per remaining clue. If a leftover region can't be a rectangle around its clue, back up.
Daily, unlimited and archive
Every day at local midnight there is one new puzzle. The board follows the week, and so does how much the clues tell you:
| Day | Board | Clues |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 6×6 · Easy | every shape has its number |
| Tuesday | 6×6 · Medium | about half the numbers |
| Wednesday | 7×7 · Medium | about half the numbers |
| Thursday | 7×7 · Medium | about half the numbers |
| Friday | 7×7 · Hard | shapes only, some "any" |
| Saturday | 8×8 · Hard | shapes only, some "any" |
| Sunday | 8×8 · Hard | shapes only, some "any" |
Solve the daily to extend your streak. Unlimited serves boards from 5×5 to 10×10 in three difficulties with no limit, and the archive keeps every past day playable.
How is this different from LinkedIn Patches?
The rules are identical. LinkedIn publishes one puzzle a day with no archive and no unlimited mode. Puzzlune generates its own boards, checks every one for a single solution that deduction alone can reach, gives you a daily plus unlimited mode and a free archive, and works in light and dark mode. Puzzlune is not affiliated with LinkedIn.