What is Patches?
Patches is a rectangle logic puzzle inspired by LinkedIn Games. You're given a grid — usually 6 × 6 — with a handful of cells carrying clues. Your job is to partition the entire grid into rectangular patches so that every clue sits inside exactly one patch, every patch matches whatever its clue specifies, and every cell of the grid belongs to exactly one patch. No overlaps, no gaps.
The puzzle is solved when the board is fully covered. Easy. The hard part is figuring out which rectangle goes where, because clues constrain the shape, the size, both, or neither — and those constraints have to fit together across the whole grid.
Step-by-step rules
1 · Read the clues
Each clue cell encodes up to two things: a shape type and a cell count. The shape is drawn as a small rectangle inside the cell whose aspect ratio matches the shape family — square, wide, tall, or freeform. If there's a number, it sits on top and tells you the exact area of the rectangle the clue belongs to.
2 · Drag to draw a rectangle
Click and hold on one cell, then drag to another cell. A translucent rectangle follows your pointer. The border turns orange when the shape is valid (exactly one clue inside, matches shape + size, no overlap). It turns red if any constraint is broken. Release to place.
3 · Match shape and size
The rectangle must contain exactly one clue, and it must match the clue's constraints precisely. A Square clue refuses anything that isn't a square. A Wide clue refuses squares and tall rectangles — width must be strictly greater than height. Same for Tall. A Freeform clue accepts any rectangle, including squares.
4 · Cover every cell
Keep drawing rectangles until every cell of the grid belongs to exactly one patch. Tap (or click) any placed patch to remove it if you need to adjust. The puzzle isn't solved until the last cell is covered.
The four shape types
Patches uses four shape categories — this is the part that separates it from classic Shikaku. Every clue tells you which family it belongs to (or that it's Freeform).
Square
Width equals height. A clue marked Square must be solved by a square patch — 1×1, 2×2, 3×3, and so on.
Wide
Width is strictly greater than height. 3×1, 4×2, 6×2 all count — but 2×2 is a square and does NOT satisfy a Wide clue.
Tall
Height is strictly greater than width. 1×3, 2×4, 2×6 all count — but 3×3 is a square and does NOT satisfy a Tall clue.
Freeform
Any rectangle, including squares. The player decides the shape. Freeform clues give you the most freedom but also the most deduction work.
Shape examples at a glance
A few worked mappings between cell count and valid shapes:
- Square · 4 → only 2 × 2 is valid. 4 × 1 and 1 × 4 are wrong shape.
- Square · 9 → only 3 × 3 is valid. No other rectangle has area 9 and equal sides.
- Wide · 6 → 6 × 1, 3 × 2. 2 × 3 is tall, not wide; 1 × 6 is tall.
- Tall · 6 → 1 × 6, 2 × 3. 3 × 2 and 6 × 1 are wide.
- Freeform · 6 → any rectangle with area 6: 1 × 6, 2 × 3, 3 × 2, 6 × 1.
- Freeform · no number → any rectangle of any size. You pick both dimensions and orientation.
In-game tools
The toolbar below the grid keeps you moving when a board gets tricky:
Undo
Reverts your last placement or removal. Every action pushes onto the undo stack, up to 50 entries deep. Undoing doesn't reset the timer — your elapsed time sticks.
Reset
Clears the whole board. Use when a board goes sideways and you want a fresh start. Reset is also undoable — press Undo after Reset to get your placements back.
Hint
Highlights a clue you haven't solved yet along with its correct rectangle. Use sparingly — the highlight fades after a couple of seconds, which is enough to see the shape without memorising it for you.
Share
Copies the puzzle's URL to your clipboard. Every board has a unique shareable link. Send it to a friend, compare solve times, or save a favourite for later.
Strategy tips
Start with the most constrained clues
Squares with specific numbers are the tightest: a Square 9 can only be 3 × 3. Place those first — they lock down the grid geometry and make the rest of the board easier to read.
Work from the edges inward
Patches near the grid edge have fewer places they can live, because they can't extend past the boundary. Resolving edge-adjacent clues first reduces ambiguity for the middle.
Elimination beats guessing
Before placing an unconstrained Freeform or size-only clue, ask which cells can't belong to it. Other nearby clues often rule out options, narrowing the shape to only a couple of possibilities.
Watch the red border
The red border is a real-time validator. If your drag goes red, something's off — wrong shape, wrong size, two clues inside, or overlap. Drag slightly to see which constraint flips it back to orange.
Undo, don't reset
If a placement doesn't work, Undo keeps your other progress intact. Reset wipes everything — use it only when the whole board is stuck and you want to start from scratch.
Difficulty levels
Patches difficulty is set by grid size and clue density. Bigger grids don't just take longer — they let shapes overlap in more possible arrangements, which means more deduction. The difficulty picker controls how much each clue reveals.
- Easy — almost every clue shows both shape and size. Great for learning.
- Medium — about half of clues show both; the rest show shape-only or size-only, so you triangulate one from the grid.
- Hard — many clues hide at least one constraint. Expect multi-step deduction.
Daily challenge & streak
A new daily puzzle lands every day at 00:00 UTC. Solve it to extend your streak. Miss a day and the streak resets. The last 90 days live in the archive if you want to catch up on yesterday's board.
Daily puzzles are shared — everyone playing on a given day gets the exact same board. Your time and best solves are saved locally in your browser so you can come back and retry for a faster run.
Progress & saves
Every board autosaves to your browser's localStorage. Close the tab, come back tomorrow — your placements and your elapsed time are still there. Each puzzle has its own save slot keyed by seed, so progress on one board never overwrites progress on another.
Nothing leaves your browser. There's no account, no cloud sync, no server round-trip. The entire engine — generator, validator, renderer — runs client-side.
Ready to play?
The fastest way to start is the daily puzzle. Beginner? Start with a 6 × 6 Easy and work up. Veteran? Try an 8 × 8 Hard — fewer hints, more deduction, longer solve.
If you get stuck, the Hint button will show you one correct patch for a couple of seconds. Often that's enough to unblock the rest of the board.