Patches Game Tips & Strategy: How to Solve Patches Faster

Patches looks like a drawing game, but it is solved by elimination. Every clue has a short list of rectangles that could be its patch, and solving means crossing entries off those lists until each clue has one left. This page shows how to do that quickly, using real boards from our puzzle pool. It assumes you know the rules; if not, start with how to play Patches.

The order of operations

Most boards fall to the same routine. Run it in this order, and go back to the top every time you place a patch:

Find the forced clues. Look for a clue whose shape and number allow only one rectangle, or whose position leaves only one. Place those first.
Treat everything as a wall. Every other clue and every placed patch is a barrier. Recheck the clues next to whatever you just placed.
Look at cells, not clues. Pick an empty cell, especially a corner, and ask which clues could possibly reach it. If only one can, that clue's patch covers it.
Budget the area. When a region is walled off, the patches inside it must add up to exactly its number of cells.
Find the cells every option shares. If all of a clue's remaining rectangles cover the same cell, no other clue can use that cell.

Steps one to three solve most Easy and Medium boards on their own. Steps four and five are what Hard boards are made of.

Find the clue with only one home

A clue with a shape and a number is a small multiplication problem. List the rectangles with that many cells, keep the ones with the right proportions, and throw out any that would run off the board. Some combinations collapse to a single answer before you even look at the neighbors:

A Square with a number is always one size. Square 4 is 2×2, Square 9 is 3×3, Square 16 is 4×4.
A Wide or Tall clue with a prime number has one shape. Wide 5 can only be 5×1, and Tall 3 can only be 1×3.
Big numbers on a small board lose options to the edges. On a 6×6, a Wide 8 must be 4×2 because 8×1 does not fit, and a Freeform 9 must be 3×3 for the same reason.
A clue in a corner has only one position for any given width and height, so a numbered Square in a corner is placed the moment you see it.

Here is a real 6×6 Medium, the same size and difficulty as the daily puzzle. Three clues show a number; the other three show only a shape.

A 6×6 Medium board from the puzzle pool. The Tall 8 sits in the top row, the Wide 8 in the middle, and the Square 4 in the bottom row.

Start with the Tall 8. Eight cells, taller than wide: 1×8 does not fit on a board six rows high, so it has to be 2 wide and 4 tall. The clue is in the top row, so the patch starts at the top edge, and it can cover either columns 1–2 or columns 2–3.

The Tall 8’s two possible positions. The red one would also contain the Wide 8 clue, so only the dashed one is legal.

The right-hand position would take in the Wide 8 clue, and a patch can hold only one clue, so the Tall 8 goes in the first two columns, rows 1 to 4. The Square 4 in the bottom row works the same way. A 2×2 touching the bottom edge can cover columns 4–5 or columns 5–6, and columns 4–5 would swallow the Square clue in row 5, so it takes columns 5–6.

With the Tall 8 in place, the Wide 8 has nowhere else to go. It must be 4×2, and every 4-wide position that reaches into the first two columns now overlaps the Tall 8. The position one row higher was never possible, because it would contain the Wide clue on the right edge. The only survivor runs across rows 3 and 4, from column 3 to column 6.

Three patches placed without a single guess: the Tall 8, the Wide 8 and the Square 4.

Every clue is a wall

Notice what did the work in those deductions. It was not the clue being placed but the other clues nearby. A patch holds exactly one clue, so every other clue on the board is a wall the current patch cannot cross. Patches you have already placed are walls too. Whenever you place a patch, recheck the clues next to it: its edges are new walls, and a neighbor often loses all but one option at that moment. That is exactly what happened to the Wide 8.

Ask which clue can reach each cell

This is the most useful technique in Patches, and the one new players skip. Instead of asking where a clue can go, pick an empty cell and ask which clues could ever cover it. Every cell must belong to some patch, so if only one clue can reach a cell, that clue's patch includes it.

Back on the Medium board, look at the top band: the empty cells of rows 1 and 2 to the right of the Tall 8. The two Square clues at the bottom are cut off by the Wide 8, and the placed patches cannot move. Only the Wide clue on the right edge can reach any of those cells.

The highlighted cells can only be reached by the Wide clue on the right edge, so its patch has to cover all of them.

Its patch must cover all eight cells of that band, from column 3 to column 6 across two rows. That is a 4×2 rectangle, wider than tall, just as the clue demands. The clue never told you its size; the board did.

The bottom-left corner falls the same way. The Square clue in the corner can only be 1×1 or 2×2, since anything bigger would run into the Wide 8. The two cells in column 2 below the Wide 8 can only be reached by that corner Square, so it must be the 2×2. The last four cells form a 2×2 around the other Square clue.

Solved. Three of the six clues never showed a number, and none of them needed one.

Corners are the best cells to ask about. A corner can only be covered by a patch that stretches all the way into it, and usually only one or two clues are close enough to do that.

Budget the area

A 6×6 board has 36 cells, an 8×8 has 64 and a 10×10 has 100, and the patches have to add up to exactly that. The same bookkeeping works on any region your placed patches have walled off: the patches inside it must add up to its cell count.

One clue in a closed region takes the whole region, and the region has to be a rectangle that suits the clue.
Numbered clues must add up to the region's size. If they cannot, one of the patches around the region is wrong.
A shape-only clue gets whatever is left once the numbered clues are counted. That turns a shape clue into a shape-and-size clue.

On Medium boards about half the clues show only a shape, and on Hard boards most clues have no number at all, so budgeting is how you get the missing numbers back.

Hard boards: Freeform clues and missing numbers

Hard boards give you fewer, vaguer clues. Most are Freeform, which accepts any rectangle, and many carry no number. Here is a real 6×6 Hard with only four clues.

A 6×6 Hard board from the pool: a Freeform 9, a Freeform 12, a Freeform with no number and a Tall clue with no number.

Start with the number that has the fewest rectangles. Nine cells can be 1×9, 9×1 or 3×3, and only 3×3 fits on a 6×6. The Freeform 9 is in the bottom-left corner, and a 3×3 has one position in a corner, so it is placed.

Now ask the cell question about the top-left corner. The Freeform 12 in the top row cannot reach it without also containing the blank Freeform beside it, and the Tall clue in the opposite corner cannot get there without swallowing other clues. The blank Freeform is the only clue that can reach any cell of the top-left 3×3, so its patch is that whole block. It had no number and no fixed shape; it got both from the board.

That leaves the right half: three columns, 18 cells and two clues. A 12-cell rectangle around the Freeform 12 can only be 3 wide by 4 tall or 2 wide by 6 tall; every other one runs off the board or takes in another clue.

The Freeform 12 has two options (dashed). Both cover the highlighted block, so no other clue can use those cells.

You do not need to know which option is right to use them. Both cover the same block of eight cells, columns 4 and 5 in rows 1 to 4, so those cells belong to the Freeform 12 either way and the Tall clue cannot touch them. Now budget: 18 cells, 12 of them for the Freeform 12, leaves exactly 6 for the Tall clue. A tall 6-cell rectangle in the bottom-right corner is either a full-height column one cell wide or a block 2 wide and 3 tall, and the 2×3 would reach row 4 of column 5, one of the shared cells. So the Tall patch is the whole right-hand column, and the Freeform 12 takes the 2×6 beside it.

Solved. Three of the four clues were Freeform and two had no number, yet every step was forced.

Edges and corners

An edge cuts the options. A patch cannot extend past the board, so a clue on an edge can only grow inward, and a clue in a corner can only grow in one direction each way.
Try the full strip first. When a shape-only Tall or Wide clue sits on an edge, check whether the full-length strip along that edge works. On the Hard board above, the Tall clue's patch turned out to be the entire right column.
Check every corner early. All four corners have to be covered by something. Work out which clues can reach each one; a corner with a single candidate is a free placement.

Let the board check your work

Watch the live cell count. While you drag, a small number in the middle of the rectangle shows how many cells it covers, so you can size a numbered patch before you let go.
Red means a rule is broken. The outline turns red if the rectangle holds no clue or two clues, has the wrong shape, or has the wrong number of cells. Let go and a message tells you which.
Legal is not the same as right. A patch can follow its clue's rules and still be in the wrong place. If a region becomes impossible to fill, the patch next to it is the likely culprit. Tap it to remove it, or press Undo.

Size-specific advice

6×6

The daily size. Easy boards have 8 or 9 clues, all showing a shape and a number, so they solve almost entirely by finding forced clues. Medium has 6 clues, about half of them shape-only; expect to use the cell question once or twice. Hard has 4 to 6 clues, mostly Freeform, with patches of up to 16 cells, so budgeting matters more than anything else.

8×8

Easy has 13 to 16 clues, Medium 10 or 11 and Hard 8 to 10, with patches of up to 24 cells on Hard. There is too much board to hold in your head at once, so work in regions: clear the forced clues everywhere, then pick one corner and finish it before moving on. Every placed patch splits the board into smaller problems.

10×10

Easy has 20 to 25 clues, Medium 15 to 17 and Hard 12 to 15, and a Hard patch can cover as many as 28 cells. Scan the whole board for forced clues before placing anything, because a patch on one side often decides a clue on the other. Then sweep row by row asking the cell question. With a hundred cells, a systematic sweep is what finds the one cell that only a single clue can reach.

When you get stuck

Being stuck almost never means the board has run out of information. Every board here is checked by a solver that uses only forced deductions, so there is always a next step. Run this list:

Recheck every clue that has a number. Count its possible rectangles again; one may have dropped to a single option since you last looked.
Ask the cell question about every empty corner, then about every empty cell next to a placed patch.
Look for a walled-off region and add up its clues. Does the budget force a size?
For each open clue, find the cells that all of its options share. Those cells are closed to every other clue.
Look for a region that cannot be filled. If there is one, a placed patch is wrong; undo it.
Still nothing? Press Hint once. The first press removes any wrong patches and pulses the next clue to solve, without showing its rectangle.

Using hints without spoiling the board

Hints come in three steps, so you choose how much to reveal. The first press clears any patches that don't match the solution and makes the next clue to solve pulse. That alone is often enough: you know where to look, and you still do the looking. Press again and that clue's rectangle is outlined for a few seconds; a third press places it. There is a short pause between presses, and the timer keeps running throughout.

Habits that build speed

Warm up on a 6×6. A quick board in Unlimited Mode before the daily gets the arithmetic of shapes and numbers back into your head.
Replay the archive. Every daily in the archive is a 6×6 Medium, the same format as today's puzzle.
Step up one level at a time. When a size and difficulty stops making you think, move one step. Medium is where shape-only clues appear, and Hard is where Freeform clues take over.
Race the clock. Beat the Clock starts you with one minute and banks extra time for every solve, which rewards spotting forced clues fast.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best first move in Patches?

Find a clue that can only be one rectangle. A Square with a number, a Wide or Tall clue with a prime number, a big number on a small board, or a numbered clue in a corner usually qualifies. Place it, then recheck the clues next to it, because its edges are new walls.

Should I start with the big clues or the small ones?

Start with the most constrained clue, and that is often a big one. A big number has few rectangles that fit on the board: on a 6×6, a Freeform 9 can only be 3×3. Small clues have few shapes but can usually slide into several positions, so they tend to settle last, once their neighbors are placed.

How do I solve a clue that has no number?

Use the space around it. Place the numbered clues nearby first, then count the cells left in the region the clue sits in. If it is the only clue there, its patch is the whole region. If not, subtract the other patches, and what remains is its size.

Can a patch be a single cell?

The rules allow it, since a 1×1 is a square. But no board on this site has a one-cell patch: every patch covers at least two cells. That is worth remembering when a Square or Freeform clue has no number.

How long does a Patches puzzle take?

Less than you might think. Across solves recorded by signed-in players, who are mostly regulars, the typical player finishes a 6×6 in about 10 seconds, an 8×8 in about half a minute and a 10×10 in under a minute, with Hard boards slower than Medium at every size.

Do hints count against me?

The timer keeps running while you use them, but a solve with hints still counts as a solve, including for your daily streak. The first press only shows which clue to look at next, so it is the lightest help you can ask for.

Do I ever have to guess?

No. Every board is checked by a solver that only makes forced moves, and it has to finish the board that way before the board is used. If you are about to guess, work through the stuck checklist on this page; one of those checks will find the next step.

Why is my patch legal but the board still unsolvable?

A patch can satisfy its own clue and still be in the wrong place. Only one arrangement fits every clue at once. If part of the board can no longer be filled, remove your most recent patches until it opens up again, or press Hint, which removes wrong patches for you.

Patches Tips & Strategy