Tips patchwork

For the rules of patchwork, see GameHelpPatchwork

General

Patchwork seems like a simple game of placing Tetris-like pieces into a grid by paying for them with buttons.
However, it's complex in that you have to balance the time vs. the cost to get a piece.
Use up too much time you will have an unfinished quilt, costing you -2 points per empty space.
Spend too much at the wrong time you could get button poor and be forced to jump when you don't want to.

Evaluating Pieces

Not all pieces are created equal.
There are 5 metrics to evaluate a piece on which include: button cost, time cost, button income, number of squares, and ease of fit
All of these are easily quantified except ease of fit, but this is a crucial metric because the most efficient pieces (minimum cost, maximum squares/income) are the ones that seem hardest to fit into your quilt
Takeaway: pick the most efficient pieces early in the game while you have plenty of time to fit other pieces around them

Getting patches with buttons early is critical.
You get more buttons when you pass one of the 9 buttons spots on the board, so the early you get them the more buttons you will get over the course of the game.
For example: if you get a two-button patch in your first turn it will pay off with 18 buttons!
- But getting it later will have diminishing returns.

Jumping over an opponent and losing time to get buttons is sometimes a good thing.
- Early in the game, it allows you to get more buttons (money) early and buy better pieces (i.e., pieces with more buttons on them) earlier in the game.
- For why this is good refer to Patches with buttons.
If you do jump over an opponent, try to do it between buttons spots on the board, jumping over an opponent between button spots so you can buy the patch with buttons is preferred.
- Jumping over button spot misses a chance to buy a piece and get the buttons from it.

Don't be afraid to leave an opening on the sides of the board, you can likely get a patch to fill it later, and you will not likely fill all your board anyway.
- This helps you avoid placing a piece in a bad spot because you are trying to fill every space - bad placement will then get you into trouble later when the board is tighter.

Some prefer to start from the bottom up, or a corner up, as they find it easier to fill the board.
- Others work from the centre out.
Figure out what works for you!

Getting the 7×7 bonus for 7 points is great - however - going for it at the cost of not filling your board or bad placement which will make it hard to fill your board later will likely result in a loss anyway.
- Remember, it's -2 points for empty spaces, so the 7 point bonus only pays for 3.5 empty spaces, so getting the bonus but ending up with 6 openings for -12 points is counterproductive.

Good luck and have fun, it's a great game live or virtually!