Patchwork

We're not really very good at board games. I would love to play some, and would be willing to try almost anything. Husband is more discerning, so finding some that we would both enjoy and which doesn't take forever to play with just two participants can be a little difficult.

Then Husband saw this one, Patchwork. It's designed for two people and takes about 20-30 minutes to play. It didn't even cost very much, so in a fit of decisiveness he bought it.

The object of the game is to build a quilt. You get to choose between three different patches, which you pay for with buttons, place them on your quilt board and finally move your piece on the time board. The time board also have a number of event squares, and if you land on them, you can get either more buttons, depending on the buttons on your quilt patches, or a one square special patch for your quilt.

There are a number of things to consider while deciding what to do with your turn. Which of the three pieces available can I afford? Which fit on my quilt board? Do any of the patches have buttons on them? How many moves do I get to do on the time board and will I pass any special event squares? In principle, it's a really simple game. In practise, although not difficult to play, you do rather a lot of thinking.

When your pieces reach the end of the time board, your quilt score is tallied up. You get points for the number of buttons you have as well as the number of buttons on your quilt patches, and you get penalised for empty squares on your quilt board.

We've only tried playing it once so far, but already now we're seeing how we could have played our turns better or just differently. We both enjoyed playing it and will definitely play again. It's our hope that we can have it as a recurring Sunday afternoon activity with our coffee.