PatchWord has SOLD OUT!

U.S. Games Systems, Inc. has licensed PatchWord and will be bring it out under their label with some packaging and rules improvements! That's the good news. The bad news is that it won't be available again until early in 2011. Watch this site for updates on the new product information and launch date.

Here's the inventor teaching how to play!

Objective:   Collect cards by composing 4-, 5-, or 6-letter words from the letter cards you see.  But beware, Patchword cards are double-sided, so if an opponent makes a word on the backs of your cards, they can take them! 

Game play:

Your goal is to collect sets of 4, 5, or 6 adjacent cards by composing words.  You cannot look at the backs of the cards in your card holder.

Each turn you take 2 actions, which can be one of these things:

  • Flip: You can flip a card around in any holder (yours or your opponent’s), so the outside becomes the inside.
  • Swap: You can switch the positions of 2 cards in any single holder.
  • Move: You can move a card from one position in a holder to another position in the same holder, inserting it and sliding the other cards to make room.
  • Trade 1 card: You can trade one card from your hand with another player.  When you trade, the cards don’t flip, so you get the letter you see.
  • Collect a word from your holder: If 4, 5, or 6 adjacent letter-cards in your holder compose a word, you can lay them down (showing everyone you have a word) and keep all of them.  Add the number values on the letter-cards to your score.  Scrabble® rules apply for what constitutes acceptable words.
  • Collect a word from your opponent’s holder: If the backs of 4, 5, or 6 adjacent cards in your opponent’s holder compose a word, you can lay down their cards (showing everyone the word).  In this case, you give 1 card to the player whose cards you took, drawn randomly, and score the rest.  You and our opponent add the number values on the letter-cards to your scores.  Scrabble® rules apply for what constitutes acceptable words. 

Whenever a player has less than 6 cards, they draw back up to 6 immediately (before any other actions are taken).  Drawing cards is not an action.

Game end:  The game ends as soon as any player cannot draw enough cards to fill their holder back up to 6 cards.  Important: When the game ends, any player that has a word in their own holder can reveal and score those cards.  Whoever has the highest total score wins!