{"id":35368,"date":"2026-03-18T08:30:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/?p=35368"},"modified":"2026-03-18T08:40:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:40:54","slug":"say-hi-to-patches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/say-hi-to-patches\/","title":{"rendered":"Say Hi to Patches!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today, in our roles as Principal Puzzlemaster (Thomas) and puzzle providers (Serkan and others) for LinkedIn, we&#8217;ve supported the launch of their 7th game: <a href=https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/games\/patches\/>Patches<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Patches is a region division puzzle with traits of Shikaku and Tatamibari, with the design potential to lean into different amounts of &#8220;shape&#8221; and &#8220;size&#8221; clues as we explore the game. If you already know both puzzle styles, you&#8217;ll probably breeze through the first few puzzles but keep watching for more challenging grids. We&#8217;re quite excited for the puzzles we can make under the Patches rule set.<\/p>\n<p>For the aspiring puzzlemasters in the audience, this <a href=https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/from-pieces-patches-how-we-designed-linkedins-newest-game-clghf\/>Gametime article<\/a> on LinkedIn explains our design process for this game which started about 18 months ago. The image below comes from our earliest Patches grid (after prototyping several other Shikaku variations) through to final app and solution.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2026\/Patchwork-SixPanel.png\" alt=\"Patches: Prototype to finished product\" width=\"500\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, in our roles as Principal Puzzlemaster (Thomas) and puzzle providers (Serkan and others) for LinkedIn, we&#8217;ve supported the launch of their 7th game: Patches. Patches is a region division puzzle with traits of Shikaku and Tatamibari, with the design potential to lean into different amounts of &#8220;shape&#8221; and &#8220;size&#8221; clues as we explore the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Say Hi to Patches! - The Art of Puzzles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/say-hi-to-patches\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Say Hi to Patches! - The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, in our roles as Principal Puzzlemaster (Thomas) and puzzle providers (Serkan and others) for LinkedIn, we&#8217;ve supported the launch of their 7th game: Patches. Patches is a region division puzzle with traits of Shikaku and Tatamibari, with the design potential to lean into different amounts of &#8220;shape&#8221; and &#8220;size&#8221; clues as we explore the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/say-hi-to-patches\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Puzzles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T15:30:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T15:40:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmpuzzles.com\/images\/puzzles2026\/Patchwork-SixPanel.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"drsudoku\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drsudoku\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@drsudoku\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"drsudoku\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/say-hi-to-patches\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/say-hi-to-patches\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"drsudoku\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/16f28006b2b31c98ce6d8d1affd60275\"},\"headline\":\"Say Hi to Patches!\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-18T15:30:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-18T15:40:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/say-hi-to-patches\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":141,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/say-hi-to-patches\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/images\\\/puzzles2026\\\/Patchwork-SixPanel.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/say-hi-to-patches\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/say-hi-to-patches\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gmpuzzles.com\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/say-hi-to-patches\\\/\",\"name\":\"Say Hi to Patches! 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