Many games may be art, but few make playing with art as satisfying as the Apple Arcade puzzle game Patterned.

In this clever spin on jigsaw puzzles, you’ll try to find the right spot for each piece on the illustration that fills your screen. But this is no ordinary art—these pieces are made by pattern designers, who specialize in creating illustrations that repeat seamlessly in all directions. (Similar designs adorn wallpaper, kids’ bedding, and more.)

Since its 2019 debut on Apple Arcade, Patterned has featured over 3,000 illustrations from artists all over the world, 99 percent of whom identify as women. The game has become such a force in the pattern-design world that its developer, BorderLeap, even launched an online platform for pattern artists to showcase their work.

For Heather Dutton, who has over 85 illustrations in the game, the community that has formed around Patterned is like no other. “Technically, we’re all in competition for the same opportunities, but everyone is there for one another, to provide advice,” she says.

Italy-based illustrator Gaia Marfurt credits her fellow artists with helping her navigate the business side. “At the beginning, it was really useful because I didn’t know how to do an agreement for art licensing. Everything was in English!” Marfurt says.

Designing a repeating pattern for a digital puzzle is very different from creating, say, a tea towel, according to Poland-based illustrator Ewa Brzozowska.

“When I design for textile, my clients prefer a lot of white space between elements, but that doesn’t work in Patterned. You don’t want to get a puzzle piece that’s just a blank white background,” Brzozowska says. She made sure the 160 puzzles she designed for the game were dense with varied elements, so each piece offers a clear clue to its placement.

Scale is another important consideration. Textile patterns can span 2 and a half feet, but puzzles in Patterned have a much smaller sweet spot, says Indonesia-based artist Dewi Masita. “The main adjustment I focus on is resolution; I pay extra attention to ensure the details of the design stay clear,” Masita says.

In the game, each piece of artwork begins as a black-and-white line drawing that grows more colorful as you progress. (On Apple Vision Pro, completing a puzzle is especially spectacular: The illustration expands to fill your space, becoming a 360-degree panorama.) Once you’re finished, you can save the art as wallpaper for your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Because each puzzle starts out as simple line art, the illustration style can up the difficulty level considerably. “Some of my work has a sketchy quality, with just a hint of color,” Brzozowska says. “That’s a bit more challenging to solve as a puzzle because each round starts as a sketch.”

In the prelaunch stages of the game, developer BorderLeap collaborated closely with Brzozowska and New Zealand-based artist Mel Armstrong to test different pattern styles and even animated designs.

“What makes working with Patterned different is the respect BorderLeap has for artists. They treat us as partners, not as a cost of creating an app,” Brzozowska says. “They could use stock images, but that wasn’t their idea from the beginning.”

Indeed, Patterned has become instrumental in introducing players to a field of art they might not have known existed. “It shines a light on designers like myself and all of the other artists who are here,” Dutton says.

Masita has had a similar experience. “Working with Patterned has opened up a new creative possibility for me. I didn’t know my designs could be in a game before this,” she says. Masita now has over 25 digital puzzles in Patterned.

“It’s rare to find a project that perfectly combines art and relaxation in such a unique way,” Brzozowska adds. “Knowing my designs bring joy to people, whether they’re solving puzzles or just enjoying the images as a wallpaper on their iPhone, that’s what art is all about—creating moments of happiness and connection.”

There are currently over 3,000 puzzles to explore in Patterned. Browse them by artist name, or filter by tags centered on holidays and seasons, parts of the world, features like butterflies and unicorns, and more.

Apple Arcade

Patterned

Puzzling, Seamlessly Repeated

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