Strip down a grimy old heirloom, polish every part, then read the wear to put it back together exactly right.
An aged object waits on the workbench. Lift its parts off one by one, scrub the grime away to reveal each piece, then study the wear-marks, rings and depth glyphs, to deduce the original stacking order and reassemble it for a calm reveal.
Patina is original, and draws on conservation and restoration — the practice of taking a worn object apart, cleaning each piece and returning it to working order without erasing the evidence of its age. The patina it is named for is exactly that evidence: the surface a thing acquires only by being used.
The deduction is the part that makes it a game. Wear-marks, rings and depth glyphs record how the pieces sat together, so reassembly is not a memory test but a reading: the object's own history tells you the order, if you look closely enough at what rubbed against what.
That inverts the usual relationship with damage. Here the grime and wear are not the problem to be removed — they are the information you need, and cleaning too eagerly takes away the only evidence you have.
Patina is an original relaxing restoration toy with a light deduction twist, a no-fail, free browser game about bringing a worn keepsake back to life.