Is this professional conservation advice?
No. Tools, lighting, conditions, and outcomes are conceptual game mechanics. A real object requires material-specific assessment by a qualified conservator.
Conceptual bench manual
Inspect first. Intervene once.
Tender Relics is a free, calm restoration puzzle for players who enjoy observation and reversible decisions. This guide explains how to inspect an object under different lights, read the approved treatment scope, choose a gentle tool and area, and preserve meaningful marks of age. It teaches a general ethic of looking before acting; it is not a conservation procedure.
Compare three inspection views
Overall light reveals loose dust. Raking light reveals lifting flakes and raised accretions. Conceptual UV distinguishes designated tarnish from significant patina. The survey tracker records which views you reviewed and each switch is announced once rather than repeated. Inspect can classify one square without changing it. Once all three views are reviewed, the survey map toggle shows every classified square with its condition letter in a single view at no score cost.
Approve an artifact-specific scope
After reviewing all three views, assess one decision written for that object: preserve repair evidence, respect material boundaries, keep a mechanism outside scope, or stabilize a vulnerable element before cleaning. A rejected proposal explains the conservation tradeoff without adding artificial damage. Intervention tools unlock only after a defensible plan is approved.
Sequence the least aggressive suitable actions
Set lifting flakes, brush loose dust, swab only designated tarnish, release accretion with the conceptual wooden pick, and document significant patina instead of removing it. Lifting material must be stabilized before adjacent work. Squares that are currently blocked are drawn with a diagonal hatch and their labels end with the flake that blocks them, so the rule can be planned around by eye. A blocked touch costs no score and is refused by name: the bench says which tool was refused, at which square, and which lifting flake must be stabilized first. After two refusals in a row the bench adds the condition hint for free. A correct connected-area pass resolves one contiguous region of the same condition, while single-square mode offers precision practice.
Six handling-damage points end the treatment
Every inappropriate action costs one handling-damage point, or two when a lifting flake is disturbed. A running allowance sits in the bench journal, and spending all six halts the treatment: the object leaves the bench for supervised review, nothing is recorded as completed, mastery and the daily archive are unchanged, and undo or restart returns the surface and the allowance together. Blocked touches and already-resolved squares cost nothing at all.
The care score explains itself
Each attempt opens at 5,000 and subtracts 320 for every handling-damage point, 180 for every guidance step, and 22 for each intervention beyond the planned number of passes for that object. The planned number is how many contiguous condition regions the object contains, so a clean connected-area pass never costs extra. The bench journal shows this arithmetic while you play, and the score never falls below 600.
Keep an honest attempt record
Undo restores the surface, but the attempt still records that a reversal occurred. The result audit separates inspection coverage, individual observations, cautions, and reversals. The shelf retains up to eight attempts per object.
A walkthrough that runs once
The first campaign object opens with a four-step walkthrough above the bench: compare the three views, approve a scope, match the tool to the condition letter, and learn that undo restores both the surface and the handling allowance. It can be skipped at any point, it never returns once closed, and resetting local data brings it back.
The condition letters stay in reach
D dust, T tarnish, A accretion, F flake, P patina to preserve, and ? unclassified. On a narrow screen the legend row sits directly under the treatment grid as well as in the bench journal.
Play without a mouse
Keys 1 to 6 select Inspect, Set flake, Soft brush, Controlled swab, Wooden pick, and Document and preserve. Q, W, and E switch the inspection light. Arrow keys, Home, and End move around the treatment surface, and Enter or Space applies the selected tool. N focuses the next unresolved condition visible in the current view, U undoes, H requests guidance, G toggles the connected-area pass, and R restarts the object. Press the question mark key anywhere to open the same list.
A bench record you can read back
The collection shelf opens a statistics panel holding attempts retained, objects with a campaign reference, daily benches resolved, current daily run, best and average care scores, attempts finished without handling damage or guidance, interventions, cautions, reversals, and distinctions earned. The result screen adds the same arithmetic for the attempt you just finished alongside your best score for that object, the par of 5,000 for a treatment with no damage, no guidance, and no extra passes, and a one-line suggestion of what to try next drawn from where the points went. The daily run in days appears only on a daily bench result. Copy bench note prints the exact copied text under the button with a copied or not-copied state.
Practical questions
Why should patina be documented?
Within the puzzle, P marks significant age evidence that satisfies the treatment brief only when recorded and preserved. Removing it counts as inappropriate handling.
What does Undo change?
Undo restores the previous surface, score inputs, inspection set, and survey state. The session’s reversal count remains so the final journal stays truthful about the attempt.
What is saved locally?
Campaign mastery, daily results, distinctions, settings, best references, up to eight journals per object, and unfinished treatments are stored in this browser without an account. This site counts page visits through Cloudflare: it sets no cookie, it cannot follow you from here to another site, and nothing from your play is part of the count.
Are daily treatments part of campaign mastery?
No. Daily records remain in their seven-day archive and journal, while the eighteen-object campaign shelf is unchanged.
More games from the same workshop
Eleven other independent, free, local-first games. Each is its own self-contained site with no shared account, cross-site tracker, or runtime dependency.
- EpochadeHistorical figure discovery: search illustrated era scenes for a named person and check the evidence.
- Misdate BureauAnachronism investigation: find the object that could not exist yet and file a defensible report.
- Vitrina NoctisAfter-hours museum logistics: move, light, and secure exhibits before the doors open.
- FoliofathomDocument-led archive mysteries: compare records and judge whether two accounts are independent.
- BerthwrightTide and berth strategy: schedule vessels against tide windows and limited quay space.
- RailweaverRailway interlocking puzzles: set conflict-free routes through signals, points, and possessions.
- ParcelatticeConstraint packing puzzles: fit awkward loads under door, restraint, and cold-zone rules.
- VenueweaveAccessible crowd-flow planning: route groups within capacity, distance, and step-free limits.
- StratofloatWeather-balloon navigation: ride layered winds to timed samples and a recovery corridor.
- ParlorfoldHousehold history across centuries: read one room as its objects and habits change.
- Testimony LoomContradictory-testimony logic: reconcile conflicting accounts into one consistent solution.