September Game of the Month
I discovered a captivating board game that turns painting into a fun, competitive experience!
I immediately fell for this board game. The box is a fun, colorful painting that you can hang on the wall when not being played. I held onto it after purchasing knowing it was going to be the next game of the month because it was bought as a gift for my art sidekick who himself is a very skilled painter. Yea, I’m that weirdo that gives a 21 year old a board game for his birthday!
In this game, you create beautiful and unique paintings while gaining ribbons for achieving goals on point cards. You’ll be challenged to think both creatively and critically to layer 3 transparent art cards on a background solving the scoring cards.
Game setup
Place the canvas mat easily visible and accessible to all players.
Place 4 scoring cards on the top of the mat. They can be random or you can challenge yourself by selecting scenarios that can be found in the back of the rulebook.
Place the ribbons below or above the mat matching the ribbon icons on the mat.
Shuffle the art cards (the transparent cards) and place them back in the deck box. Deal the first 5 cards on the canvas mat.
Each player chooses 3 backgrounds to put in their clear sleeves for completed paintings.
Give each player 4 inspiration tokens (tiny paint palette). These are used to gain art cards that are farther down the canvas mat.
Game Play
The last person to create a painting, goes first. Gameplay proceeds clockwise after the start.
On your turn, you can select one of the art cards to add to your painting options or you can make a painting.
The first card on the canvas mat is free to take. If you want a card farther down the line, you need to place your inspiration tokens on the cards before the card you want to take. If you have no inspiration tokens left and you cannot make a painting yet, you can only take the free card on the mat.
When someone takes an art card, the cards behind them move forward with a new card being drawn from the deck box.
You need to have 3 art cards to make a painting on your turn.
You can collect up to 5 art cards in your hand.
When you decide to play a painting, you layer the transparent art cards to achieve the most scoring cards with the icons displayed on the bottom of the cards. Collect ribbons for any of the goals you have met with your painting. Pay attention to the points gaining as you collect more of the ribbons for that card to help you decide where to focus your compositions.
Innocent Childhood When all players have completed 3 paintings, the game ends. Calculate your score by adding the points from the ribbons you have won as they correspond with the scoring cards. The player with the most points wins! If there is a tie, the player with the most inspiration tokens left is the winner.
Precious Adventure There are additional scenarios and achievements to change up the basics of the game that are included in the playbook. The biggest challenge is to not say to he!@ with the scoring and try to make the prettiest painting! This game was easy to learn, but can take time to master. The scoring cards present a new puzzle to solve each game. The paintings created are comical, inspirational, and likely to have you grabbing a real canvas to paint.