Canvas: Reflections — How to Play

Objective of the Game

In Canvas: Reflections, you are an artist attempting to create beautiful masterpieces. This expansion adds a new layer to the artistic puzzle through the introduction of Mirror Cards, which provide deeper strategy and greater flexibility for combining Elements. Your goal is to complete your paintings to earn the highest score and ultimately win the title of Best in Show.

Setup

Follow these steps to prepare your game:

1. Place the Board in the center of the play area.
2. Place any combination of 4 Scoring Cards (from the base game and expansion) on the Board’s colored spaces, or use a Scenario setup found in the rulebook.
3. Place the Ribbons in piles on the matching Ribbon icons on the Board.
4. Shuffle the base game and expansion Art Cards together. Fill the Deck Box with as many as will fit (approximately 70 cards) and place it on the deck space. Draw 8 Art Cards and place them face-up on the spaces to the left of the Deck Box.
5. Place each Background Card in a sleeve. Each player takes 3 sleeved Background Cards.
6. Each player takes 6 Inspiration Tokens.

Game Flow

Canvas: Reflections follows the base game rules with specific exceptions regarding card availability and new mechanics. The game revolves around selecting Art Cards to build your paintings.

Note on Card Refreshing: Whenever an Art Card is taken, the remaining cards in the row are slid to the left to fill the empty space, and a new Art Card is drawn from the Deck Box to fill the space next to the deck.

Solo Puzzle Variant: In solo mode, you start with 6 Inspiration Tokens. When you take an Art Card, you gain 1 Inspiration Token from a separate supply pile. Any skipped Art Cards are discarded from the game.

Painting with Vincent Variant: In this 2-player or solo mode, both players and Vincent start with 6 Inspiration Tokens. Vincent goes last in the turn order. On Vincent's turn, toss his Inspiration Tokens: if an even number lands face-up, he takes from the top row; if an odd number lands face-up, he takes from the bottom row and saves 1 face-up token. Vincent can spend at most 6 tokens.

Actions and How to Play

On your turn, you select an Art Card to add to your painting. You have the following options for taking cards:

• Free Selection: You may take either card in the column farthest from the deck for free.
• Paid Selection: You may take a card from another column by placing an Inspiration Token on all the cards in the columns to its left.

Mirror Cards: These are reversible cards marked with a Mirror Icon. You can flip them freely in your hand or on the table at any time to reveal different Elements on the reverse side.

Gold Bonus Icons: These icons allow you to take a Gold Ribbon for each Element corresponding to an adjacent Gold Bonus Icon. Note that Gold Bonus Icons are not Elements themselves, and each Gold Ribbon is worth 3 points.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when the conditions for the chosen Scenario are met. In a standard game, the winner is determined by the total points accumulated from completed paintings and Scoring Cards.

Scoring Criteria:

• Points are awarded based on the Scoring Cards and the Elements placed on your Art Cards.
• Gold Ribbons are worth 3 points each.

Victory:

• The player with the most points is awarded the Best in Show Ribbon.
• Masterpiece Variant: In this variant, the player with the most points wins Best in Show. Then, players display one painting and explain its meaning. The group awards a Masterpiece Ribbon to the best painting. The Best in Show winner and the Masterpiece winner share the victory.

Tips for Winning

• Utilize Mirror Cards: Use the reversible nature of Mirror Cards to gain more flexibility when trying to match specific Elements required by your Scoring Cards.
• Manage Inspiration: Be strategic with your Inspiration Tokens when selecting cards from columns other than the one farthest from the deck to ensure you get the Elements you need.
• Plan for Scenarios: If playing with a Scenario, keep an eye on the goal to ensure you meet the requirements to complete the setup.