Game Objective

You are a painter competing in a prestigious art festival. Your goal is to collect transparent Art Cards and layer them to create paintings. By choosing specific cards and arranging them in a particular order, you reveal or cover Icons that trigger various scoring conditions. The player who earns the most points by the end of the game wins Best In Show!

Setup

1. Place the Canvas Mat in the center of play.
2. Place any 4 Scoring Cards on the Canvas Mat’s colored spaces (or use a Scenario setup). For your first game, it is recommended to use Variety, Repetition, Emphasis, and Composition.
3. Place the Ribbons in 5 piles next to the matching Ribbon icons on the Canvas Mat.
4. Shuffle the Art Cards and place them in the Deck Box on the deck space. Draw 5 Art Cards and place them face-up in the spaces to the left of the Deck Box.
5. Each player takes 3 sleeved Background Cards.
6. Each player takes 4 Inspiration Tokens.

Game Flow

The player who painted most recently takes the first turn, and play proceeds in clockwise order. On your turn, you must choose one of two possible actions: Take an Art Card or Complete a Painting.

There is a hand limit of 5 Art Cards. If you already have 5 cards in hand, you are forced to Complete a Painting as your next action.

Actions and How to Play

Take an Art Card

If you have fewer than 5 Art Cards in hand, you may take one from the mat using these rules:

• Free Card: You may take the card farthest from the deck for free.
• Skipping Cards: To take a card farther down the row, you must place one Inspiration Token on every card you skip.
• Collecting Tokens: If the card you take has Inspiration Tokens on it, you take those tokens along with the card.

After taking a card, slide the remaining cards (and any tokens on them) to the left to fill the empty space, then draw a new Art Card from the deck to fill the space next to the deck.

Complete a Painting

If you have at least 3 Art Cards, you may perform this action:

1. Select exactly 3 Art Cards and sleeve them with 1 of your Background Cards.
2. Layer the Art Cards in any order you choose. Note: Only visible Icons count for scoring; covered Icons are ignored.
3. Show your painting to the other players and read its title.
4. Compare the visible Icons to the Scoring Cards. Each time a condition is met, take a Ribbon from the supply.
5. Silver Bonus Icons: Take a Silver Ribbon for each Element that matches a Silver Bonus Icon on the painting.

Important: Some scoring conditions can be met multiple times with one painting. Generally, each Element can only be counted once per scoring condition. You cannot take more Ribbons than those depicted on the Scoring Card.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when all players have completed 3 paintings. Once a player completes their third painting, their remaining turns are skipped.

Final Scoring:

• Calculate your score by adding the points from each set of matching Ribbons. The value of each Ribbon set is determined by comparing the number of Ribbons in that set to the corresponding Scoring Card.
• Silver Ribbons are worth 2 points each.

Winning: The player with the most points wins. In the event of a tie, the player with more Inspiration Tokens wins. If still tied, a neutral person judges the artwork to declare the winner.

Tips for Winning

• Manage your tokens: Use Inspiration Tokens strategically to skip to the specific Art Cards you need to meet complex scoring conditions.
• Layering is key: Since covered Icons are ignored, the order in which you layer your 3 Art Cards is critical to revealing the Elements required for Ribbons.
• Maximize Silver: Look for Silver Bonus Icons to earn Silver Ribbons, as they provide a consistent 2 points each.