Ever wondered what goes on inside the mind of a misunderstood genius? In Van Gogh, you aren't the painter himself, but rather the inspirations living within the artist's mind. You control the 'Minigoghs', little beings with very distinct personalities—ranging from the dreamy and happy to the impatient and melancholic—and each one brings special abilities to the table.

The core of the game is the meeple rolling mechanism. To reflect Vincent's unstable and creative nature, the orientation of your Minigogh matters immensely: they can be standing, lying down, on their sides, or even upside down. This positioning determines how they are allocated and what impact they have on the artwork. The goal is straightforward yet challenging: use these inspirations as efficiently as possible to complete paintings and earn prestige and ecstasy points.

The game dynamics are intriguing because they blend cooperation and competition. Players interact through character cards that determine the order of actions, creating a variable flow where one player's move can trigger effects for everyone else. To complete a painting, you'll need a group of 4 to 5 Minigoghs positioned in specific ways. The twist is that while everyone is 'helping' to paint, victory goes to whoever exerted the most influence over each work. It's a worker placement game with an artistic twist, where managing the physical orientation of your meeples is the key to turning the artist's mental chaos into award-winning masterpieces. If you enjoy games with elegant themes and mechanics that break the mold, this dive into Van Gogh's mind is the perfect choice.