We had a short meeting to discuss plans for September once Purple Dragon Games closes permanently. There are 3 game groups that meet weekly at the store:

Board Games on Wednesday evenings

MtG on Fridays evenings

D&D on Sunday afternoons

All 3 group leaders have been meeting for the previous two Sundays, comparing notes on options moving forward and the sincere desire to have all 3 groups meet at the same venue but on their respective days moving forward.

It appears that all 3 groups will be entering into agreements with the Community Center at Uno Park in North Adams starting the first week of September. The community center is a modern freestanding building located across the street from Uno Park, behind MassMoCA and next to The Porches hotel. The Center can seat up to 35, with very good lighting, a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, a living room area with couch, WiFi, heat and A/C. There will be minimal rent involved ($5-$10 per hour for our 4-hour stay for each group). We are working on keeping those amounts to a minimum and figuring out the best way for participants to contribute toward the cost without the need for weekly collections. We are reserving the Wednesdays in September and October from 6:30 to 10:30 PM. If all are pleased with the new arrangement, we will block out additional months. We will also commit to a give-back to the North Adams community by teaching games to youngsters after school – on at least one Wednesday per month. 

Sunset Over Water

(led by Tim) 2018 set collection and action selection game. Over six game days, players gain Renown by hiking to beautiful locations to paint landscapes, which they’ll later sell. Each day, players choose a Planning Card, which allows them to travel through the Wilderness and paint (pick up Landscape Cards). At day’s end, they can sell paintings to earn Renown (turn in Landscape Cards to gain Commission cards worth Renown). Players also earn Renown by completing Daily Goals and by possessing Landscape Paintings at game’s end.

Canvas

(led by Sean) 2021 drafting and card crafting game. We played with the Reflections expansion which introduces 2-sided overlays as well as double the drafting choices. Players collect art cards, layering 3 of them together to create their own unique Painting. Each card contains a piece of artwork as well as a set of icons used during scoring. Icons will be revealed or hidden based on the way players choose to layer the cards making for an exciting puzzle. Paintings are scored based on a set of Scoring cards which will change each game.

Atelier: the Painters’ Studio

 (led by Danny) 2019 game where players take on the role of an artist managing an atelier, or art studio. Roll dice, manage your assistants, collect needed paint, and complete famous works. Hidden Patron cards give bonuses for some paintings and inspiration tokens allow a variety of extra actions each turn.

Cubist

(led by Tony & Rachel) 2014 game that uses dice in unique ways. Players are architects building a grand new Modern Art Museum including its interior sculptures or “installations”. The building materials are represented by dice subject to placement rules. Dice with identical numbers can be stacked on top of one another to give your sculpture elevation and grandeur. Dice with adjacent numbers go next to one another to construct unconventional footprints of modernism. Pairs of the same numbered dice can be used to enlist the aid of masters of modern art like Juan Gris, Franz Marc, and Olga Rozanova. Each installation you complete allows you to contribute dice to the building of the Museum itself. 

A Fake Artist Goes to New York

(led by Tim) 2011 party game. Players take turns being the Question Master, whose role is to set a category, write a word within that category on dry erase cards, and hand those out to other players as artists. At the same time, one player will have only an “X” written on his card: they are the fake artist! Players will then go around the table twice, drawing one continuous stroke each on a paper to draw the word established by the Question Master, then guess who the fake artist is. If the fake artist is not caught, both the fake artist and the Question Master earn points; if the fake artist is caught and cannot guess what the word is, the artists earn points.

Pastiche

(led by Sandy/Sean) 2011 game where players choose commission cards picturing 34 of the finest European art works of the past six centuries. Players score their commissions by mixing primary colors through clever tile placement and recreating the palette of colors used by the masters who created these works. Points are earned for completing paintings with bonuses for completing a set of two paintings by the same artist.

Modern Art

(led by K-ban) Reiner Knizia’s 1992 auction game masterpiece. We used the fancy Korean edition with metal coins and a wooden gavel. Five different artists have produced paintings and it’s the player’s task to be both the buyer and the auctioneer/seller, hopefully making a profit in both roles. This is accomplished by offering a painting from one’s hand up for auction each turn. The auctioneer keeps the coins bid if another player buys it, but must pay the bank if bought by the auctioneer. After each round, paintings are valued by the number of paintings of that type that were sold. The broker with the most cash after four rounds is the winner. The Knizia twist here is that there are several different types of auctions involved as dictated by the cards. 

Steve