2025 Session Reports

10/15/2025 – Berkshire Gamers Session Report #25-41

15 at the UNO Park Community Center for an evening of Art themed games.
10/15/2025 @ UNO Park Community Center
IN: Steve & Sandy, Tony & Rachel, Tim, Armando, Zach, Nicole, Julie, Reimi, Rob, Rachel P, Sean K., Carol, Edward 
ON OUR TABLES:
Art Games
A Fake Artist Goes to NY (led by Tim) 2011 party game where 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 their 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.
Photograph 2x (led by Zach) 2016 drafting and set collection card game where players are 1960’s photographers, trying to organize pictures on their roll so that they appear in the correct order. Each player has a hand of cards, and on a turn, they add 1-3 cards to the front of their hand (without changing their order), move one card in their hand closer to the front, then discard as many cards from the back of their hand as the number of cards that they added. When the sunset card comes out, players can take no more pictures, and everyone scores for what’s on their camera.

The cards all have numbers and colors on them, and players try to line them up in hand to score the most points possible.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/215471/photograph

Abstract Academy (led by Nicole/K-ban) 2022 pattern building and set collection card game where players are art students vying for top marks with professors, while trying to put their own spin on each assignment. The twist? Art school really broke the bank, so students must share a canvas with their rival classmates!

The game is played over three rounds by either two or four players, with the players completing a new canvas each round. At the start of the game, 2-3 scoring cards are revealed for each round, so players all know what they are trying to achieve to score. Additionally, at the start of each round, each player receives an inspiration card that shows a pattern they’re trying to create on the canvas. Once the canvas is filled, the two rows closest to each player form their scoring zone. If the color patterns in a player’s zone completes a scoring card better than the patterns in anyone else’s zone, then they claim the scoring card. Additionally, if a player has created the correct pattern in their scoring zone, they can score their inspiration card. Whoever has the most points after three rounds is the star pupil of Abstract Academy and wins!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/319095/abstract-academy

Art Society (led by K-ban) 2023 art collection game that is part auction and drafting, part Tetris and set collection. Players are art connoisseurs trying to impress their peers by putting together the most fashionable art collection of them all. Players bid on the hottest works of art, then arrange them on their drawing room wall into a tastefully curated gallery that’s the envy of the local art scene. But beware! Fashion is fleeting, and trends are difficult to predict. The paintings that you and your fellow collectors do not buy will eventually make their way to the museum, changing the worth of everyone’s collection.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/395375/art-society

Modern Art (led by Zach) Reiner Knizia’s 1992 auction game masterpiece. We used the fancy DiceTree 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 played. 
Fresco (led by Tim)  2010 – Players are master painters working to restore a fresco in a Renaissance church. Each round players decide what time they would like to wake up for the day. The earlier a player wakes up, the earlier they will be in turn order, and the better options they will be guaranteed to have. Wake up early too often, however, and apprentices will become unhappy and stop working as efficiently. They would much rather sleep in! Players need to buy paint, mix paint, work on painting the fresco, raise money (which they’ll need to buy paint) by painting portraits, and perhaps even send their apprentices to the opera in order to increase their happiness. Points are scored mostly by painting the fresco, which requires specific combinations of paints, so players need to buy and mix their paints wisely, in addition to beating other players to the paints and fresco segments they would like to paint.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/66188/fresco

Cubist (led by Tony)  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 that players complete allows them to contribute dice to the building of the Museum itself. 
Pastiche (led by K-ban)  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.
Other games Played
Kites (led by Armando) 2022 game where everyone works together to keep all their kites — represented by colorful sand timers — in the air. Take turns playing cards, flipping the sand timers, and coordinating with other players to ensure none of the timers run out. If it does, a kite has crashed! Play all of the kite cards in the deck, and everybody wins! It is back in print for those interested in securing their own copy. 
Chimera (led by Zach) 2016 shedding 3-player card game  is a three-player card game of two against one based on Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord) and similar to other climbing and shedding based card games like Tichu, The Great Dalmuti, and Big Two.

Each hand, one player is designated Chimera and the other two players team up as Chimera Hunters to defeat the Chimera. Players compete for points in several hands of play by playing sequential pairs, trips, straights and other card combinations, and whoever has scored the most points once the designated point score has been reached wins. Chimera is normally played to 400 points, although longer or shorter games can be played.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156373/chimera

Splendor (led by Armando)  2014 award winning game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If wealthy enough, players might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which will further increase their prestige. On turn, players may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don’t get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a round, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem. All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do. Rumor has it that Armando is quite fond of this game.
Steve

15 at the UNO Park Community Center for an evening of Art themed games. 10/15/2025 @ UNO Park Community Center IN: Steve & Sandy, Tony & Rachel, Tim, Armando, Zach, Nicole, Julie, Reimi, Rob, Rachel P, Sean K., Carol, Edward  ON OUR TABLES: Art Games A Fake Artist Goes to NY (led by Tim) 2011 party…

15 at the UNO Park Community Center for an evening of Art themed games. 10/15/2025 @ UNO Park Community Center IN: Steve & Sandy, Tony & Rachel, Tim, Armando, Zach, Nicole, Julie, Reimi, Rob, Rachel P, Sean K., Carol, Edward  ON OUR TABLES: Art Games A Fake Artist Goes to NY (led by Tim) 2011 party…

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