MayFair Games Catan
Mayfair Games Modern Art

Product Description

Modern Art Game Mayfair Games Going Once... Going Twice... Sold! Buy your way to fame & fortune with Modern Art, the high stakes gallery auction game. Each player runs a gallery, choosing which pieces of art to sell from the collection, and which pieces to buy from other galleries. Bid on the right one and at the end of the round you could be rolling in the dough. Mistake a Pissaro for a Picasso and you could be out of luck and money. Perfect for the Arm Chair Art Critic as well as anyone who enjoys a fast-action, highly entertaining board game. In Modern Art, players compete to gain the most money by buying and selling paintings at auctions and reselling them for profit. All players take turns running the auctions, which come in many different styles. Whoever offers the top bid owns the painting and sells it at the end of the round. The price the painting fetches is based on the popularity of the artist and how well his paintings have sold in the past. The player with the most money at the end of four rounds of buying and selling wins. Contents: 1 board, 70 painting cards with paintings from 5 artists, 6 "Auction House" screens, 98 money coins in 6 denominations, 1 rulebook For 2 to 4 players ages 10 and up.

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• Brand: MayFair Games
• Model: 4099022
• Dimensions: 1.75" h x 6.25" w x 8.00" l, .88 pounds

From the Manufacturer
In Modern Art, players compete to gain the most money by buying and selling paintings at auctions and reselling them for profit. The game consists of four rounds in each, works by up to five Artists will be offered for sale, and auctioned off in various ways. Players take on the roles of art dealers or collectors. It is their decision which artworks to sell, and how to sell them. So, successful players must balance two aims, firstly collecting the best artworks for their own collections, forwarding the careers of those artists from whom they have most to gain and at the same time, raising as much money as possible by successfully auctioning off those works that don't fit their own strategy, and picking up their own fancies as cheaply as possible. All players take turns running the auctions, which come in many different styles. Whoever offers the top bid owns the painting and sells it at the end of the round. The price the painting fetches is based on the popularity of the artist and how well his paintings have sold in the past. The player with the most money at the end of four rounds of buying and selling wins. These Art Dealers dream of fame and riches, but dreams can vanish in an instant, leaving the player with a gallery full of last year's art, unwanted and valueless. Only those with a nose for tomorrow's tastes today will rise to the top of the Art world. This is a re-release of the classic art market manipulation game designed by Reiner Knizia, with improved components. This family card game is for 3 to 5 players, ages 10 and up. It takes about 45 minutes to play. Contents include 1 scoring board, 70 painting cards with paintings from 5 artists, 5 Auction House screens, 1 blank make your own Auction house screen, 95 money coins in 5 denominations, 12 black market value chips, and 1 rulebook.

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Customer Reviews

Layers and Layers of Strategy and Laughter
This is a game of buying and selling art at auctions. Every player is a gallerist or museum collector who has a "hand" of paintings (cards) to sell. Every turn has an auction for one or more paintings. The paintings themselves are ludicrously bad. The whole game plays like a big send-up of the contemporary art world. A "market" for a priviously unknown artist named "Lite Metal" will suddenly appear in a given "auction season". Lite metal's work may skyrocket in value that season, only to collapse in the next season, if Lite Metal has inexplicably become "so last year". Or, depending on players' hands, Lite Metal's work may continue to appreciate season after season, to undreamed of values, making some players fabulously rich!

When I first played this I had the impression that aggressive bidding for art was they key to success. Then it became very obvious that it was a disasterous strategy. Then I discovered that sometimes aggressive bidding was useful. It all depands on who you are bidding aginst, and whether they are modest or aggressive bidders. Etc. Every time I play this it seems that I perceive a new depth of strategy that was invisible to me before.

This is one of Reinier Knizia's earlier games, dating from 1992. I've only been playing this for two months however. It consists of not much more than a deck of cards and some poker chips. There is an appealing simplicity to Modern Art. My son who is not all that crazy about games (compared to me anyway) loves this game, because it does NOT have pages and pages of fiddly rules. It is very direct.

Modern Art also encourages role-playing. My other son likes to announce his auctions in a hilarious German accent when he plays the Berlin collector. Ultra-snobby New York auctions are common, as are the auctions from Paris.

Considering the price of this delightful game, about twenty bucks, and the many evenings of out and out laughter and competition it provides, it has to be the best bargain in boardgames out there.

I have 10 thousand on lite do i hear 11
this is a great inexpensive game. my gaming group frowned upon it when I got it based on its looks and description. After one game they were hooked, very entertaining, very strategy oriented even though it may not seem so at first. plays well with 3+ players as well

Fun and learn some economics!
Very basic game mechanics but tons of fun. I play with friends who are in business or MBAs and they find it interesting because of the twists in the game when people play two of the same or when the order of the pieces of art changes. It's lots of fun and does not have to take too long. I can see how young kids might have some fun too though it might not be so much "counting each dollar" - it can make an educational game too. Great conversation piece for husbands and wives to play :)