Reviewed by Herb Levy
ART DECKO (Rio Grande Games, 2 to 4 players, ages 14 and up, 30-60 minutes; $44.95)
The art world has often ben the subject of games, from the art collection of Reiner Knizia’s Masters Gallery and Modern Art (Summer 2009 Gamers Alliance Report) to Fresco (Fall 2010 GA Report) and many more. In this journey into that world, designer Ta-Te Wu explores the relationship between art and their relative values in the marketplace. The “collector” who amasses the greatest value in holdings will walk away victorious in Art Decko!
The main area of play in the game is a Museum game board which has areas for 4 “art galleries”, 2 “Financial Districts”, five areas for painting “Exhibitions” and a perimeter score track. A Market Rating board tracks the values of the five genres of paintings (Art Nouveau [yellow], Renaissance [orange], Surrealism [green], Pop Art [pink], Impressionism [blue]) found in the game as well as the current value of “gold” as it relates to victory points. Tiles for all of these genres as well as “wild” (gray) tiles are tossed into the included bag and, one by one, drawn to fill spaces in each Exhibition area to indicate which genres of painting may be shown there. A space above each Exhibition area is filled by a randomly drawn endgame bonus tile that is only activated when an Exhibition area is filled (or, if no area meets that criterion, the one with the MOST exhibited paintings). Two main card decks (Paintings and Gold) are used to seed the galleries and financial districts. Cost tokens comes in orange and yellow. The orange 1 value token is assigned to the first gallery with 3 more orange tokens randomly selected and placed, in ascending order on the other gallery spots. Remaining orange and all yellow tokens are placed in ascending order above the galleries. All ten Gold 5 cards are stacked in their district but only two Gold 3 cards are available at a time. The cost for Gold cards, however, is standard.
Each player starts with their own player board (which serves as both a player aid and a way to track current values of the different types of paintings), 10 “ribbons” in their chosen color and a starting hand of cards: 5 “Gold” cards (specifically assigned to players based on turn order) and a randomly dealt selection of five “Painting” cards for a starting hand of 10. A player’s turn consists of TWO actions (and the same action may be done twice). The actions are:
Haggle – Place a card face up in the action area of your playing board and draw two cards from your deck.
Acquire – A player may acquire ANY single card in a particular gallery OR financial district. Payment for the card is made by discarding the appropriate value (or more) in paintings and/or gold cards. Gold cards are worth their face value (3 or 5) but the value of Paintings is based on their position on the Market Value board. Purchased painting cards move up the value of that particular art genre. Purchased gold cards accelerate the market value of gold in increments of 3 (when purchasing a 3 gold) or 6 (when a 5 gold is bought). Spent cards are NOT lost but end up in the discard pile (along with the newly acquired card) as you build your deck.
Show – All Exhibition Halls display a cost to exhibit. If a player can pay that cost AND the painting they wish to exhibit matches at least one of the tiles there, that painting card is placed in the hall (and one of their ribbons placed on it to denote ownership) with Victory Points scored (more VPs earned the sooner you exhibit in a hall) and the market value of that painting genre advanced accordingly. If this is the first time exhibiting, the player may claim 1 or 2 VPs or a buying discount of 2 or 3 gold. (These “perks” are an incentive to exhibit a painting as they are only available once and, if claimed by that player or another, may not be claimed again.) 
After performing two actions, all used cards are moved to that player’s discard pile, any unwanted cards still held discarded and players draw until they are again holding 5 cards. If any gallery is devoid of cards, then ALL galleries refill to full capacity (either 3 painting cards or 2). The cost of paintings in the now refilled galleries rises as the former price is replaced by the next highest, available, cost token. If there are fewer than 2 face up 3 gold cards, then they too, are replenished.
Play continues until 12 or more paintings have been exhibited in the exhibition halls, no more cards remain in the paintings deck or a Market Rating (for any genre of painting or for gold) has pushed past 70. The round is then finished so all have the same number of turns and then we score.
The value of painting in a player’s deck is based on how far up the Market Value track that genre has travelled. Gold cards also convert to VPs in a similar way (although, as gold moves up in value, their conversion rate into VPs tends to lessen). The player boards can be flipped over so that the different valued cards can be sorted to make scoring easy. To that total, any points earned from activated Exhibition tiles bonuses are added. The player with the highest combined total wins! If tied, the player who exhibited the most paintings claims victory. Still tied? Then victory is shared.
Cards will multiple abilities is a favorite game mechanism of mine and Art Decko uses it masterfully. Both painting cards and gold card can be used as currency and for Victory Points at games’ end but paintings also are the way to increase a genre’s value and, assigned to Exhibition halls, unleash beneficial endgame bonuses. While 5 value Gold cards act purely as currency, the 3 value cards can provide bonuses that may be used including buying multiple paintings on display, buying a 5 Gold more easily and more. These bonuses are “one-shots”; once triggered, those cards are removed from play so you have to weigh the potential advantage of a bonus to the card’s intrinsic value.
A key concept in Art Decko is its stock market aspect. Although real life stock markets can rise AND fall, in this game the market can only go up! Changes in “taste” where a style of art becomes less popular is only indicated by having a genre not rising in value as quickly or as much as others. No art world “collapse” here. Paintings that you sense will garner the most interest will shape your art investment strategy as the game unfolds.
The ambiance of the game is greatly enhanced by the artwork showcased here are from contemporary artists, all with different skills and all quite impressive. Each genre highlights 3 paintings by these artists: Lauren Brown (Art Nouveau), Alex Eckman-Lawn (Surrealism), Kwanchai Moriya (Impressionism), Heather Vaughn (Pop Art) and Allison Parks (Renaissance) and these 3 paintings are repeated on the cards. I would have liked to have seen more original art from these talents.
Originally released in Japan several years ago as Promenade, Rio Grande has cleverly renamed the title to better capture the essence of play – deck-building within the world of art – and upgraded the component quality and look of the game. Art Decko is beautifully designed as each facet of play dovetails neatly into another with a satisfying internal logic and a creative simplicity that makes the game easy to learn and a pleasure to play. – – – – – – – – – – Herb Levy
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