Canvas*
Canvas is a creative and visually-driven board game where players take on the roles of painters competing in an art competition. The game combines elements of strategy and puzzle-solving, focused on creating and scoring paintings.
Gameplay Overview
- Creating Paintings: Players collect Art cards and layer three of them to create unique paintings.
- Scoring Mechanism: Each card has artwork and a set of icons used for scoring. The arrangement of cards either reveals or hides icons, affecting the score.
- Variable Scoring Conditions: Scoring is based on changing Scoring cards, adding variety to each game.
Game Mechanics
- Art Card Selection: Players choose from a central row of Art cards, each with a cost in Inspiration tokens.
- Inspiration Tokens: Tokens are used to acquire Art cards, with the far-left card being free but others requiring tokens placed on preceding cards.
- Art Card Layering: Upon collecting three or more Art cards, players can create a painting, arranging cards for optimal scoring based on visible icons.
Game End and Victory
- Completion of Paintings: The game concludes after all players have created three paintings.
- Winning the Game: The player with the most points, accumulated through their paintings, wins.
Conclusion
Canvas offers an engaging and artistic experience, ideal for players who enjoy combining creative thinking with strategic gameplay. Its unique card-layering mechanic and changing scoring conditions ensure that each game is a new artistic puzzle to solve.
Nominated for 14 awards and won 2.
- 1 - 5 Players
- 30 Minutes
- 10+ years old
- Easy to learn
We like Canvas so much that we recommend it in the following board game recommendation lists 2025
- Position 3 in All winners and nominations for the game graphics award "Graf Ludo🇩🇪 2022"
- Position 11 in The best card games to play solo (Solitaire) 🃏
- Position 14 in The Best Games from Asmodee 🇫🇷🏢
- Position 68 in The best games recommended ❤️ by Spiegel Online magazine
- Position 18 in The best games released in 2021📆
- Position 4 in The best games where unchosen resources increase in value 📈
- Position 29 in The best games where you can draft cards 🃏
- Position 15 in The best games where you can fulfill special tasks/contracts
- Position 10 in The best "Grad Ludo🇩🇪" winners and nominees
- Position 22 in The best "Hungarian Board Game Award🇭🇺" winners and nominees
- Position 15 in The best "MinD Games Award🇩🇪" winners and nominees
- Position 15 in The best puzzle board, card & dice games
- Position 25 in The most beautiful board, card & dice games of all time
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