In CUBIST, you and your opponents are architects competing to build a grand and inspiring new Modern Art Museum including its interior sculptures or "installations". Aptly enough, your building materials are cubes, or more precisely, dice!

On each turn you roll two dice and place them in your studio as raw materials for your cubist sculptures. From there you position these dice to complete commissioned installations for the museum.

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.

You can press your luck by committing to a certain risky commission-hoping that no one else will complete it first-or play it safe by locking up your dice for later use.

You can also use your dice 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. You will have to sculpt cleverly but quickly to get the new Museum named after you!

Components

• 81 dice
• 1 Museum Board
• 4 Individual Studio Boards
• 9 Museum Cards
• 25 Artist Cards
• 23 Installation Cards
• Rulebook

Object of the Game

Setup

1. Museum Board. Place it in the center of the table, as shown in the Setup Diagram below.

2. 

   Museum Cards. The Museum Cards each show a symbol for 2-4 players. Randomly select any Museum Card matching the correct number of players and place it face up on the Game Board as shown.

   This Museum Card is the plan for the new Museum itself, which all players will build together (competitively) during the game. Return the remaining Museum Cards to the box.

3. Museum Die. Roll the red Museum Cornerstone Die and place it on the Museum Board in the building area as indicated.

4. 

   Installation Cards. Shuffle all the Installation Cards thoroughly to create a single facedown deck by the lower right corner of the board.

   Drawing from the top of this deck, display three face-up Installation Cards to the left of this deck as shown in the Setup Diagram.

   Installation Cards depict the marvelous sculptures that the players will compete to build during the game.

5. 

   Artist Cards. Shuffle all the Artist Cards thoroughly to create a single facedown deck by the upper left corner of the board.

   Drawing from the top of this deck, display four face-up Artist Cards to the right of this deck as shown in the Setup Diagram.

   Artist Cards depict artists who can be consulted to help you build your Installations-or to thwart the plans of other players!

6. Dice. Each player chooses a color and gathers all of the dice in this color into a personal supply. Make sure these dice are within the player's reach. Dice are your building materials in this game.

7. Individual Studio Boards. Players place their Studio Boards directly in front of themselves face-up.

   
   
   

   Each board contains two Workrooms for building Installations, plus a Storage Space for temporarily storing up to two dice, plus a Storeroom which includes a Turn Summary for each player to reference if needed. See the Setup Diagram.

8. The first player may be chosen randomly or in any manner decided upon by the players.

Game Play

On your turn, perform the following four actions in this order:

1. Roll two of the dice from your supply

Roll two of the dice from your supply and place them in your Storeroom, making sure to keep the rolled values exactly as they were. All dice in the Storeroom are now equally available for use, including (if present) those in the Storage Space from your prior turn.

Note that there may be multiple dice in the Storeroom DURING a current turn (up to two in the Storage Space plus the two just rolled, plus any others acquired by Artist actions, etc).

There is no limit to the number of dice (already in your Storeroom) that you may assign from that Storeroom on any given turn. You may never assign any of the dice directly from your Storeroom to the Museum

If you don't have enough dice in your supply to roll two of them, you must return dice to your supply by first performing one of the actions in step 3 of the turn.

2. Assign Dice From the Storeroom

Assign dice from the Storeroom to one or more:

A. How to Place Dice in a Workroom

• Dice are placed in your Workroom to create Installations which may be used to complete an Installation Card.

• If the Workroom you choose contains no dice yet, place the die or dice in that Workroom, making sure to keep the same number value(s) facing up that you originally rolled. The number value facing up is always the value it is considered to "display".

  
  
  

  Here the green player just rolled a 5 and a 6 and has put these dice in his Storeroom.

  He can use these two dice, along with the 1 and 3 in the Storage Space, to add to the in-progress Installations in the Workrooms to the left. Identical numbers stack; numbers 1 higher or 1 lower go adjacent to other dice.

• If the Workroom already contains dice, you must place each die adjacent to another die in play or on top of another die in play, according to the rules below. The dice must touch fully-edge-to-edge.

  Diagonal placements are not allowed. As always, make sure to keep the same number facing up on the die that you originally rolled.

• To place a die adjacent to another die in play, the die already in play must display a number value which is one higher or one lower than the die you choose to play. (For example, you can play a 3 or 5 next to a 4.

  You can play a 5 next to a 6. You may not place a 1 next to anything except a 2; nor a 6 next to anything except a 5).

• To stack a die on top of a die already in play, it must show the same number value as the die you place it upon. (For example, you can place a 3 on top of a 3, or a 4 on top of a 4. You may not place a 4 on top of anything but a 4).

• You may rotate dice together as a unit in your Workroom if you choose, in order to view different angles of the structure.

B. How to place dice on an artist card

• To place a die on an Artist Card, you must place multiple dice at the same time. All these dice must show exactly the same number value.

• The number of dice required must match the number of dice symbols on the card (cards will have only two or three such symbols). Any number value on the die is okay as long as all numbers match for the same Artist Card.

• If an Artist Card has one or more dice belonging to another player, you may remove that player's dice and place your own dice there instead. To do this, the dice you play must show a number equal to or higher than the number value of the dice already there. Dice "bumped" in this way are returned to the other player's supply.

• Dice may stay on top of an Artist Card until you wish to perform this action, or until another player bumps them off. You may not use an Artist Card on the same turn that you place dice on that card.

• If all four Artist Cards now have dice on them, all four Artist Cards are removed and all the dice on them are returned to their players' supplies.

• The Artist Card action may not be performed until a later turn (see below).

C. How to place dice on a storage space

• The Storeroom may contain any number of dice during your turn, including those just rolled or already on the Storage Space. At the end of your turn, the Storeroom must be empty, and the Storage Space may hold up to two dice. These two dice may be used in future turns.

• All other dice must either be assigned or returned to your supply at the end of your turn.

3. Actions / Installations

At any point during your turn you may:

I. Perform Artist Card Actions

• To perform an Artist Card's special action, dice must have been placed on it in a prior turn. Remove these dice and return them to your supply. Then perform the action on the Artist Card. Place the discarded Artist Card face up on the bottom of the Artist Card deck.

• Immediately refill the empty space on the board with a new Artist Card.

II. Complete/abandon Installations

1. Complete an Installation

   Anytime during your turn you may complete an Installation. If one or more of your Installations matches a plan shown on an Installation Card, perform the following actions:

   • Return all the dice to your supply that you used to complete this Installation.

   • Collect the completed Installation Card and display it in front of you, face-up.

   • Immediately refill the empty space on the board with a new Installation Card.

   • Place one die from your supply on each space shown on the Installation Card. These dice have the number values shown. (If more than one number value is shown, you may change it at any later time).

   • You may immediately assign these dice to the Museum if you choose, or do so later (see the Move Dice from Installation Cards section below).

   
   
   
   
   

2. Abandon an Installation

   Anytime during your turn you may abandon an Installation on one or more of your Workrooms by removing ALL of the dice and placing them on Artist Cards (if possible) or back in your supply.

   • You may not remove dice individually. When abandoning an Installation, ALL dice on this single Workroom must go.

   • These dice may not be assigned anywhere except to Artist Cards or back to your supply. You may not place these dice in the Storeroom and you may not assign them to a Workroom or the Museum.

III. Move Dice From Installation Cards

• The only dice you may add to the Museum are those on Installation Cards you have completed. If you wish, you may also add these dice to your Workroom Installation(s) or Artist Cards as if they were in the Storeroom.

• Follow the same rules that you would for any Installation when adding a die to the Museum. All players should check to make sure that when a die is placed in the Museum a situation is not created where the Museum cannot be completed! Such a placement is not allowed and must be withdrawn immediately.

• Each die you place in the Museum awards you TWO points at the end of the game.

• At such time as you have removed and placed all the dice from your Installation Card, flip the card over facedown in front of you. At the end of the game, you will score the points marked on the card.

4. Remove Excess Dice

Remove excess dice from the Storeroom and end your turn. Reassign one or two dice in the Storeroom to the Storage Space as desired. Any dice left in the Storeroom are returned to your supply.

Artist Cards

• 

  Umberto Boccioni: Take one die from your supply and put it in your Storeroom. Its number is either of the two values showing on the card. This die may be used immediately. (3)

  
  
• 

  Franz Marc: Take one die from your supply and put it in the Storeroom. Its number is any number you choose. This die may be used immediately. (2)

  
  
• 
  

  Juan Gris: Remove any one die from one of your Installations. Return it to your supply. You may not divide an Installation by doing this. (2)

  
  
• 

  Jules Pascin: Move one die from one of your Installations to another space in the same Installation or your other Installation. You may not divide an Installation by doing this. (2)

  
  
• 

  Roger de La Fresnaye: Modify one existing die in your Storeroom or on a completed Installation Card by +2 or -2, as shown on the card. (4)

  
  
• 

  Lyubov Popova: Modify one existing die in your Storeroom or on a completed Installation Card by +1 or -1, as shown on the card. (4)

  
  
• 

  Kazamir Malevich: Take one die from your supply and put it in the Storeroom. Its number matches the value shown on the card. This die may be used immediately. (6)

  
  
• 

  Olga Rozanova: Claim one die from a Storage Space in any opponent's Studio.

  Then take a die from your own supply and match its value to the claimed die and place it in your Storeroom for immediate use. Return the stolen die to the opponent's supply. (2)

  
  

End of the Game

Continue Reading