Players compete to fill their Musees with beautiful Paintings of landscapes, seascapes, animals, architecture, and people. Players display these Paintings in three different Galleries.
Although players have many choices about where to place their cards, Paintings in the same Gallery must never be placed out of sequence based on the exhibit number of each Painting.
Adjacent Paintings of the same Theme attract extra attention and score bonus points. In addition, the first player to complete a Gallery receives a Gallery Bonus Card.
Components
- 60 Large Musee Cards
- 3 Gallery Bonus Cards
- 30 Double-sided Tokens
- 4 Rules Summary cards
- Rulebook
Object of the Game
At the end of the game, players score one point for each Painting in their Musee, two points for each time two Paintings of the same Theme are next to each other in the same Gallery, three points for cards that share a Theme connected by a Staircase, and four points for each Gallery Bonus Card.
The player who scores the most points wins the game!
Setup
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Important: In 2- or 4-player games, remove cards 51-60 and return them to the box. These cards are only used in 3-player games, as marked on the card.
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Give each player twelve Chandelier/Staircase Tokens. Create your Musee by arranging these Tokens in two rows - six tokens each - as shown below. For the moment, turn all Tokens Chandelier-side up.
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Players now jointly agree to flip any 6 of these Tokens to the Staircase side: 3 on the top row, 3 on the bottom. Each player's Musee must show exactly the same arrangement of Chandeliers and Staircases. The first time you play, flip the even-valued tokens in the top row and the odd tokens on the bottom row to create alternating Staircases.
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Shuffle all the Paintings and deal a hand of five cards to each player. (Shuffle thoroughly!) Keep cards secret from your opponents.
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Create a Draw Deck: stack the remaining Paintings face-down to the right within reach of all players. Lay out the three Gallery Bonus Cards on the other side, each one facing up.
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The player capable of uttering the word "Musee" in the artsiest tone of voice begins. After the first game, a player who lost the previous game begins. See page 5 for special setup and gameplay rules for 3- and 4-player games.
Game Play
On your turn, you MUST perform these two actions in order:
- Remove one Painting from your hand and display it face-up in your Musee.
- Redraw one card and end your turn.
Rules for Placement
Cards in the same Gallery must be arranged in ascending order from left to right, based on the Exhibit Numbers in the upper-left corner of each Painting.
Put another way, if all spaces in a Gallery are empty, you may put a card in any empty space of that Gallery. But if a card is in that Gallery already, then the new card must go to the right of the existing card if the new card's value is higher, or to the left of it if the new card's value is lower.
For example, if a 25 is already in play in a Gallery and you want to play a 35 card in that same Gallery, it must go in one of the spaces to the right of the 25.You may skip as many numbers and spaces as you like between Paintings as long as they still go in correct order. For example, you may place a 25 immediately to the right of a 5 if you like. You may also put a 6 more than one space to the right of a 5 if you like.
You may never "pass" or discard a card! If you cannot play a Painting legally, you may not play any more Paintings this game! The other players may continue playing turn after turn until they can no longer display any Paintings.
When no player can play a Painting, the game ends. Proceed to SCORING.
Example: display painting.
This 14 card may be placed in any of the blank spaces shown here. The spaces marked with an "X" are illegal placements.
Theme Bonuses
Paintings come in five different Themes (suits), indicated by the color of the card.
The five Themes are Landscapes (gray), Water (blue), Persons (red), Architecture (yellow), and Animals (green). Note: a card's Theme is determined by the dominant feature of the Painting. Paintings may also include elements of other Themes. All cards of the same Theme regularly increase in number value in increments of 5.
Matching cards score a 2 point bonus when placed directly next to one another in the same Gallery.
Matching cards score a 3 point bonus when they are connected by a Staircase.
Gallery Bonuses
If you are the first player to fill the Upper, Middle, or Lower Gallery, claim the appropriate Gallery Bonus Card and place it in front of you next to this Gallery. It scores a 4 point bonus.
Ending your Turn
After you have displayed a new Painting in your Musee, redraw one face-down card from the Draw Deck and add it to your hand of cards.
(You should now have five cards again). Play proceeds with the player to your left..
Example: Theme Bonuses
By placing this 13 card in the space highlighted in green, two cards of the same Theme will be adjacent (13 and 28). The player will score a bonus of 2 points at the end of the game. "X" marks illegal placements.
Important: the same painting may be used more than once when claiming bonuses!
By placing this 38 card in the space highlighted in green, two cards of the same Theme will be adjacent yet again. (In this case, 28 and 38). The player will score an additional 2 points at the end of the game.
By placing this 18 card in the space highlighted in green, two cards of the same Theme will connect through a Staircase (28 and 18). The player will score a bonus of 3 points at the end of the game.
End of the Game
When no player is able play any more cards, the game is over. Score as follows:
- Each Painting in your Musee: 1 point.
- Every two adjacent Paintings of matching Theme in the same Gallery: 2 point bonus.
- Every two Paintings of matching Theme connected by a Staircase: 3 point bonus.
- Each Gallery Bonus Card (first to fill each Gallery): 4 point bonus.
Remember: the same Painting can score more than one bonus if it connects to more than one other card of the same Theme in the same Gallery or by way of a Staircase!
If players tie, the player with more Paintings in her Musee is the winner. If players still tie, then the player with more Gallery Bonus Cards claims the victory. If players still tie, they share the victory.
The first player to win two games is the final winner.
Important General Reminders
Once you have placed a card in your Musee, you may never move it or remove it!
Pay close attention to the cards played by your opponents! There is only one unique card for each number value.
Knowing which numbers and Themes are already in play will help you decide how best to arrange your Galleries-and which bonuses to aim for!
Special Rules for 3- and 4-player Games
3 Players
Setup: Use all cards (1-60). Play using three Musees, one per player. Each player's Musee con-sists of 10 tokens (instead of 12): 5 on the top row, 5 on the bottom. Flip a total of 5 tokens to the Staircase side instead of 6 (2 in one row, 3 in the other).
Gameplay: When only two undrawn cards remain, no one may draw any further cards. (There will always be two cards in every game which do not come into play, and all three players will have had the same number of draws). Otherwise all normal rules apply.
4 Players
Setup: use cards 1-50 only. Play using two standard-size Musees (12 tokens each).
Partnership play: Players play as partners, two players per team. Players sit two on each side of the table, with no two players from the same team sitting next to each other.
(One member of each team will sit across the table from her team's Musee). Strict silence between partners must be maintained throughout the game - no conversation or hints of any sort are permitted!
Gameplay: When there are only two undrawn cards remaining (one for each partnership) the partner whose turn it is may choose to take the remaining card for himself or to pass it to his partner (in both cases, the last card remains sight unseen until after this decision is made).
Otherwise, all normal rules apply.
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