Customer Reviews

Modern Art

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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

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 :)

This game places the player in the position of an art dealer. The player will have a hand of several different paintings from five different artists. The point of the game is to auction off the paintings you have for the most possible money, while at the same time using your money to buy paintings from other players that will end up being valuable at the end of the round. What makes this tricky is that as more paintings by a particular artist are sold, they become more and more valuable. Which paintings to sell and when becomes a real challenge as the end of the round approaches. If you end the round, you lose the opportunity to sell a painting, but if you sell the painting, the next player may end the round and and allow a different artist to "win", making your collection less valuable.

The rules are are surprisingly simple once you begin to play. The components are relatively simple, with small poker chips for money, a large deck of paintings, and cardboard "screens" for players to hide their money (chips). I have played this game with 4 and 5 players (ages 10-75) and it worked well, the game lasted about an hour, and we all had a blast. I don't know about 3 players, but there is a suggestion for adding a "dummy" player in that case, so I imagine it would work ok.

If you and your family like to play games, this is a good one.

I love brainy boardgames, generally of the German variety but this one just doesn't ever get opened at our house. First, I love art and I thought the board game would actually talk about art in some respect. If they couldn't have used copies of real art work, at least they could have used real art genres. Second, there isn't all that much strategy to the game. Overall, I was underwhelmed. I like Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, Puerto Rico and Settlers of Catan better...

I had high hopes for this game; even going so far as to schedule a "game night" party with several families. The group included several professors (language), a CPA, a translator, AND a teenager, most of whom tried to get through the instructions but couldn't find the wherewithal.

But, for me at least, the biggest disappointment was that both the art and the artists represented were really insipid. I was hoping the game would have presented tantalizing designs in dizzying colors, but most of the cards were the same palette of bland colors and the same small range of design ideas.

Perhaps if the art cards had been more inspiring, the group might have found more reason to slog through the instructions (or at least to invent their own version of the game), and the auctions would have followed.

If we ever get to playing this game, I'll review the actual game play.