Gallerist game review

 I bought "Galerist" at a time when the wow effect from the variety of board games and mechanics had already subsided, and I stopped writing reviews for everything in a row. However, "Galerist" is still worth mentioning, since this game is distinguished by a good overlay of mechanics on the theme and without unnecessary conventions.

 Players become competing gallerists with empty galleries, two assistants, and a dozen bidder profiles. The task of each player is to fill his gallery with works of art, invite visitors who have nowhere to spend money, and sell canvases and sculptures at a reasonable price. The most successful gallerist wins.

 Success is determined by earned money, which is more pleasant than a counter of abstract software around the perimeter of the playing field. And since you have to spend a lot of this money during the game, you have to use it wisely.

 "Galerist" does not pretend to be hardcore. On the contrary, its rules are so simple that people without desktop experience can easily learn them; tested on relatives who did not follow Rummikub. But our party was in some sense phenomenal: we managed to increase the popularity of five artists as much as possible. The endgame trigger is a popularity boost of at least two. The game does not have a fixed number of rounds, but there are three events that mark the approaching end of the game. As soon as two of them are triggered, the game is over. The second trigger is visitors who gradually enter the field and at some point run out. The third is tickets to the box office, which are needed to attract these visitors.

 Visitors are divided into VIPs, investors and collectors. VIPs increase the gallerist's influence, collectors help popularize artists, and investors bring money. And the fact that the gallery is filled with them increases the capabilities of the gallerist many times over.

 There are only eight actions in the game, divided in pairs between four locations.

 In "Artists' Settlement", players buy works of art or search for unknown talents in order to promote them. With the latter players, they make a kind of agreement, according to which the artist will sell his first painting at a starting price, regardless of the level of popularity, the price of an entrance ticket to the world of great art. His further works will be available at the current price.

 With each purchase of a work, the artist becomes more and more popular, and when it reaches its peak, the artist becomes a celebrity, and his works become masterpieces. And then he stops creating. And it is very important to have time to purchase it before this moment.

 Sales contracts are concluded in the "Sales Office" and, in fact, the sales of paintings themselves are carried out. Sold paintings leave the gallery together with one of the visitors of the player's choice and are stacked next to each other. At the end of the game, you can get extra money for a certain set of sold paintings.

 In the Media Center, gallerists use their influence to advertise their artists in the media, increasing their popularity, and also hire new assistants to help them in this difficult business.

 The more famous the artist, the more influence units are needed to "rock" him forward. But it easily pays off with bonuses for these actions and the selling price of the painting.

 Assistants are needed to be in several places at the same time. They work on contracts, promote the player at the international level, help to make more actions on the playing field.

 "International market", where gallerists earn a reputation by sending their assistants or participate in an international auction for world masterpieces.

 Reputation is revealed in Reputation Tokens, which provide extra money at the end of the game. For example, a coin for each visitor to the gallery or two for each sold work.

 At the auction, there is a fight for works that you can add to the gallery and thus collect a set (it is also available here). Or add to the pool of sold paintings to collect a set there. The works for auction are randomly selected at the start of the game and are placed next to the field on cute little wooden easels, but there is one oddity about the auction. In fact, this is a bet on the possibility of taking an additional picture at the end of the game first. Only one can lose in it. Others will get it for one work. And every time it turns out that their value is approximately the same, when the players' investments can differ by almost half.

 Players perform their actions by placing a gallerist token on a location that interests them. They then call out one of the two actions available in that location and perform it. Point by point, according to the memo. By the way, the monuments are made very well: all the actions are briefly but comprehensively described and an explanation is given for all the iconography that is found on the field and on the game tablets.

 In "Galerist", the player who performs more actions per unit of time wins. This is facilitated by Vital's very interesting idea as "kick-outs" (kick-out action in the original), or "action-compensation", as translated by the localizer. The point is that a player gets the opportunity to perform a location action out of turn if his chip is knocked out by an opponent's chip. And during the game it will happen constantly. But on such kick-outs you need to spend influence, which may not be there, or which should be saved for a more effective move. Moreover, when the player leaves the location, he can leave his assistant there, and if he is knocked out, this will also be an opportunity to perform an out-of-turn move. And "if" is because the assistant can be taken at any moment and used in another place, if he suddenly "stuck" in the location or there are no other options.

 When I say influence, I mean an influence track. This is the most important element of the game and another amazing find of Lacerda. The impact track is versatile and elegant. It can be spent on performing actions, on additional "infusions" into the popularity of artists, it can simply be used as additional money if suddenly there is not enough to buy a painting. The main thing is to monitor the occupancy of the track.

 I fell in love with this game precisely because it explains how and why it works and what it interacts with. And there are no artificial restrictions, which are, for example, in "On Mars", where you can build buildings strictly across the cell from previously built ones, or in "Vignos", where the player is obliged to buy vineyards from different regions in one turn. Everything works well at "Galerista" and you don't wonder why.

 The design of the game is also at a height. Capacious organizer, thick cardboard, colored soaps. The field is decorated in calm tones, but not pale. It perfectly contrasts with the bright elements of the players. Assistants on the field will not get lost and you can always quickly list the visitors in the gallery. For me, this standard design in terms of ergonomics. You can find something similar only in "Lisbon".

 The game, of course, is not fast. With a full team, taking into account the knowledge of the rules, 1.5-2 hours will go. Despite the visible triggers, it will be possible to accelerate the course of the game only with joint efforts. However, these will be the most interesting hours.