Canvas is a beautiful and creative game that is especially suited for art lovers! Players take on the role of painters competing in an art competition to create a masterpiece.
Canvas uses a neat layering system with cards that you may be familiar with from games such as Gloom or Mystic Vale. Players create their artwork by layering 3 cards on top of one another to make a unique Painting. These cards contain artwork as well as icons which determine the score of the creation, and which appear and disappear according to how the cards are layered. You choose from a board of art cards on your turn and pay Inspiration tokens for the one you want. The scoring criteria changes each game, and players make and score three paintings each before the game ends.
The cards themselves are gorgeous, and feature tons of different elements to help you create something truly different and beautiful. It is fun to experiment with the results of layering the cards in different orders. There are animals, people, scenery, objects and much more to mash together for your Painting, and they have a watercolor style that lends itself to the surreal pieces that you'll assemble.
There is an expansion available called Canvas: Reflections which adds reversible Mirror Cards to the game to create a deeper strategy in addition to new scoring cards for fresh creative challenges. This is definitely one of those games where the journey is just as enjoyable as the satisfaction of victory, and it'll be one that you can bring out for game night again and again!
