Witkacy
Witkacy Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents of the Box
- 55 double-sided cards with picture fragments
- 20 action tokens: 4 white, 4 blue, 4 orange, 4 yellow and 4 green
- Instructions
Card Appearance
Each card has 6 picture fragments. One side of the card prints the upper half of one of the paintings and the two upper quarters of other paintings. The other side similarly carries the lower fragments.
The first side of a card is called the front (awers, "first side"). The second side is the back (rewers, "second side").
Setup
Before the first game, divide the deck into roughly equal parts. Turn one of the parts over and shuffle it together with the rest. This way not all cards in the deck lie with the same side up.
Randomly choose the first player.
Each player takes one token of each colour. These tokens are used to mark the performance of special actions.
Starting from the first player, each player receives two cards. Place the first card in front of yourself; this is the beginning of your Collection. Keep the second card in your hand.
Important! The halves of paintings on the starting fragments of all players' Collections must be different. If a player receives a card showing a half of a painting that already lies at the start of another player's Collection, that card must be shuffled back into the deck and another card drawn in its place.
After the cards are dealt, place the deck in the middle of the table. Then turn two cards over from the top of the deck and place them beside it. This way players see one side of three different cards, and have already seen the other side of the two turned cards.
Course of Play
Players take their turns in clockwise order. Each turn proceeds as follows:
- Search (mandatory)
- Action (optional)
- Collection expansion (mandatory)
Search
The player takes one of the face-up cards, or the top card of the deck, and takes it into their hand.
When a player takes one of the face-up cards, the next card from the deck is turned face up and placed in the empty place. In other words, the card from the top of the deck is turned face up and placed in the place just vacated.
Collection Expansion
The player must add to their Collection one of the cards held in hand, placing it on the table with the chosen side face up. When a player adds a card to the Collection, they place it so that it overlaps the cards already in the Collection.
A card may be placed on top of another card, or slid under it. It is also possible to place a card between two other cards so that it overlaps one of them and is slid under the other.
It is, however, not permitted to place a card so that it lies entirely on top of or under the cards already added to the Collection.
Actions
Before expanding the Collection, the player may perform one of five available actions. Each action may be used only once per game (the player returns the corresponding token to the box), so actions should be used thoughtfully.
After performing an action, the Collection expansion follows, with the exception of the Rush action, where the Collection expansion takes place within the action itself. Performing an action is marked by returning one of your tokens to the box.
The available actions are:
- White token: Stash. Draw a card, then discard one of the cards held in hand to the box.
- Yellow token: Solvent. Discard a chosen card from any Collection (your own or another player's) to the box. It is not possible in this way to destroy an already completed painting.
- Orange token: Correction. In this turn you may add a card to your Collection in such a way that it lies entirely on or under other cards.
- Green token: Gift. Choose one card from the middle of the table and place it in an opponent's Collection under the normal rules. It is not possible in this way to cover a fragment of an already completed painting.
- Blue token: Rush. In this turn you may play both cards from your hand. At the end of the turn, draw a card.
End of the Game
The game ends after the turn of the player sitting to the right of the first player, when the number of cards available to draw is fewer than the number of players in the game. This way, all players will have taken the same number of turns.
At the end of the game, points are counted. Each completed painting is worth as many points as there are copies of it in all players' Collections combined.
Scoring Example
Painting A was placed 4 times: 2 times by Tomek, 1 time by Gabrysia and 1 time by Ewa. Each such painting is worth 4 points.
Painting B was placed 3 times: 2 times by Ewa and 1 time by Tomek. This type is worth 3 points.
Painting C appeared 3 times, one copy each in the Collections of Tomek, Ewa and Gabrysia. These paintings give players 3 points each.
Painting D was placed only by Gabrysia, who receives 1 point for it.
Painting E was not placed by anyone.
- Tomek receives 2 x 4 points for painting A, 1 x 3 points for painting B and 1 x 3 points for painting C. In total he scores 14 points.
- Ewa receives 4 points for painting A, 6 points for two paintings B and 3 points for painting C. She ends the game with 13 points.
- Gabrysia has 3 paintings worth 4 points (A), 3 points (B) and 1 point (C). She ends the game with 8 points.
Tomek wins.
Scoring summary (as printed in the example table):
| A | B | C | D | E | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of paintings | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| Player 1 (Ewa) | 4 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Player 2 (Gabrysia) | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Player 3 (Tomek) | 8 | 3 |
The player who scores the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player who has more paintings in their Collection wins. If the tie remains, the players share the victory.
Advanced Variant
If players feel that completing paintings is too easy, they may agree before the game on slightly different rules for expanding the Collection. When a player enlarges their Collection, they must place the card so that at least half of it overlaps other cards. The remaining rules stay unchanged.