Art Society: New Board Game Lets Players Become Art Collectors

Mitch Wallace's debut board game, Art Society, published by Mighty Boards and distributed in Italy by Giochi Uniti, challenges 2-4 players to assemble the most prestigious and diverse art collection. Each round, one player acts as auctioneer, offering a set number of painting tiles (players +1) representing genres like landscapes, urban scenes, still lifes, and portraits. Players bid secretly with numbered cards (1-20), and the highest bidder selects first. Unchosen paintings go to a museum, increasing the value of that genre paradoxically. Placement requires orthogonal adjacency to existing works, with bonus points for matching frames but penalties for placing same-type paintings adjacent. Players can store paintings with their assistant (each has a unique one, including a hound and a child), swap with museum pieces, or discard at a point cost. The game is a nominee for the 2026 Game of the Year at Lucca Comics & Games. The tiles parody Western modern and contemporary masterpieces, such as Leonardo's Lady with an Ermine, Van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night, David's Napoleon, and Friedrich's Wanderer, each with quirky altered details. Reviewers note that the game is less engaging with two players due to predictable strategies, and the thematic contradiction of penalizing same-subject adjacency is a minor flaw. The game is praised for its accessible auction mechanics and creative tile-combination scoring.