1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years

DRAFT RULES

An artist’s life is hard. Living paycheck-to-paycheck would be a luxury. What little

money you earn is invested right back into paint and other supplies, without which
there’s no way to follow your dream and become a great Master. You don’t relish the
idea of having to work at a desk, in front a computer, toiling away for some faceless
corporate overlord.
Starving Artists is a blind-drafting and resource management game for 1-4 players using
some of the world's most beautiful works of art. It takes about 40-60 minutes
(approximately 20 minutes per player). The single player variant is described at the end
of these rules takes approximately 20 minutes.
Objective​: make it as a world-famous, paint-by-cube artist by selling enough paintings
before anyone else.

Components
Your game includes this booklet and the following pieces:
● 8 colors of paint cubes​. These will be your the paints you use to finish your
masterpieces. There are 150 cubes in the following quantities: 30 blue, 20 black,
20 yellow, 20 green, 20 orange, 15 red, 15 violet and 10 clear (wild).
● 38 Canvas Cards​. Canvases have the paintings, a number of squares to place
paint, the painting’s relative value score, and information about the painting.
● 4 Player Reference & Studio Cards​. Each player gets a studio card that
includes your current nutrition you can track with a yellow progress marker and a
player reference.
● 1 orange carrot​ for the first player marker.
● 1 parts bag​ to store the paint cubes.

THESE ARE NOT THE FINAL RULES. THESE ARE DRAFT RULES.

© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC

 1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years
DRAFT RULES
The Canvas Cards
Canvas Cards are where you will paint. Each
Canvas Card has real life information and the
following game information:
● Food value​ shown by the fork icon.
● Paint value​ shown by the brush icon.
● A series of colored boxes​ showing which
color paint to apply to that part of the canvas
to complete it. A reference for paint colors and
quantity is included at the bottom of the card.
● Star value​ in the upper right corner.

Wild paints. ​The game contains ten clear paint

cubes (“wild”). These cubes can be used substitute
for any one cube on a canvas.

The Studio Cards

You will have one Player Reference and Studio Card. Along the right, you can track
your nutrition (from five to
one).
The middle features a basic
player reference for turn
actions: paint, work, buy,
and sell. There is also a
repeat of the paint colors to
help sort your collected
paint cubes. Use the two
carrot places to track the
turns when you are the first
player.

© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC

 1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years
DRAFT RULES
How to Set Up the Game
At the start of each game:
1. Give​ the youngest player the carrot. He or she is the first player.
2. Give​ each player a yellow marker and a studio card. Place the yellow marker on
the highest nutrition level (i.e., five) on your studio card.
3. Put​ all of the paint cubes in the bag. Starting with the first player, each player
draws six paint cubes from the bag.
4. Shuffle​ the Canvas Cards and place them face down in the middle of the table.
5. Turn​ over three Canvas Cards and place them in a line as follows:

This is the Canvas Market. As you buy Canvases, the Canvases are
shifted to the right and a new one is turned over and placed in the place
nearest the deck.

Get Started
You're now ready to play. The game is divided into a series of rounds which
represent days.
At the start of each day.
Payday pile​. The first player adds four paint cubes from the bag to the “payday
pile.” The payday pile is how much the market will pay for paintings when it is
time to sell. You will add to the payday pile when buying Canvases and take from
it when selling your completed paintings.
Nutrition level​. At the start of every day, except the first, lower your nutrition
level by one. If your nutrition goes below 1, you are out of the game, and the
remaining players have only one more opportunity each as the first player before
the game ends. If you are out of the game, return your paints to the bag.
In the case that the “first” player is eliminated, pass the carrot immediately to the
next player clockwise and continue as if it is the same day.

Lives of Painters: Player Actions

Each day consists of two rounds of player actions. On the first round, starting
with the first player, each player chooses to take one of the following three
actions; during the second round, each player chooses again which one of the

© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC

 1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years
DRAFT RULES
following three actions to take. The Studio Card has a place to keep track of
which number action you are currently taking.
Choose one of the following three actions to take on your turn:
Work​. You may draw three new paints from the paint bag and add it to
your studio; no looking.
Paint​. You may apply up to four paints onto any number Canvases in your
studio. On your turn, you do not have to paint all the squares you can, but you
must apply a paint color that matches the square. For any square that shows
more than one paint color, you can apply either of the colors.
Buy a Canvas​. You may purchase one Canvas from the Canvas Market
using paints in your studio. The Canvas Market is arranged so that the cost to
purchase the Canvas is equal to its position from the deck from three paint cubes
to one paint cube. For example:

Place any paint cubes you spend to purchase one a Canvas Card into the
payday pile. Then, shift the canvases down and turn over a new one.
Free actions.​ In addition to the three actions above, one time during a day you
may do ​one ​of the following:
Trade for paint cubes​. You may trade for paint cubes from your studio for
one from the payday pile as follows:
● Two paint cubes for one;
● Five paint cubes for two; or

© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC

 1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years
DRAFT RULES
● Nine paint cubes for three.
You may do this at any time so long as it is still your turn including after you have
drawn paint cubes from the bag as part of the work action. Paint cubes you trade
are placed in the payday pile.
Note, while you may use wilds to trade into the market, you ​may not t​ rade for any
wild paint cubes in the market.
Reset the Canvas market​. You may also pay two paint cubes from your
studio to the payday pile to reset the Canvas market. In this case, take the three
face up canvases, return them to the bottom of the pile of canvases, and turn
over three new ones. You may do this at any time so long as it is still your turn.

Selling Your Paintings

At the end of the day, you may sell any completed paintings. A completed
painting is a Canvas with a cube in all of the color squares. You do not have to
sell your paintings and can wait for a more lucrative market.
Announcing your decision to sell. ​Starting with the first player and proceeding
clockwise, players announce whether they are selling one or more of their
completed paintings and, if so, which ones.
Selling. ​If you do decide to sell your painting on this day:
First, feed yourself.​ Adjust your nutrition indicator up towards “full” (i.e.,
5) by the number of food on the painting. You cannot exceed full. Instead, collect
four paint cubes from the bag for each "excess" food.
Second, return used paint cubes to the bag.
Third, collect earned paint cubes from the payday pile​. Starting with
the highest paint value painting and going from highest to lowest value, players
take turns collecting paint cubes from the payday pile up to their paint value as
follows:
(1) the most valuable painting earns its painter four cubes,
(2) the second most valuable painting earns its painter two paint cubes,
and

© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC

 1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years
DRAFT RULES
(3) everyone else takes 1 cube per painting.
This process continues until the payday pile is exhausted or you have
taken your painting's value in paint. On your turn you may choose whichever
paint cubes you want from the payday pile.
Ties.​ ​If two or more paintings have the same paint value, the tied players
take the up to the full amount they can, but the player nearest the first player (in
player order) takes first.
Wild Paint Cubes.​ You may only collect one wild cube per collection turn.
Example: You are the only one to sell a painting this round and it is for 8 paints.
Only 2 of those paints may be wild. If had sold a painting worth 9 - you may have
takes 3 wilds from the market, because you would have had 3 collection turns.
Selling More Than One Painting.​ ​If you are selling more than one painting,
you take paint cubes from the payday pile for each painting separately, in
separate collection actions.
Finally, score your painting​. Place your completed painting under your
studio so you can see the Star Value for easy tallying of points at the end of the
game.

End of the Round

Once every player has sold their paintings, the round ends and a new round
begins. Pass the carrot clockwise to the next player.

End of the Game

If any player’s nutrition marker moves below one, then that player starves. Once
a player starves, the surviving players play one additional day. If the starved
player would be the first player, just pass the carrot to the next player. At the end
of this additional day, the player with the highest score wins, which could be the
player who starved.
If no player starves, the game ends when a player becomes a famous Master
Painter by earning the most points (depending on player count):
● 2 players: 20 Star Points or 10 Paintings
● 3 players: 18 Star Points or 9 Paintings

© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC

 1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years
DRAFT RULES
● 4 players: 15 Star Points or 7 Paintings

In the case of a tie based on points, the player with the most completed
canvases wins. In case there is still a tie, the player who earned the most food
wins.

© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC

 1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years
DRAFT RULES
Considerations for colorblind players or low light conditions
For players who are colorblind, the following helps alleviate any issues players might
have:
1. Sort the payday pile. ​Keep the payday pile sorted in rainbow order as it is
shown on both the Studio cards and on the Canvases: red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, purple and black. As paint cubes are drawn from the bag or paid into
the payday pile, sort them in lines.
2. Identify the paint colors drawn from the bag.​ If there’s a question about a
color, help the other player identify the paint cube. It can then be tracked on the
player’s Studio card.
3. Don’t worry about the specific boxes. ​ As long as the player places the proper
number of each paint cube on the Canvas, do not worry about whether they’re in
the proper boxes.

Optional Rules
The following are optional rules:
Color Study.​ As your free action in a day, you may turn in four paint cubes ​of the same
color​ in exchange for any color of your choice from the bag. You may do this action
instead of your standard trade.

Last Supper.​ If you would otherwise starve at the start of the next turn (your nutrition is
at one), you may discard one completed painting and raise your nutrition level by that
painting’s ​star​ value. You will not count that painting as completed at the end of the
game.

Player trades.​ Once per day, as a free action, you may make a single trade offer to the
table. You must trade with the first player to accept your offer. If no one accepts your
offer, you may not make another player-trade offer until the next day.

© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC

 1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years
DRAFT RULES

Starving Artists Solo Variant

You are an artist working in the fast paced world of art. Various art patrons are
commissioning great works of art and you must hurry to get them.
Object​: ​Complete 10 paintings or earn 20 points before the commissions run out or you
run out of food.

Setting Up A Single Player Game

1. Take a studio / player reference card.
2. Take a nutrition marker and place it on the five position.
3. Place all of the paint cubes in the bag; shake.
4. Draw a starting two paint cubes from the bag.
5. Shuffle the canvas cards.
6. Set aside 15 cards as they will not be used in this game.
7. Place the remainder of the Canvas cards facedown in a draw pile.
8. Turn over the top three cards from the Canvas deck.

Game play
Like the regular game, the solo variant is played over a series of days in which you will
take the same sort of actions. The biggest difference is the Canvas market will be
continually advancing and, as Canvas Cards are removed, matching paint cubes from
the payday pile are returned to the bag.
At the start of each day:
1. Lower your nutrition by one (except on the very first day).
2. Draw four new paint cubes from the bag and place them in the payday pile.

During the day

As in the regular game, you will perform two of the following actions in any combination,
in any order or multiple times:

© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC

 1-4 players; 30-60 minutes; 13+ years
DRAFT RULES
Work.​ ​Draw three new paint cubes from the bag and add them to your studio.
Buy a Canvas.​ ​Buy a Canvas from the market. Pay the paint used to buy the
Canvas into the payday pile.
Paint.​ Apply four paint cubes to any canvas you own in your Studio.
Selling a Painting. ​If you complete a painting, you may sell it at any time. This does
not use up any of your actions. Feed yourself by increasing your nutrition by the food
value of the painting. You take as many of the available paint cubes from the payday
pile as you can up to the paint value of the painting.
In addition, for a ​free action​, once per day, you may trade two paint cubes for one paint
in the market.
At the end of the day
The lowest-cost canvas is removed from the market. For example, if a canvas remains
in the one paint slot, it is removed from the game. If there is not a Canvas Card in the
one-paint slot and a painting is in the two-paint slot, the two-slot painting is removed.
Any paint cubes in the market that match a space on the removed canvas are returned
to the bag. For example, if there are 2 green squares on the canvas and two green
cubes in the market, the two green cubes are removed. Player’s choice if a square is ½
colored.
Shift canvases remaining in the market to the right until they fill the 1-value slot. Turn
over Canvas Cards until there are three face up in the Canvas Market.
Now, start the next day.
The game ends when…
● You have completed 10 paintings or earned 20 points -- you win.
● You have run out of food -- you lose.
● There are no more Canvas Cards to purchase -- you lose.

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© 2016 Fairway 3 Games, LLC