Modern Art Rules

SETUP:
One player acts as banker. Each player receives a sight screen and $100,000, as well as 10 cards (if there
are 3 players), 9 cards (4 players) or 8 cards (5 players). The youngest player goes first.

CARDS: There are 70 cards, representing the works of 5 artists: Lite Metal (12), Yoko (13), Cristin P (14),
Gitter (15) and Krypto (16). In the case of ties, the artists take precedence in that order.

AUCTIONS: Each card has a symbol, which represents the manner in which that artwork is auctioned:
(1) Cross (“Kreuz und Quer”): a free auction, with no order—highest bidder wins.
(2) Circular Arrow (“Einmal reihum”): “once around”, each player, beginning to the left of the auctioneer
and ending with the auctioneer (who gets the last option), places a single bid (or passes). If the
auctioneer wins, she pays the bank the price of the artwork.
(3) Hexagon (“In die Faust”): “in the fist”, each player, in secret, places the amount of his bid in his closed
fist. When all are ready, the bids are revealed and the highest wins.
(4) Dollar Symbol (“Preis Ansagen”): “give a price”, the auctioneer sets the price for the card and offers it
to each player, in turn, until one accepts. If no one does, the auctioneer must buy it.
(5) Equal Sign: these artworks may ONLY be sold with another artwork from the same artist. If the
auctioneer plays one of these cards, she may play another artwork by the same artist and auction the two
artworks according to the symbol on the second card. If she cannot or will not play a second card, then
next player may do so, then the next, etc. The player that plays the second artwork collects ALL of the
proceeds of the auction, and play continues with the player to that player’s left. If no player plays a
second card, then the auctioneer keeps the card, free of charge.

PLAY: The game is played in four rounds. In each round, the players auction off artworks until five (5) cards
of one artist are on the table. Once the fifth card is played, it is NOT auctioned—the round ends
immediately.

SETTLING EACH ROUND:

(1) The $30,000 marker is placed on the board under the artist with 5 cards on the table. The $20,000 and
$10,000 markers are placed under the artists with the second and third most cards on the table,
respectively. In the case of ties, the artist furthest to the left wins (see “Cards”, above). Thus, in each
round, the works of two of the five artists will be worthless.
(2) Each player now sells off the cards that he bought in the round. The value of each card is equal to the
SUM of the dollar markers in the appropriate artist’s column.
(3) All of the cards played in the round are returned to the box.
(4) Before the second and third rounds (but not the fourth), the players draw 6 new cards (if there are
players), 4 new cards (4 players) or 3 new cards (5 players).

WINNING: She who has the most money after the fourth round wins.

SPECIAL SITUATIONS:
(1) Ending a round with an equals card: If 3 cards of one artist have been played, and a player plays a
“=” card, the round ends if and when another card of that artist is played. There is no auction.
(2) Early end: If all of the players play all of there cards, and there is no artist with 5 cards on the table,
then the game ends. The artist with the most cards on the table is valued at $30,000, second at $20,000
and third at $10,000.
(3) No bids at auction: If no players makes a bid at auction, the card is taken by the auctioneer without
payment.
(4) All cards played: Players who run out of cards during a round merely miss their turn.