Avant Carde solo rules
One book to rule them all: week July 17 - July 23
Avant Carde takes you to a gallery, where you try to please patrons with beautiful art. Cleverly named with a word play and using a gimmick to speed up set-up time, this card game draws attention.
Summed up
Your goal in the solo game is to complete all the awards, the number of which is based on a difficulty setting, by the ninth round. Otherwise you lose the game.
The display consists of stacks of coloured cards, sorted by number. So you have a stack of twos, threes and so on. Each card number also has a patron associated with it and based on their requirements, you can activate their power by playing said number cards. You start with seven cards in hand.
Instead of an opponent, the first player marker acts as a blocking AI. Each round it moves from a stack of display cards to another, left to right. The stack with the first player marker is unavailable to buy cards from, but you can still use its patron power.
On your turn you play cards from your hand as much as you like, but with each card laid down you have to either match the number or colour of the previous card. Each played card is worth one dollar. For money earned (cards + patron powers) you can buy cards, each number indicates the cost, so twos cost two dollars and so on. If you earn six dollars or more in a single round, you’re eligible for a number of awards. In case the display doesn’t have cards you want, you can choose to “bury” the top card of the stack (place it on the bottom), twice per round in a solo game.
My thoughts are revealed
Rulebook
Easy to understand rules, well laid out. Since the game uses quite a bit of iconography, the patron powers are explained in detail in the rules (in comments they mentioned having solo rules separate, but I’m not sure if the patron list will be included or separate as well). With the “gimmick” for quick setup (roll out card box), they also include steps for cleanup at the end of the game, which is a nice touch.
Overall
Simple rules seem to be a theme in many of my posts, but there’s beauty in simplicity. If you look at the game through a detailed lens, you can say “oh it’s just another deck builder”. And you might be right. But the game is trying to be different and if this quick setup contraption works, it will make it easier to table. And the art works lovely with the minimalistic style. Definitely one to take a look at.
Avant Carde has launched on Kickstarter and the campaign will run for 16 more days. You can choose print and play, physical copy or deluxe copy (with metal tokens). A special edition with wooden box already seems to be gone though.
Interesting game, and the gimmick is certainly cool. I got their previous game (Retrograde) but wasn't too impressed - plus it was expensive with shipping and VAT. It popped up not so long ago in retail for half the price I paid, but ran out of stock pretty fast.
So, I'm not too keen in backing one of their games again, but this one sure got my eye, and I'm glad you picked it for your weekly rules summary.