Museum: Pictura Review

Who's the best curator? Can you pick the trendiest works of art from around the world?

Museum: Pictura has players drafting cards from museums across the globe to add them to their own museums. When a player drafts a card, they then replace that card with one from their hands. If they replace with something that the museum wants from their trend card, they'll get points. If they take a trendy card, they'll lose points to pay for it. Then, the other players also get an opportunity to draft a card. The active player then takes their actions. They can add a card to their museum, hold a private event, or take inventory to rearrange their cards. The first player to reach 50 points will trigger the endgame. Players will then take one more turn and score their museums. The player with the highest score wins.

The Good: Almost everything. I loved the overall theme of the game. I'm not the biggest art guy but man I loved the set collection element. The trend cards are done in a way that isn't totally restrictive. You want to try to collect either artists, themes, or eras but there's so many different cards in the game that you don't feel like you're ever stuck and if you are then maybe your opponent discarded something of use to you. The game does such a good job of just covering so many bases.

The Okay: I think one of my biggest issues with the Museum games so far is that you draft cards for your museum but you don't actually get to see them. The pictures get covered and then you don't care to look again until scoring. Normally I don't care about something like this but because the artwork is so good it's a shame that it gets covered almost immediately.

The Not So Good: The rulebook is pretty thorough but I still found myself constantly referring back to it. Especially with the prestige vs. favour. It wasn't until halfway through my first playthrough that I realized I was moving the favour token instead. It's an easy math fix to catch up but it took me a while to figure that part out. The favour token simply acts as a placeholder to remind you to pick up a favour card when you pass it.

Overall: 8.5/10

Museum: Pictura is such a tight set collection game. The race to 50 points never feels like a slog to get through and the player interaction is one of the best I've seen from a game like this. I was immediately drawn to the Museum series when I started the hobby and the fact that it met every expectation that I had for it brings me a ton of joy. It's not without its flaws but it's so good thematically and aesthetically that you'll forgive them immediately. I don't think I see this ever leaving the collection.

Thanks to Holy Grail Games and Luma Imports for providing me with a review copy.