BELRATTI

 

BELRATTI

3-7 Players -- Age 9+ -- 20-45 min

Contents

168 picture cards -- 4 joker cards -- 8 character cards

Story

The art faker Belratti has been using his extraordinary talent for decades to paint pictures in the style of others.  He dupes the art world and takes over the artistic signature of each painter.  Belratti notices an opportunity to insert his fakes into a museum.  The museum manager Cat wants to expand his museum by adding two new rooms.  For this he instructed the painter Owl to deliver suitable paintings.  But watch out! Belratti will try to add his masterful fakes to the gallery once again.  Whether he manages to outsmart Cat and Owl is up to the players!  Together the purpose of the game is to try to expose Belratti’s fake paintings, so that they do not get placed into Cat’s museum.  The players play cooperatively as a team against Belratti.

Part of the team will take on the role of the painter Owl.  The Owl players then try to get the museum manager Cat to take their paintings into his museum.  At the same time the rest of the team plays the museum manager Cat.  The Cat players decide which paintings to include in the museum gallery – always with the aim of identifying Belratti’s fakes so that they do not end up in the museum.

Game Preparation

The four joker cards are laid out in the middle of the table.  Above that you place the Belratti card.  Then the picture cards are shuffled and dealt face down to the players.  Depending on the number of players the number of dealt cards varies:

3 players: 18 cards each

4-5 players: 9 cards each

6-7 players: 6 cards each

The remaining cards are now placed face down as a draw pile.

The character cards are distributed based on the player count as follows:

3 players: 2 Museum Managers (Cat), 1 Painter (Owl)

4 players: 2 Museum Managers (Cat), 2 Painters (Owl)

5 players: 3 Museum Managers (Cat), 2 Painters (Owl)

6 players: 3 Museum Managers (Cat), 3 Painters (Owl)

7 players: 4 Museum Managers (Cat), 3 Painters (Owl)

After each turn, all character cards move to the next player clockwise (pass to the left).  During the course of the game, each player will take each role several times.

Gameplay

Overview

The museum managers start the game round by drawing two picture cards from the draw pile and laying them face up as “theme cards”.  These theme cards are placed below the joker cards.  Now the two theme cards each depict independent themes to which the museum managers request paintings from the painters during the round.  The painters then choose picture cards from their hands attempting to best match the themes.  Afterwards, the museum managers try to identify the picture cards from the painters while Belratti attempts to smuggle his fakes.

Once the theme cards are on the table, the game starts with Phase 1.

Phase 1 – The museum managers demand paintings

The museum managers determine how may picture cards the painters should provide for the round.  2-7 picture cards can be demanded.

Important: Players are not allowed to talk about the two theme cards, but only about the number of required picture cards.

Phase 2 – Painters choose pictures

The painters are only allowed to see their own cards when selecting their picture cards.  At the end of the selection, together the painters have to play the total amount of picture cards required by the museum managers. The painters agree on which player places how many picture cards. The painters must not talk about the pictures themselves, but only about whether a picture card fits well, medium or bad to the two theme cards.  When selecting each painter has to decide for themselves which picture card to assign to each theme card.  It is helpful to create associations and similarities between your own picture cards and a theme card.  If a painter does not find suitable picture cards, there is the possibility that he will not play any picture cards as long as the required total is played from the other painters.

When the painters come to an agreement, the required picture cards are placed face down.  In addition, four random, face-down picture cards are shuffled in from the draw pile.  These are the four fakes that Belratti wants to smuggle into the museum.  It is important that the painters remember their played picture cards and which theme card each matches with.

Phase 3 – Museum managers equip the museum

Now the previously shuffled picture cards (the selection from the painters plus Belratti’s fakes) are revealed.  The museum managers then assign the picture cards to the two theme cards. The museum managers are allowed to discuss this openly. The painters are not allowed to discuss.  Together the museum mangers try to find out which picture cards come from the painters.  At the same time, they try to identify Belratti’s fakes in order to prevent him from smuggling them into the museum.  Finally, the museum managers explicitly assign the picture cards, which they consider to be the paintings of the painters, to a theme card and sort out the four alleged fakes.

Tip: It is helpful for the museum managers to discuss possible associations of painters.

Phase 4 – Painters evaluate

The painters now check the just assigned picture cards of the museum managers.  In turn, each painter reveals which picture cards were played by them.

For every picture card that has been assigned to the appropriate theme card, the entire team receives one point.  These correct picture cards are placed on the “team point pile” to the left of the Belratti card.

For every (not fake) picture card assigned to the wrong topic card, the entire team will not receive any points.  These cards are discarded to the discard pile.

For each fake assigned to a theme card, Belratti receives one point.  The fakes are placed to the right of the Belratti card on “Belratti’s point pile”.

All remaining open cards (unassigned picture cards and theme cards) are discarded to the discard pile.  The discard pile cards are then out of the game (put back in the game box).

Preparation for the next round

The painters draw up to their original hand size from the draw pile (see Game Preparation section).  The character cards are passed clockwise to the next player.  Two new theme cards are drawn from the draw pile and placed face-up on the table.  The next round begins with Phase 1.

The joker cards

In each game round, the museum managers and painters can select helpful joker cards to assist them and use the appropriate action.  After that, the used joker card is turned face down.  You can play any number of joker cards per turn.  They all have different functions.  Since the joker cards can be played either by museum managers or painters, the time which they are used also differs.

Joker cards for the museum manager Cat

Exchange theme cards

The open theme cards will be replaced before the first phase with new picture cards from the draw pile.  It is also possible to exchange only a single theme card.  The old theme cards are placed in the discard pile.

Question picture card

In phase 3 the museum managers can choose any picture card and ask the painters if this picture card belongs to one of them.  The painters answer with yes or no.

Joker cards for the painter Owl

Change required number of picture cards (+ or – 1)

At the beginning of phase 2, the painters can increase or decrease by 1 the required number of picture cards by the museum managers.  The painters then have to play the new number of picture cards.

Swap Hand

In phase 2, a painter swaps 6 picture cards from his hand for 6 picture cards from the draw pile.  The old picture cards are discarded to the discard pile.

Retrieving used joker cards

Face down (used) joker cards can be retrieved at the end of a round if the team has managed to play a perfect round.  In a perfect round, each picture card was assigned to the correct theme card and no fakes were added to Belratti’s score pile, giving the team the best possible score for that round.

Each joker card has a different number on the back (from 3-6).  If a perfect round has been played, a joker card can be retrieved if the number on the back of the joker card is identical to the number of required picture cards for that round.  When a joker card is successfully retrieved, it is turned face up again to be used in following rounds.  Each joker card can be retrieved multiple times.

Game end

As soon as 6 or more cards are on the Belratti score pile at the end of a round evaluation, the game is over.  Now the game is evaluated.  To determine your score, count the picture cards from the team point pile.  If you’ve reached 15 points or more, you win the game and Belratti is beaten!  But how successful your collaboration between Cat and Owl really was, is revealed to you by the visitors of the museum:

Points	Visitors comment
30+	A sight for the gods!
25-29	Picture perfect
20-24	By every trick in the book!
15-19	You get the picture
10-14	There is no money in that
0-9	A picture of misery