7 February 2026

What I really love is when a game seemingly comes out of nowhere, blindsides you, and is just incredible to play. And that game is Mosaic. Mosaic is a tableau builder. You will be playing these beautifully illustrated cards down onto the table, creating a 3x3 nine card tableau. You'll have a hand of three cards and you'll select one of those cards to play into your grid.

Once you have played the card from your grid, you'll then select a word card from a common supply of word cards depending on the player count that you have. The word cards might say something like no character at all, pink or purple, or transportation. You're going to then look at your grid, decide which one of these word cards is most suitable.

Take that word card and play it in your grid in that row or column. Now, there is one extra detail with the word cards. Now, you'll be collecting your word card in turn order dependent on who played the lowest number of their card they played into their grid. Meaning, if I play this nine, there's a good chance that I'm going to be able to pick my word, the most ideal word first.

However, the card might not be the ideal card. So, I might have to play a card with a number 83, for example, and just hope that no one takes the word I need. When you place your clue word down, you will look in that row or column and see how many of those cards match the word that is written on that card.

Now, dependent in the row of three, how many there are depends on what exact score you get. You'll then put one of these yellow gems on the card. Depending whether it's just one that matches, two that matches, or three. Mosaic is beautifully simple and also really, really puzzly. I just love the artwork.

It's absolutely stunning. It's open to interpretation as well, so there's a lot of discussion and conversation that can go around. I highly recommend you give Mosaic a try when you get a chance.