Mozaic (how to play)

This is Mosaic, a tableau building game where you are trying to create a nine card grid in front of you. You'll also be selecting word cards to associate with those cards within your tableau. How do you play? Well, join me at the table to set up. We shuffle the image cards and we place them in the center of the table.

We also do the same with the word cards. Then we take the 36 gems that are included in the game and we put them in the center of the table so each player can reach. We then deal three image cards to each player and this will be their starting hand. And then we turn over the word cards. We turn over the number of word cards equal to the number of players plus one.

So for this example, we'll be setting up a threeplayer game. So we'll reveal four word cards. Now that we're all set up, the goal of the game is to have a nine card tableau in front of us. That is a 3x3 grid of image cards. We'll also have nine word cards around our grid. These word cards need to associate with the cards in the row or column that they are next to to score points.

What is an association? An association simply is the word has something that matches the picture. You could have a word that is physically visible on the image at least once. In this example, we have the card food and clearly there is food in the image on the table. The other option is that the images atmosphere corresponds with the word criteria.

For example, this word card is outside and this picture clearly is outside. The game is played over nine rounds and each player simultaneously chooses one of their image cards from their hand and places it face down in front of them. Once everyone has chosen a card, we then flip over the card. And this is where the important step comes in.

Each image card has a little number in the corner. That number corresponds to who will take the first turn selecting the word from the center. For example, if I were to play this card right here, it clearly states the number two. So, there's a good chance that I'm going to be selecting first. So, I would be the first player to select a card from the grid as I had the lowest number.

And I would choose one of the cards from the grid, placing it next to my image. This can either go on the top or to the side, depending on where you are putting it within your grid. The important thing to remember is that you need the associations within that grid. And the more you can get in a row or column potentially will score you more points.

But how do you score points? Now, as an example, imagine we're playing this card here, and we've put the word card no characters next to it. There are clearly no characters within this image of the card. So, that is where we take one of our gems and we place it on the first space, scoring us two points.

Now, imagine we're slightly further into the game and I've drawn a new card and added a new word card to my grid. I've decided to place it here because day really matches this image also like the no character did. However, the picture card that I've added also has no characters. So then I would move my gem across on the card that said no character scoring the relevant points.

As you'll notice, some cards actually score less points for having two matches and more points for scoring three matches. So really, I want to make sure that I'm getting a third match in this row. Reason that the word cards score slightly differently is because cards are easy, medium, and difficult.

So, you really can strategize and decide which cards you want to play where and when. When everyone has played their picture cards, adjusted their grids, and scored their words, they then have two options. You can choose to take a third card and put that into your hand, or you can discard the two cards that you had in your hand to draw up three fresh, brand new cards.

You just have to remember that any cards in your personal discard pile at the end of the game are minus one point per two cards. Once everyone has fulfilled their grid, they will add up their scores. They will deduct any points for discarded cards. And whoever has the most points wins. If there is a tie, the person who discarded the least amount of cards is the winner.

If there is still a tie, the victory is shared. The game also features a solo mode which I will let you explore for yourselves. But that is how you play Mosaic. Thanks for watching.