Advert: This prototype was loaned from Gamely through the UK Board Game Review Circle. Components and gameplay are subject to change. All views are our own.

Ever fancied yourself a budding photographer or gallery curator? Today we’re looking down the lens at the currently-crowdfunding The Curator, a game all about crafting your own mini-gallery, in the hopes you can communicate a specific theme to your fellow players.

Key stats

2 to 6 players
30 to 60 minutes
10+ years

Publisher: Gamely
Designer: Hazel Reynolds
Art: real photography from Magnum Photos
Theme/category: Photography, Art, Party Game
Key mechanics: Pick-and-pass, Deduction, Story telling

Gameplay overview

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, but in The Curator you only need people to guess one. You select 4 photos to curate into a mini-exhibit based on your own secret one-word theme, which is randomly selected from 4 on your theme card. The more players who correctly guess your theme, and the more themes you correctly guess from other players photos, the more points you can earn (although scoring is optional!).

Everyone starts with a hand of 6 double-sided photos, and you select the ones you want in classic pick-and-pass style (that is, pick a photo, pass the hands to the left, pick a photo from your new hand, etc). 2 or 3 players include ‘dummy’ hands to (to mimic 4 players total), which ensures you still get access to a good range of cards.

When everyone has selected their 4 cards, players take it in turns to play ‘Curator’ and present their exhibition (arranged however they like!) alongside their theme card. The other players consider the 4 potential themes alongside the curated gallery and simultaneously vote for the theme they think is correct. The curator player gets 1 point for each person who guessed correctly, and each correct player gets 1 point for themselves. The player with the most points after 3 rounds wins!

Our first impressions

When we hear party game, we often think of games with lots of social chaos. The Curator feels like a more cultured, laid back affair – although it can still get lively when debating over the curated photos and what theme they might be trying to evoke!

It’s relaxing but really gets those little grey cells working as you try to put together your little ‘gallery’ and interpret the galleries from others. There’s a good mix of themes – some definitely harder than others – covering a range of emotions, actions and concepts. And usually similar themes on the same card, which adds to the challenge and makes you think not only about what photos speak to your theme, but which photos will also ‘rule out’ other cards. And how you decide to arrange your gallery can make a difference too – after all it helps to tell your story!

Although the rules are quite different, the application of images to one-word concepts feels similar to Dixit, but in photography form. And the designers have done exceptionally well to collate photos that can be abstractified to represent multiple different themes. Like the Dixit art cards, a lot of the photos give that odd abstract feeling that can be funny, quirky or occasionally uneasy. I like that the rulebook includes sections for each photographer and their photos. 

We’ve been told there’s plans to tweak the gameplay slightly for 2 players into more of a co-operative experience, which makes sense as the current scoring rules doesn’t quite work with 2. Not that this detracted from our 2 player games at all, as the scoring can be considered optional and we just enjoyed the challenge of deducing each other’s themes. There may be a potential for some people to game the scoring in bigger groups (i.e. by purposefully guessing incorrectly), but anyone doing that wouldn’t be playing in the spirit of the game. 

I do think that this game style won’t be for everyone, for example you might find it more challenging or less enjoyable if you’re a very literal thinker or struggle more with conceptual/abstractification from vaguish imagery. Personally, we both really enjoyed playing it and I found it quite moreish! I think it’s an interesting way to engage with different emotions and concepts with others. I’d also love to see a ‘family’ version in the future with more accessible photos and themes for young children, because I would definitely want to play it with my toddler when he’s a bit older.

One final note – Gamely are a lovely independent UK business who are not only plastic free and carbon neutral, but they also give a percentage of their profits to charity every year. Pretty bloody brilliant if you ask me.

Verdict

The Curator is easy to learn and chill to play, but conceptually challenging and encourages you to engage with photography in a really interesting way. I often enjoy interpreting art when I go to exhibits and so I love that this aspect of art appreciation has been intentionally built into The Curator’s design. It’s also nice to have a ‘party game’ that works at smaller player counts.

The Curator is on Kickstarter RIGHT NOW, so if you find this concept intriguing be sure to check it out!