How To Play Bob Ross: Art of Chill (4 Minute Guide)

OVERVIEW

Bob Ross: Art of Chill is a painting and collecting game for groups of 2-4 players. Intended to be relaxing for all participants, players use paint and brushes to create landscape paintings including natural objects such as trees and water while moving forward to achieve the ultimate level of “chill”.

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GAMEPLAY

Setup

To begin, place the easel and chill meter game board on the table in the middle of all players. Shuffle all cards and paintings and place them neatly around the board. Each player gets a palette, 3 colored feature markers, and an additional piece to move on the Chill Meter. Place the shuffled decks of technique and supply cards face down next to a horizontal row of the top 4 cards. Each player will be dealt 3 art supply cards from the deck, and the painting on the top of the stack will be placed on to the easel with the Bob piece at the beginning of the Bob track on the bottom left.

Goal

The object of the game is to be the first player to reach the “Chill Space” on the Chill Meter.

Player Actions

With their hands of paint supply cards, each player will play paints onto their palettes and match the paint colors displayed on the landscapes to paint features and earn chill points. Bonus points are given to players that paint features before Bob reaches them on the Bob Track.

During each player’s turn, they will roll the dice and play up to 3 actions before moving on to the next person. If the black palette image is rolled, you will play one paint card onto your palette. If the card image and plus sign is rolled, draw 1 art supply card. The hand image will allow you to choose and play any action. If you roll the Bob image, draw and reveal 1 chill card, follow the effect, and move Bob one space to right on the track. When he moves to a feature, he paints it and it will no longer count for any bonus chill points when players paint it.

After rolling, you can choose to take up to 3 different actions. You can draw an art supply card, play 1 paint card to your palette (only 2 paints can be added to the pallet at once, 3 or more paints are always mixed and cannot be played separately), wash your palette by removing all the cards, sweep the art supplies on the table and replace them with new cards, discard 2 cards with matching brushes in exchange for a technique card and 2 chill points (which will give you 1 extra point every time you paint a feature with that color or brush), paint a feature (to do this, choose one and discard the matching brush and paints from your palette and move your chill cube forward 1 space for each paint, placing your feature marker under that space on the game board).

The first or second player to paint a color is given 2 or 1 extra point. Check for any extra points on your cards or if you painted feature before Bob. After completing up to 3 actions, the cycle continues to the next player clockwise. When 1 player has painted all 3 features on a painting or Bob reaches the last space on the track, remove all feature markers and place Bob at beginning of Bob track on a new painting to continue playing.

How to End the Game

The game ends when any player reaches the Chill Space on the Chill Meter. This player is the winner.

Strategies

Since more than 3 paints on your palat once are automatically mixed and cannot be separated, it is a good idea to get rid of your cards as quickly as possible to avoid any complications. Other than that, you should focus on racing against your opponents to be the most chill player by the end of the game.

Rule Variations for Playing with Kids

Bob Ross: Art of Chill is a family-friendly game with a relatively easy set of rules, which makes it simple to explain and play with children. However, families with very young children may choose to play in teams instead of single players.

How the Game Changes Depending on the Number of Players

Since this game is intended for 2-4 players, the rules do not change within these parameters. However, if there are more than 4 players in even numbers, they can be split into teams and work together to get to the chill space.