The following are answers to a few of the frequently asked questions about Starving Artists.

Multi-player Games

Turns

Turn Order: Round Robin Actions. Players get two actions each day.  These turns are taken one at a time in a round-robin fashion.  Starting with the first player, that player takes their morning action.  Then the player to the first player’s left and so on.  After everyone has taken their morning action, the first player moves the carrot to the “afternoon” and takes his or her second action.  The the player to the first player’s left takes his or her turn and so on.

After everyone has taken their two actions, the first player moves the marker to evening.  This is the selling phase.  Players decide to sell in the same player order.

Free Actions. You can take either of the free actions during either the morning or afternoon.  You can only do one free action per day.  You can take the free action before or after your regular action, but it must be before the next player takes their action.

Painting: You cannot move paint from one spot to another.  Once a paint cube is placed, it cannot move.

Selling Completed Paintings 

Selling Multiple Paintings.  When you sell multiple paintings, you treat each as a different sale for collection purposes.  So, for example, if three people are selling: Player A [also, the first player] is selling paintings worth 9 and 6; Player B is selling a painting worth 7; and Player C is selling a painting worth 6.  In this case, the collection actions would look like this:

Player A takes 4,
Player B takes 2,
Player A takes 1, then
Player C takes 1

This collection repeats until the market is empty or all the players have the paint they needed.

“Satisfied” players during collection actions.  When collecting paints from the market, you never change the amount you collect each round even if another player is satisfied.  For example, if the paint market has 19 paint cubes and three players are selling paintings.  If the first place player (player A) is selling a paint worth 8 and the other players (players B and C) are selling paintings worth 7 and 5, respectively, the collection actions look like this:

Player A takes 4,
Player B takes 2, then
Player C takes 1

Player A takes 4, [player A is satisfied]
Player B takes 2, then
Player C takes 1

Player B takes 2, then
Player C takes 1

Player B takes 1, then [player B is satisifed]
Player C takes 1 [market is now depleted[

Excess food.  Whenever you have excess food, your “bonus” paint cubes come from the bag randomly drawn.  These bonus paints are in addition to the paint value of your painting.  The bonus paints do not count to determining who takes paints first.

You do not need to sell. Just because you completed a painting does not require that you sell a painting.

Winning the game

Ties.  If a player completes the number of paintings required on the same turn someone reaches the point victory, points trump painting counts.

Solo Games

When does 1-slot canvas leave the market?

In solo, after you’ve done everything for the day (two actions + selling), the canvas in the market is discarded and it takes any matching paints from the paint market with it.  In other words, if you’re selling you will take your paints first, then paints disappear from the market.

What do I do about wilds in the market when the 1-slot canvas leaves the market?

If there’s a paint that matches, you must pick it. This is just like when there’s a split paint square, if there’s one color that matches, you must use that color.

A wild will match one space on a painting, so a wild paint may leave the market if there’s no other matching color. You can also elect to use one wild instead of an actual color, if you want.

Do paintings leaving the market follow the same painting rules?

Yes. This rule is most important for wild paints in the market since a painting can only have a single wild paint.