You’re an art gallery owner competing to collect the most money through fame, influence, and smart art dealing. Discover artists, promote them, buy and sell works, and build your gallery’s reputation to win.
Our full review: The Gallerist Review
Note: This is a starting guide, not a complete rulebook. The Gallerist is complex — read the full rules before your first play. This helps you understand the flow before diving in.
The Big Picture
The Gallerist is a worker placement game. On your turn, you move your Gallerist pawn to one of the four action centres and take one of two actions there. Everything — fame, influence, collectors — converts to money in the end. Highest money wins.
The Kick-Out Mechanic: When you move your pawn to an action centre, you may leave an assistant behind. If another player enters that space, your assistant is kicked out and can immediately take a special Executive Action (move visitors or assign to a contract). This keeps all players engaged between turns.
Visitors (Meeples)
There are three types:
| Colour | Type | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Pink | Visitors (VIPs) | General visitors |
| Brown | Investors | Provide specific bonuses |
| White | Collectors | Score points and increase artist fame |
Visitors start in the plaza bag. Use all visitors in a 4-player game; remove 2 for 3 players; remove 4 for 2 players or solo.
The Four Action Centres
1. ARTIST COLONY
Discover or promote artists
Discover: Take an artist tile from the board, pay influence, and start building their market. Promote: Pay influence to advance an artist's fame track — increasing the value of their artwork.
2. GALLERY
Buy art or hire assistants
Buy Art: Pay the purchase price and place artwork in your gallery. This increases the artist's fame. Hire Assistants: Bring a new assistant from the unemployment pool to your player board office.
3. SALES OFFICE
Sign contracts or sell art
Sign Contract: Take a contract card matching an art medium — this enables you to sell that type of art. Sell Art: Sell displayed artwork for money based on the artist's current fame value.
4. INTERNATIONAL MARKET
Gain reputation or bid on renowned works
Take Reputation Tile: Gain immediate and end-game bonuses. Requires matching sold/displayed art and lobby visitors. Bid on Art: Spend influence to acquire renowned artworks worth bonus VP.
On Your Turn
End of Game
The game ends when two or more of these are true:
- No more tickets remain
- No more visitors in the bag
- Two or more artists have reached Celebrity status
Count all money (from sales, end-game card bonuses, assistant bonuses in the International Market, and leftover resources). Highest total wins.
What is a Kicked-Out Action?
When another player moves to an action centre where your assistant sits, your assistant is kicked out. You immediately take one Executive Action (move visitors or assign an assistant to a contract) — even though it's not your turn.
Do I need to sell art to earn money?
Selling art is the main income source, but end-game bonuses from curator and art dealer cards, international market positions, and other bonuses also convert to money.
Can I move visitors from another player's lobby?
Yes — Executive Actions let you move visitors from any lobby (including opponents') to the plaza, another lobby, or your own gallery.
