Color Field is a game that celebrates the abstract painting movement of the mid-1900’s. Players will draft paint swatches, matching and scoring colors as they fill 3 canvases during the course of a game. Once you get the hang of making these beautiful paintings, advance your gameplay with community tool cards.
Grab a Brush
Color Field is great abstract puzzle that is easy to learn and hard to master. The strokes of color and endless possibilities is really inviting for new players.
Each player is given a canvas and 6 random foundation tiles that will fill the canvas board. These starter tiles are oriented in less than optimal ways, limiting the possible number of points each player can score with these beginner tiles. In the center of the table are 3 paint tiles that can be drafted on your turn. These paint tiles are drawn from the stacks associated with the 3 different rounds in the game.
On your turn, simply draft a tile from the palette and replace one of the paint tiles on your canvas. If you’re not a fan of the 3 tile options on the palette, you can take your chances and draw a blind one from the stack of tiles associated with that round.
Placing this new tile allows you to rotate the tile in any orientation you wish to line up with the adjacent colors. Players draft a total of 5 tiles during the first round and 4 tiles in the next 2 rounds. Ultimately, trying to maximize scoring for that round.
Each tile is scored individually at the end of a round. Each matching color on the 4 sides of the tile score 1 point a piece. If a color has the number 2 or 3 on it, matching that color will score that number of points. To finish scoring in the round, players will score their largest continuous patch of color on their canvas.
Painting Perfection
Players are always looking for that perfect piece that lines up just right on their canvas. Since these boards have colors surrounding the tile area, you have static colors that you’re always working to match. Color Field gives players 3 inspiration tokens that allow you to rearrange a tile after it’s been placed. Another option is to exchange 2 already placed tiles without changing their orientation.
Color Field is a spatial puzzle that will be a lot of fun for players who connect with this style game. While teaching my kids how to play, my oldest daughter who’s studying art in college fell in love with the game. She immediately saw how the colors connected and destroyed us by the end of the game.
Players are allowed to keep color tiles between each of the 3 rounds. This is based on where they fall on the scoring track. The player in first place will reset their entire canvas while players behind them can keep a number of tiles. This is a great way to level the playing field but not feel too punishing for the players who’s in the lead.
With the advanced rules, all players have access to a community tools card. This can change the scoring criteria, or give players new options in the round. Players are given 5 inspiration tokens which will ultimately lead to bigger scores.
Color Field is a wonderful abstract game that celebrates color. The game has a chill vibe that really lends itself to a relaxing game session with a little music playing in the background. You may never achieve the perfect painting, but boy is it pretty to look at.
Color Field is part of a Kickstarter campaign with 3 incredible games from 25th Century Games. Check out the campaign today.
A prototype of the game was provided for this coverage. Components and rules covered in this preview are not finalized. Read more about our preview policies at One Board Family.
