- Masterpiece (game)
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Masterpiece Designer(s) Marvin Glass Publisher(s) Parker Brothers Players 3-6 Setup time 5-10 minutes Playing time 1 hour Random chance a little Skill(s) required Bluffing
NegotiationMasterpiece is a board game by Parker Brothers, now a brand of Hasbro. Players participate in auctions for famous works of art. It was originally published in 1970 by Parker Brothers, and then published again in 1996. The game is now out-of-print. In this game, players compete with other players to bid on potentially valuable paintings, and negotiate with other players to trade these works of art, build a portfolio, amass money, and win the game. The top value of a painting in the 1970 edition is $1 million, and $10 million in the 1996 edition; however, getting the full value for the painting requires some luck in landing on the right square on the board to sell a painting to the bank.
The game utilizes bluffing skills because the players possess asymmetrical information about the value of the paintings they possess. Some pictures are known to their owners to be 'forgeries' with an actual value of zero. These 'forgeries' can, however, be resold to other players or to the bank with the value hidden.
One version of the game has paintings featured that are on display at the Art Institute of Chicago and include At the Moulin Rouge and Paris Street; Rainy Day. Another version has paintings on display at National Gallery in London and include Sunflowers.
In 1999, while playing Masterpiece, a man from Indiana noticed that the cheap painting he used to cover a hole in his wall bore a striking resemblance to a painting by Martin Johnson Heade featured in the game. It was later discovered that this was a previously unknown work by Heade, Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth, and it was purchased by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for $1.25 million in 1999.[1]
References
- ^ Judith H. Dobrzynski, "Painting Packs a Million-Dollar Surprise", New York Times, June 4, 1999
External links
Categories:- Auction board games
- Parker Brothers games
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