Fresco

Fresco is a 2010 designer board game by Marco Ruskowski and Marcel Süßelbeck. It was nominated for the 2010 Spiel des Jahres award and won the 2010 Deutscher Spiele Preis. Each player in Fresco takes the role of master painter attempting to restore the fresco on a cathedral ceiling, earning points for each section they repair. Players must manage a team of apprentices who will buy or mix the required paints, paint portraits to earn money, and keep the bishop happy. Overworked apprentices may leave the painter's service, reducing the actions the player can take. A player can improve morale, and even gain extra actions, by letting his workers sleep late. However, this can allow earlier players to block his ability to buy necessary paints or to restore a section of the fresco before he can get to it. During each turn in Fresco, players secretly assign their five apprentices to any of several locations. Choices are then revealed and each location is visited in turn. At the market apprentices can buy paint in the primary colors. At the cathedral they can restore a fresco using specified colors to score points and gain income for future turns. In the studio they can paint portraits for the bourgeois to earn money. At the workshop they mix the purchased paints into more valuable secondary colors. Or apprentices can be given a night off at the theater to improve morale.