Designers: Eric Dubus (Museum), Olivier Melison (Museum)

Artist: Vincent Dutrait (Broom Service, Dead Man’s Draw, Diplomacy, Discoveries: The Journals of Lewis and Clark, Elysium, Jaipur, Lewis & Clark, Lost Cities, Lovecraft Letter, Medici, Mythic Battles: Pantheon, New York 1901, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords – Base Set, The Quest for El Dorado, Raptor, Rise of Augustus, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, Treasure Island, When I Dream, Wyatt Earp)

Publisher: Holy Grail Games (Museum, Outlaws: Last Man Standing, Rising 5: Runes of Asteros)

Genre/Mechanisms: card drafting, card game, set collection, trading

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Museum: Deluxe Edition is already fully-funded. In fact, pledges currently total more than 5x the initial funding goal, with 5 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: Players are curators in one of the world’s greatest museums, each seeking to assemble the greatest collection of historical objects the world has ever seen.

How It Works: “Museum is set during the early 20th century – the golden age of the Museum – when the exploration of far-away lands and the subsequent repatriation of historical relics had become commonplace. Public demand for displays of exotic artifacts is at fever pitch as patrons flock to see the forgotten wonders of the world. In this time of discovery, [players are curators] of one of the world’s great Museums, tasked with putting together a Collection of artifacts the likes of which history has never seen.”

“In Museum, players score points by placing Object cards on their personal player boards, which are paid for by discarding other cards. Players can score even more points by creating Collections. Collections can be based on card color or type, and are made by placing cards adjacently in a player’s Museum.” Museum is played over a series of turns, until a player reaches 50 points. The player finishes their turn, all other players get one final turn, and then the player with the most points wins.

Each player’s turn is divided into two phases, the Exploration Phase, and the Action Phase. During the Exploration Phase, the active player draws one Object card from any Continent, placing it in their hand. Then, in player order, every other player may also draw one card from any Continent for free. For each player that chooses to draw a card, the active player may take one Prestige point from the reserve.

During the Action Phase, the active player may either Furbish their Museum or Perform an Inventory. When Furbishing, the active player can put items into their Museum from their Personal Reserve (their Hand), their Common Pool (their Discard pile), or from another player’s Common Pool. When placing a card into their Museum from their Personal Reserve, the player must discard a number of cards from their hand into their Common Pool (or by spending Prestige Points) equal to the value of the card being placed. This works the same way when placing cards from their Common Pool (the active player must discard a number of cards from their hand and/or spend Prestige Points equal to the value of the card being placed), but when placing a card from an opponent’s Common Pool, the active player must discard cards to their opponent’s Common Pool and/or give their opponent any Prestige Points used, plus 1 additional Prestige Point for the transaction. Each time a player places a card into their Museum, they immediately score its value in points.

When Performing an Inventory, the active player collects as many cards from their Common Pool back into their hand, while observing the 7-card hand limit.

The 2nd Edition Upgrade pack adds an updated scoring system, modified Patron cards, a change to the Inventory action (players can gain Prestige points in combination with re-claiming cards into their hand), updated Favour cards, and updated, streamlined rules for all expansions except the People’s Choice Gameplay & 5th Player Expansion.

The Kickstarter Update Pack includes The League of Extraordinary Explorers (introducing new legendary artifacts), The Crystal Skulls mini-expansion (introducing an anonymous Collector who will purchase any Skulls the players find), a solo mode, The Continents Board, The Assistants mini-expansion (giving players asymmetrical powers and scoring conditions depending on which Assistant they choose to work with them at the start of the game), The Figurines (to replace player scoring tokens), and Discard Boards.

The new KS-exclusive C’thulhu Relics expansion adds Cthulhu-themed artifacts, and the new KS-exclusive The Historians expansion introduces a Research track where objects can be played, taking them temporarily out of the game while they’re researched and accrue in value.

Comparisons: Ryan Laukat’s Artifacts, Inc. And for somewhat similar game-play with an art theme, try Starving Artists. If you’re looking specifically for archaeology-themed games that don’t necessarily play similarly, there’s Arkeis, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Karuba, Lost Cities, Relic Runners, Tikal, and Tobago.

What Should I Pledge?:
$34 Returning Backers: this level does not include the actual game; it does, however, include the Collector’s Box with a GameTrayz storage system, Update Pack, Player Boards, and The Historians Expansion.
$62 Newcomers All-In: this level also does not include the actual game, it does, however, include all of the KS-Exclusive content from this campaign and the previous one, which is everything in the Returning Backers pledge level plus the Stretch Goal Pack and The C’thulhu Relics Expansion.

*Please note that in an effort to support the online and brick & mortar retailers who continue to support Holy Grail Games, Holy Grail will not be offering the Museum base game or any of the 4 previous expansions (The People’s Choice Gameplay and 5th Player Expansion, The World’s Fair, The Archaeologists, and The Black Market) currently available at retail to backers from Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland, the UK, or the USA. Customers from these countries will need to buy the Museum base game and any of those 4 expansions they’d like via retail outlets.

Add-Ons:
$33 Deluxe Box: the same content from the Returning Backers pledge level.
$22 Kickstarter Exclusives Pack: player figurines and 1st player bust, The Extraordinary Explorers mini-expansion, The Crystal Skulls mini-expansion, The Discard Boards, The Continent Decks Board, Solo Mode, and Exclusive Headline, Expert, Favour, and Patron Cards.
$6 2nd Edition Update Pack: this is also part of the Returning Backers pledge level and part of the Deluxe Box add-on.
$4 Player Boards: 2mm boards to replace the mats in the base game (5).
$22 Gametrayz Plastic Insert Set: the same storage system including with the Collector’s Box in the Returning Backers pledge level and the Deluxe Box add-on, but without the Collector’s Box; the insert set can be distributed amongst the various base game and expansion boxes, and will fit separately into those boxes.
$11 The C’thulhu Relics Expansion
$11 The Historians Expansion
$3 Premium Card Sleeves, Small: 45×68, for Experts & Solo Mode action cards (65)
$3 Premium Card Sleeves, Medium: 63×88, for Patron, Pavillion, & Headline cards (65)
$3 Premium Card Sleeves, Large: 65×100, for Object & Favour cards and Gaming aids action cards (65)
$2.50 Premium Card Sleeves, Extra Large: 65×120, for Extraordinary Explorer cards (20)
$19 Premium Card Sleeves, Sleeve Bundle: sleeves all of the cards available for Museum, and includes 1 Small pack, 2 Medium packs, 6 Large packs, and 1 Extra Large Pack.
$50 Museum Core Box (only available for backers outside of Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland, the UK, & the USA)
$20 The People’s Choice Gameplay & 5th Player Expansion (only available for backers outside of Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland, the UK, & the USA)
$20 The World’s Fair Expansion (only available for backers outside of Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland, the UK, & the USA)
$20 The Archaeologists Expansion (only available for backers outside of Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland, the UK, & the USA)
$20 The Black Market Expansion (only available for backers outside of Belgium, Canada, France, Switzerland, the UK, & the USA)

KS Exclusives:
The Deluxe Box & GameTrayz storage system, The C’thulhu Relics & Historians Expansions, the Bad Press mini-expansion, and the Stretch Goal Pack with the KS-Exclusive content from the first campaign.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $62 for the Newcomers All-In and $16 in shipping for a total of $78. If you’d also like the Sleeve Bundle, then $97. But keep in mind you’ll also need to purchase the base game and any of the 4 previous expansions via retail outlets, and you won’t be able to play the game without at least purchasing the base game separately.

Museum: Deluxe Edition completes its Kickstarter on Tuesday, December 17th and tentatively ships in November 2020.