Pastiche - Tips & Strategies

When playing through this game, most of the people I’ve played with have run into a similar (minor but annoying) issue: Remembering which palette tile they just played while drawing their color cards. While it’s not a major issue, it adds some time and confusion to the game. Additionally, since it can be a bit difficult to remember which color you get for a vertex with three blots (for instance, which is blue/blue/red vs. red/red/blue?) you’ll often take your eyes off of your hex to check the player aid, losing track of where your tile was.

Below are a trio of things I’ve tried that work well, I’d recommend using one when you play, especially on your first plays.

1) With multiple players the easiest solution is to keep your finger on the tile you place and have an opponent give you the colors you call out.

2) For fewer player games (especially 2-player where you opponent if figuring out their turn), have a token (we’ve used M&Ms, or meeples from other games) to place on the just placed tile. This way, you don’t need to interupt your opponent and can quickly see where you last play was.

3) If you don’t have a token on hand, keep the most recently placed tile offset from the rest of the tiles. Even 1/8th of an inch will allow you to quickly find your tile after taking your eyes off of it. When all colors are grabbed, it can be quickly slid into place.

Using any of these simple solutions will keep the game moving along and avoid mistakes due to misplaced tiles.

The game board is gorgeous and in keeping with the overall theme of the game, but it also takes up quite a bit of space for something that is essentially just a card bank. If you have the room on your table, fine and dandy; the board is a great thematic addition. If you don’t have a whole lot of room, just set up the palette cards in a more traditional bank format. When space is at a premium it is much better to have room for all your players and for the actual in-play components than it is to use all the accessories in the box.