The Value of Art -- Game Rules

An art performance in the tradition of a cabaret game by Doris Steinbichler.

The Rules, Structure and so forth of the Game are described in these pages.

General Game Mechanics

• There are these physical locations within the theatre of the performance:
  • Entrance.
  • Pre-Stage station.
  • Stage
    • Configured for Auction in Phase 1, and as TV Show game style during Phase 2,3
    • The is a Penacho on stage!!!
    • Highly Sophisticated Scoring Machine.
  • Musicians.
  • 5 or so team tables.
  • Sound and light area.
  • Audience area.
• There are these Facilitators, being actors who run the game:
  • Entrance Master / Reception committee
  • Pre-Stage Coordinator (Phase 1)
  • Auctioneer / Master of Ceremonies (MC).
  • TV Interview Team - Camera, sound, Interviewer. Fully equipped to follow developments as they happen ... LIVE ACTION!
  • Musicians.
  • Analogue Computers of Scores
  • Crowd Control and Helpdesk
  • Bribe Accountant.
  • Technicians -- sound and light.
  • Famous person -- Phase 3
• There are these Phases, being
  1. Phase 1: Team Formation
  2. Phase 2: Rounds of Play
  3. Phase 3: Awards and the End of Naivete!
• Interludes:
  1. Pre-prepared, many of them.
  2. Video, sound.
  3. Live musicians.
  4. Dancers, ballet, choreographies.
  5. Crass advertisements, preferably of disgusting un-artistic products.
• Broadcast of interludes and of live interviews.
  1. Screen behind / above stage.
  2. Beamer, cables, camera.
  3. Interview table.

Ephemeral Game Concepts

• There are Players, Audience and Facilitators.
• There is a catch-all group called Audience Mostly at the back.
• Within the Players, there are these Roles:
  • Promising Artist
  • Filthy Rich Collector
  • Cutting Critic, Academic Style
  • Career-hungry Journalist
  • Snotty-nosed Curator
  • Gushing Gate-keeper of Funds (a.k.a. effing bureaucrat)
  • Mono-minded Museum Directors
  • Gushing Gallery Owner
  Each player is one and only one role!
• This is a team v. team game.
  • There are many teams, from 2 to 5.
  • Each gets a colour for this documentation, e.g., red and blue.
  • Each Team is formed of around 5 players.
  • Teams may lack, and probably should lack, some of the roles.
  • Team work and team composition is stressed from the beginning, and throughout the game (phases 1,2).
  • Teams are forgotten at the end of the game (phase 3).
• This is a player v. player game.
  • More or less, no Role has an advantage.
  • Each player is scored by the Computer of Scores on every answer that they perform.
  • Players are ignored at the beginning of the game.
  • At the end (phase 3) each Player is awarded prizes / future predicted.
  • The best Player is featured on national TV, sent to New York on a scholarship, and chosen for the Queen's private collection.

Physical Handouts

For players:

• Value Tokens for auction, beer, each other. (e.g., feathers)
• Role Token -- highly visible symbol, preferably permanently affixed to body! E.g., towel with RoleName attached with safety pins.
• Show bag of pointless items ... "keep these, they are important for the game..."
• Booklet of pointless rules... preferably in English and terrible spanglish translation.
• Prize feathers with future artistic horror-scope, given away at end.

For audience:

• Value tokens for ????
• Voting token: Big Thumb, preferably attached.

Grand Prizes

• Best Player: Selected for Queen's Private Collection. (Cage or Packing Case.)
• Best Team: ...

Stage

The stage has to include a large penacho facsimile. This penacho so be used in some sense to direct and allocate the questions.

The other major artifact on stage is the Scoring Machine. This has two parts:

• all the scores of all the players.
• a stock market-style index graph of the teams.

One idea for the player scores: numbers on paper/cards, hung on hooks or bullclips.

Side shows

Interview Station

TV station consists of camera, microphone, notepad. Table where you can sit down and write on the notepad. Spotlight on table.

Function #1: interviewing people about what they have experienced in their daily artist's life. E.g., anecdotes, real stories, wishes, suggestions, dissapointments, ...

Function #2: to spotlight the performance answers of the different groups through a live feed to the video projector.