Philippe came to lunch

board games designer
and special portraits artist
philippe - wonderboy

Our friend Philippe visited us today. You might not remember him because I only blipped his hand last time. He talked to us about his portraits. He now has a few in a gallery in Paris (in colour, but still made from well-known classic paintings - Van Gogh's selfportrait, Marilyn Monroe, Girl With a Pearl Earring...), and he was also commissioned to make some from photos. Some more work might be coming his way, which would be a great breakthrough for him.

After lunch, we played new and improved versions of two of the board games he's invented. My favourite of the two, called Pleiads, takes place in space: when new planets are discovered (ie placed on a checkered board) you have to bid for the rights to exploit them and try, at the same time, to keep your opponents from building too big an empire. A bit like in go, you expand your territory but really score points when you destroy your opponents'. In the end, having the longest chain of controlled planets (the biggest number of consecutive squares with your chips on them) earns you extra points, too!

Extra: mirth.