First edition
Kyu CardsArt Edition
A deck of paintings you play with. Compare, argue, and discuss masterpieces - while you learn about them!
116 cards. One rigid box. Two to six people around a table. Made in India and shipped across India.
₹999
In stockShipping calculated at checkout.
- Ships across India
- Dispatched within 2-3 working days
- First edition, 116 cards
Not ready yet? Leave your email and we'll keep you posted about the next batch.
Let's tell you our story.
Why we made it
Most of us grew up being told art was something to be studied - in a gallery, in silence, ideally with a wall text explaining what to feel. So we stopped looking. Art became a thing other people understood.
Art books sit unopened, museum visits end in polite nodding, and nobody wants to be the person who asks a basic question. Meanwhile the paintings themselves are full of scandal, rivalry, theft and accident - the good stuff never makes it to the wall text.
So we put a hundred paintings into a deck of cards and let people argue over them. Kyu Cards - Art Edition came out of that: art, handed back to a table of people who don't have to know anything first.
What are Kyu Cards?
Kyu Cards turns art into conversation. Every card is a painting, and every painting carries a few things worth knowing.
It isn't about memorising dates or names. Nobody is tested. You put a card down, someone else puts one down, and somewhere in between you find out why one of them changed everything.
The stories arrive sideways, in the middle of a round, from whoever happens to know them. That's the whole idea.
In plain terms: Kyu Cards - Art Edition is an art card game, a painting card game of 116 cards, designed and made in India by The Kyu Co., for two to six players aged eight and up.
What's inside the box
- 100 Painting Cards
- A century of paintings, each rated across six attributes.
- 12 Special Cards
- Reversals, steals and quiet sabotage, used sparingly.
- 4 Explainer Cards
- What the attributes mean, and how to settle a disagreement.
- Aesthetically-designed box
- Made to sit on a shelf rather than in a drawer.
- Rulebook
- Short. Read it aloud once and you're playing.
How a round works
- 01
Deal the deck
Each player receives cards, face down, held in a hand.
- 02
Choose an attribute
The starting player looks at the top card in their hand and calls one of six attributes: Impact, Value, Concept, Recognition, Relevance or Artist Aura.
- 03
Everyone reveals
All players turn over their top card and read out that attribute.
- 04
Highest value wins
The highest number takes the round and collects the played cards.
- 05
Play a special card
Twelve special cards can turn a round on its head - if you play them at the right moment.
You'll learn the complete rules in under five minutes.
Is this for you?
If you like finding out things together, yes.
2- 6
Players
8 - 80
Age
30-60 minutes
Gameplay
5 Minutes
To learn
Endlessly
Replayable
Perfect for
- Families
- Friends
- Date nights
- Board game lovers
- Art lovers
- Book lovers
- Team gatherings
- House parties
- Children learning together with adults
Around the table
Photographs from our playtests. Nobody was posed, and no one was asked what they thought of the game afterwards.
Buy a deck
Add a deck to your cart and check out.
₹999
In stock
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Who you're buying from
- The Kyu Co. is a small studio in India making art you can play with.
- Payment is handled securely by Shopify. You get an order confirmation by email straight away.
- We ship across India, and your order is packed by hand.
- Something wrong with your order? Write to hello@thekyuco.com and a person replies.
Shipping and orders
- Orders are dispatched within 2-3 working days, packed by hand.
- We ship within India only for this first edition.
- Something wrong with your order? Write to hello@thekyuco.com and a person replies.
Questions people ask