Analysis paralysis is the bane of many a gaming group. David Abelson's Concrete Canvas implements my favorite remedy: give the players one or two relatively simple things to consider, then force their attention there by burying everything else in a mountain of tedious information. On their turn, players perform one of two actions: move one of their pawns to an adjacent tile to grab a new paint and drop a sticker that blocks future movement into that space, or turn in the requisite paints to pick up one of the paintings on offer. End game triggers when a player can't move either of their pawns.
Scoring comes from three sources: flat points from paintings, three points for each instance of an icon on your paintings, and borough majorities. Boroughs are by far the most involved but still rather simple, with each sticker counting towards its tile's borough, paintings adding to their own, and the setup card that wasn't used for the icon multiplier. Most of your points come from things that are obfuscated in one way or another, compelling players to play with their guts.
The theme and art by Chris RWK makes it clear that that Concrete Canvas is a love letter to something the designer loves. It's a type of game I generally steer people away from, as they tend to be over- or under-designed in a way that skews the effort:payoff ratio in unfun ways. By giving players tactical agency but keeping strategy vibes-based, Abelson has hit the sweet spot. The Kickstarter campaign is live now, so go check it out if you're feeling like this is up your grafitti-covered alley.
