Masterpiece is a 1970 Parker Brothers game in which players simulate an art auction.

At the beginning, you’re given an identity. My favorite is Millicent Friendly, a spinster librarian with a mean temper.

Game play: World-famous paintings – true masterpieces – are on the auction block and bidding starts. As you fight another player for Van Gogh’s self-portrait, you have to wonder – will it be a forgery or will you get a million dollar pay-off?

The game is fun with players yelling out bids and wildly waving money in the air, but the best part is seeing all the paintings.

Masterpiece gives novices a look at the style and techniques of great artists. The back of each painting includes its name, the artist and the year in which it was finished.

The beautiful ballerinas of Degas, Dali’s distortions, the voluptuous “Rubenesque” figures and Serat’s pointillism all became easily identified.

However, “The Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper will forever be my favorite. The painting features 3 solitary figures sitting at a diner counter. The light from the restaurant seeps out onto a barren street. (A modified version with James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley adorned a Maid-Rite I once visited.)

Although Masterpiece isn’t in print any longer, the 1970 version of the game is readily available on ebay.