The rules of culturecapital are based upon a simplified dramaturgy of how the arts economy is actually working.

Two players face off with their own culturecapital decks. They have seven cards in their hands and their goal is to play (real) Companies, roll a die for Grants, use those Grants to make Projects of varying value, and then use Strategies to change the value of their Projects. The value of a Project is equal to the number of Communities—think of them like Health Points—that a Player can take from their Opponent, and the Player with the most Communities at the end, wins.