Mosaic is an action selection game. During your turn you perform one of seven actions and receive goods.

Acquiring goods is important in creating the unique mosaic of your civilization. They are used as prerequisites for many new technologies, but also for scoring. If you specialize in one or more civilization components, you may also be able to claim a 'Golden Age' of that type.

As the game progresses and your civilization grows, scorecards from the four decks are eventually revealed. Each time a scorecard is revealed, your civilization scores for each region you dominate with your cities and military units. After the third score card is revealed, there is one final turn and the game ends. You then score for your cities and towns, your wonders, projects and golden ages, and for all your cards that score for your unique civilization components.