Vegetable Stock: A Fresh Take on Card Games
Publisher: Arcane Wonders
Players: 2-6
Ages: 10+
Playtime: 10-15 minutes
Calling all veggie lovers and gamers alike! Vegetable Stock is a delightful new card game that’s easy to learn, quick to play, and bursting with flavor (well, not literally, but you get the idea). Here at Pojo.com, we’ve been whipping up some games recently, and we have to say, Vegetable Stock has left us feeling quite satisfied.
What’s in the box?
Vegetable Stock comes in a small box (1″ x 3.5″ x 5″). The box about the same size as a Pokemon Starter Deck.
- 5 Market Cards
- 5 Price Cards
- 45 Vegetable Cards
- 1 Good Weather Card
- 1 Typhoon Card
- 1 Rulebook
The Premise
In Vegetable Stock, you’ll become a shrewd shopper, navigating a dynamic market to collect the freshest veggies. This is a simple game to learn and teach.
First you randomly set up the Beginning Market Prices for each vegetable. Example:
Vegetable Stock is played over 6 rounds. Each round you set out new Vegetable cards for drafting purposes. You always set out one more cards than the number for players. So, in a 4 player game, you will set out cards like so:
Each card has three vegetable icons on it, with vegetables coming in five types (Carrots, Corn, Eggplant, Tomatoes, and Broccoli). Players take turns choosing one of the cards and placing it in their harvest pile face down. The card not chosen will then make the market go up. So, let’s say players do not draft Eggplant/Carrot card above, the value of eggplants will go up 2 and the value of carrots will go up one. If the price goes too high, it crashes, although it can rise again next round. After six rounds, determine your score by multiplying the number of each vegetable you have harvested by the final price of that vegetable. The player with the highest score wins!
The Goods
- Simple Rules, Deep Strategy: Don’t let the light rules fool you. Vegetable Stock offers some strategic depth. You’ll need to carefully consider which veggies to collect, when to buy in, and how to leverage the ever-shifting market to your advantage.
- Fast and Fun: With games lasting around 10-15 minutes, Vegetable Stock is the perfect filler game to squeeze in between epic board game battles.
- Portable Perfection: The compact box makes Vegetable Stock super travel-friendly.
- Replayable Goodness: The dynamic market and player interaction ensure that no two games of Vegetable Stock are ever the same.
- Card Stock – The card stock is nice, and the cards have a glossy feel to them.
- Scales Nicely – Vegetable Stock plays just as well with 2 players as it does with 6 players. The strategy changes a bit depending on player counts.
The Bad
- Artwork – The artwork is nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done.
The Verdict
Vegetable Stock is a delightful little card game that punches above its weight. It’s easy to learn, offers surprising strategic depth, and fun to play with friends and family. For gamers looking for a quick, portable, and flavorful experience, Vegetable Stock is a must-have for your collection.
This game has the flavor of the Point Salad card game, but is easier to learn and quicker to play.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Broccoli Spears
