Let's prepare a salad. Salad Point Review

 I'm into fillers. Just the concept of an addictive game that uses very few components and is travel-friendly brings back the days when I was younger and played Crazy 8s , President or UNO with friends and family. Nowadays, with modern game design philosophies, we have seen some interesting card games such as Sushi Go , The Mind , Pairs , Skull King and Cockroach Poker Royal .

 Another representative of such games that should be added to this list is Point Salad . Aside from being a clever pun on board game slang, it's a fun game that innovates the Set Collection genre with its incredibly simple rules. However, interesting games do not always mean good games, so where is Point Salad ? Let's find out.

 I usually try to avoid explaining the rules step by step, mainly because that's what everyone does and it's not the most fun to write about. However, I will make an exception because the rules are incredibly easy to learn.

 With a deck of 108 double-sided cards, you must draw some of these cards depending on the number of players (or, if you are playing with a full number of players, nothing is drawn). Mix them well and make three equal decks with the Point Salad side up. When you have three decks, turn over the top two cards from each deck to reveal the vegetable side to form a column under each deck. This is your "vegetable market".

RULES IN TWO WORDS

 On your turn, you have two options: Take two cards from the market and add them to your play area, or take one of the point salad cards and add it to your play area. As a free action, you can also flip one of your Point Salad cards over to the vegetable side, and the icons in the corner of the card will show you what's on the other side. After you have completed your action, it is the next player's turn. You keep doing this until all the cards are gone.

 Players will then calculate their points based on the Point Salad cards they receive. Each Salad with points card tells the player what scores they will get, for example, if the most Carrots or Lettuce are 3 points, but for each Onion and Pepper card you lose 1 point. Each Point Salad card in this game is unique, so there are 108 ways to score points. Whoever gets the most points wins.

 That's all. Nothing more.

COMPLEXITY DOESN'T ALWAYS BREED GREATNESS

 Frankly, it's very rare to see a game this simple in a market that seems to be drowning in a sea of complexity and gray plastic miniatures from Kickstarter. Point Salad takes a less-is-more approach with its simplified rule set and simple components, while still providing a solid set collection filler that can easily compete with other light collecting games like Cat Lady and Sushi Go.

 The main reason I'm so confused by this game is that, unlike other set collecting games, there is no linearity to card value. Most deck building games often have cards like "if you have the most of that card you get points" or "for every two cards of that type you get that many points for each pair" etc. Point Salad is a little smarter than that.

 Yes, Point Salad has these ways to earn points, but the key difference is that players choose these goals themselves. The value of each of the six types of vegetables is determined not by the game mechanism, but by the collective decisions of the players as a group. Additionally, the point value of vegetable types is exclusive to each player at the table.

TIME IS EVERYTHING

 Another hurdle to overcome is time. Get too many types of vegetables early and players can easily determine which Point Salad cards will be valuable to you. If you take a lot of Point Salad cards early on, any Veggie cards you might need to score points may already be taken by other players. Timing is of the essence with Point Salad.

 Although this game is a very tight package, there are some loose ends that need to be tied up. Like other set-building games, Point Salad will feel repetitive after a few games, especially when you consider that most Point Salad cards are variations of five or six objective types. To be honest, it's hard to call it a mistake since it's the genre's fault. Other games with light rules like Sushi Go and Cat Lady also have this problem. It's like complaining that Social Deduction games require communication with other players; it's just part of the nature of the genre.

 A big red flag is player scaling. This game says it can be played with up to 6 players, but more players pushes the game in such a direction that 20 minutes feels a bit empty. When you're playing with fewer players, like 2 or 3 players, your move will have a big impact on everyone at the table, and when it's your turn, the game state won't change much. On the other hand, larger players, like 4-6 players, hate draft is a bit fruitless because you're only arguing with the players next to you in turn, and the state of the field changes so much that it feels like you're playing some weird version of cardboard slot machine that does not use cherries.

 After all that, is it worth it? I'm going to give two different answers.

 If you already have a matching game like Sushi Go, I see no reason to buy it. Point Salad is the best game of the bunch, but not enough to warrant a new purchase. What's out there in the genre right now are pretty damn good games, and I wouldn't recommend spending the extra money to get another version of the same type of game. Then again, I like to keep my collection sparse, so that's probably my bias.

 However, if your game library lacks a collection of short games, Point Salad is something I would definitely consider. It's not an expensive game, and it's extremely easy to teach non-players in your circle in very little time. Even though the gameplay is repetitive, Point Salad does a great job of forcing players to make difficult decisions, such as which objectives to target, which kits to purchase, and timing all of their actions within a 20-minute period. In short, it's a very impressive game in a very deceptively small package, making it the perfect gateway game.

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DESCRIPTIONS OF BOARD GAME POINT SALAD   Point Salad is a fast and exciting card game for the whole family. It has over 100 ways to score winning points. Players can use different strategies, and each new game will be unique! There are six different types of cards, and on the back of each card there is a method of counting points. For example, one method of counting points can give 2 points for each carrot, but subtract a point for each tomato. By creating combinations of vegetables an..