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Point Salad Card Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

By: Author Eric Mortensen

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Categories Board Games, Card Drafting, How to Play, Set Collection

Point Salad Card Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

Objective of Point Salad

The objective of Point Salad is to acquire the right combination of point and veggie cards in order to score more points than the other players.

Setup for Point Salad

  • Depending on the number of players, you may need to remove some cards from the deck before playing the game. You should choose the cards without looking at the point sides. Place any removed cards back into the box.
    • 2 players – Keep 6 cards of each vegetable (36 cards). The game recommends setting the unused cards aside to play two additional rounds (36 cards in each round).
    • 3 players – Keep 9 cards of each vegetable (54 cards). The game recommends setting the unused cards aside to play a second round with 54 cards.
    • 4 players – Remove 6 cards of each vegetable (72 cards).
    • 5 players – Remove 3 cards of each vegetable (90 cards).
    • 6 players – Use the entire deck.
  • Shuffle all of the cards and split them into three piles. Try to make the three piles roughly the same size. Place the piles so the point side is face up.
  • Flip over two cards from each pile. These cards will be placed below the piles. These six cards are referred to as the veggie market.
  • Randomly choose a player to start the game.
Setup for Point Salad

Playing Point Salad

Starting with the first player and moving clockwise/left, the players will take turns taking a set of actions.

Each turn consists of three steps:

  1. Draft A Card(s)
  2. Flip A Card (optional)
  3. End of Turn

Draft A Card(s)

To start each or your turns you will choose a card(s). You will add this card(s) to the cards that you have placed face up in front of you.

When choosing a card you can choose one of two options.

First you can take a point card from one of the three piles.

Choose Point Card in Point Salad
This player decided to take this point card that scores eight points for each three peppers you collect.

Otherwise you can choose two of the face up veggie cards in the veggie market.

Choose Veggie Cards in Point Salad
This player wants the two pepper cards. They will use their turn to take those two cards from the market.

Whichever option you choose, you will place the card(s) you chose in front of you. If you chose a point card you will place it point side face up in front of you. If you chose veggie cards, you will place them veggie side up.

Flip A Card

This action is completely optional.

Once per turn you can choose to flip one of point cards in front of you to the veggie side. You can flip a card you just took, or a card you took on a previous turn. Once you flip a card it will stay a veggie card for the rest of the game. The corner of each point card shows what veggie is on the other side.

Flipping A Point Card in Point Salad
On a previous turn this player acquired the point card on the left. Later they acquired the three lettuce cards. As they would score -12 points from the point card, they probably should flip this point card to the other side which will turn it into a carrot card.

You may never use this action to flip a veggie card to the point side.

End of Turn

If you took veggie cards from the veggie market on your turn, you will replace the cards that you took. You will take the top card from the pile corresponding to the column that you took each card from. Flip each card from the point side to the veggie side when you move them to the empty space in the veggie market.

Empty Spaces in Veggie Market in Point Salad
As mentioned above the player decided to take the two pepper cards from the veggie market.
Replace Empty Veggie Market Spaces
To replace the empty space in the second column, the top card from the middle pile is flipped over to the lettuce side. The empty space on the right column was filled by flipping the pepper card on the top of the pile.

Should one of the piles ever run out of cards, take the largest remaining pile and split it in two. Take the bottom half of the pile and place it in the column that ran out of cards.

Replace Empty Point Card Pile in Point Salad
The pile on the left side has run out of cards. You will take half of the cards from the remaining pile with the most cards, and use them to create a new left pile.
Replacing Empty Point Card Pile
The players have moved half of the cards from the right pile to the left pile.

Play then passes to the player on your left/clockwise.

Winning Point Salad

Players will keep taking turns until all of the cards have been taken from the middle of the table.

To determine the winner each player will tally the points they scored during the game.

Each point card you kept during the game will score you points based on the scoring conditions printed on it. You can score points from a point card for each instance where you meet the scoring condition. You can use each veggie card to score multiple different point cards. Each veggie card can only be used once for each point card though. See the Scoring Examples section below for an explanation on how to score points from each type of point card.

Should two players tie for a point card, the player that owns the card scores the victory points.

Each player totals the points they earned from all of their point cards. The player that scores the most total points wins the game. If two players tie, the tied player later in turn order wins the game.

Scoring Examples in Point Salad

Point Salad has a number of different types of scoring cards. Below I will show you all of the different types of scoring cards and will give an example of how to score each type of card.

Combination Cards

This group of point cards in Point Salad score points for acquiring the cards pictured on the card. For each group of the pictured veggies you acquire, you will earn the corresponding number of points.

There are quite a few different point cards of this type. Some require you to collect cards of the same type, while others require you to collect veggies of different types.

Point Card Type

Five Point Combinations Same Veggie

Scoring Example
With this point card you want to acquire pairs of cabbage. This player acquired five cabbages. They have two pairs so they will score ten points from the card.
Point Card Type

Eight Point Combinations Same Veggie

Scoring Example
This player wants to acquire groups of three carrots in order to score eight points. Since they have six carrots, they will score 16 points from the card.
Point Card Type

Five Point Combinations Different Veggies

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This player wants to acquire sets of one carrot and one onion. Since they acquired two sets, they will score ten points from the point card.
Point Card Type

Eight Point Combinations Different Veggies

Scoring Example
For this point card you earn eight points for each combination of onion, pepper, and cabbage you are able to acquire. This player acquired two complete sets so they will score 16 points from the card.
Point Card Type

Points Per Veggie Cards

These Point Salad point cards are based around acquiring veggie cards of the type pictured on the card. If there is a positive number next to the veggie picture, you will score those many points for each of that type of veggie that you have. If there is a negative number next to the veggie picture, you will lose those points for each veggie card of the type that you have.

Point Card Type

2 Point Cards

Scoring Example
This player has four cabbage which scores them eight points.
Point Card Type

1/1 Point Cards

Scoring Example
This card scores the player one point for each lettuce and tomato. They have three lettuce which scores them three points. They will score two points from their tomatoes.
Point Card Type

2/1/-2 Point Cards

Scoring Example in Point Salad
The carrots score ten points. The peppers score two points. Finally the cabbage loses two points.
Point Card Type

3/-2 Point Cards

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This player wants peppers while avoiding cabbage. They score twelve points from their peppers and negative two points for their cabbage.
Point Card Type

3/-1/-1 Point Cards

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This player scores twelve points from their tomatoes. They will lose one point from both their onion and carrot.
Point Card Type

4/-2/-2 Point Cards

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This player scores 16 points from their onions. They will lose two points from their carrot.
Point Card Type

2/2/-4 Point Cards

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This player will score eight points from their lettuce and six points from their carrots. They will lose four points from the onion.
Point Card Type

Even or Odd

These Point Salad cards score points based on the number of veggie cards you have of the corresponding type. If you have an even number, you will score the even number of points. If you have an odd number of the veggie, you will earn the odd number of points.

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This player acquired an even number of onions so they will score seven points from the card.
Point Card Type

Fewest

For this type of point card you are trying to acquire the least of the corresponding type of veggie. The player that has the least of that type of veggie at the end of the game, earns seven points. If there is a tie and one of the tied players holds the card, the tied player receives the points.

Scoring Example in Point Salad
For this card you want the least tomato cards. The player in the bottom right corner only has one tomato so they will receive the seven points.
Point Card Type

Most

For this type of Point Salad point card you want to have the most of the corresponding type of veggie at the end of the game. The player that has the most of the veggie receives 10 points. If there is a tie and one of the tied players holds the card, the tied player receives the points.

Scoring Example in Point Salad
The top player acquired the most peppers with four. They will receive 10 points from the point card.
Point Card Type

Unique Point Cards

For all of the other types of point cards, each veggie has their own version of the card. For the last type of point card, each veggie has its own unique card which scores in its own way.

Most Total Veggies

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This point card rewards the player that acquired the most veggie cards with ten points. The player on the left has the most veggie cards (13) so they will score ten points from the card.

Fewest Total Veggies

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This point card gives seven points to the player with the least total veggie cards. The player on the right has the least veggie cards (9), so they will receive the seven points.

Complete Set

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This point cards scores 12 points for each complete set of all six veggie cards you acquire. This player was only able to get one complete set. Therefore they will score twelve points from the card.

Veggie Type With At Least 2

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This point cards scores three points for each veggie that you have at least two cards of. This player has two cabbage, two peppers, and three lettuce. The card scores nine points.

Veggie Type With At Least 3

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This point card scores three points for each veggie type that you have that has at least three cards. This player has three tomatoes, three cabbage, and four peppers. They score 15 points from the card.

Missing Veggie Type

Scoring Example in Point Salad
This point card scores gives points for each missing veggie type. As this player only has three of the six types of veggies, they will score 15 points from the card.
Components in Point Salad

Point Salad

Year: 2019 | Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group | Designer: Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, Shawn Stankewich | Artist: Dylan Mangini

Genres: Card Drafting, Set Collection

Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 2-6 | Length of Game: 15-30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Moderate | Luck: Light-Moderate

Components: 108 cards, instructions

Where to Purchase: Amazon, eBay Any purchases made through these links (including other products) help keep Geeky Hobbies running. Thank you for your support.

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