Grass - a card game for 2 to 6 players, adult theme but fun for teenage years upwards.
The objective is straightforward enough, accumulate $250K quicker than anyone else, this may take 1 hand or as many as 7 or 8 so playing time will vary from 20 to 90 minutes.
Components
104 cards and the rules, you will also need a paper and pen for scoring.
Setting Up
Setting up the game is straightforward, shuffle the deck containing the 104 cards. The rules suggest that for the 1st time through you exclude some cards and these are added back in gradually, though we first ran through with the cards missing we went straight from there to playing with a full complement of cards.
Game Play
The game takes part in rounds, deal 6 cards to each player, play the hand and then total up the stash until one of the players reaches $250K at which point they are declared the winner (or the biggest dope, your choice).
Playing each round is similar to most common card games. Person to the dealers left picks up a card, takes an action, ensures they only have cards left and then play passes on to the next person.
In order to score a player needs to have money in their stash pile. But before you can add peddle cards to your stash pile you need to open your hassle pile with a market open card. Other players may then play hassle cards on you, these stop you trading until you have managed to take the heat off with another card. This fairly well describes the recommended initial game but the game becomes more interesting with the additional cards.
Negotiation allows you to swap 1 card with either one of the other players or with the wasted pile, this can be an excellent way of finding the Heat Off card you need.
The additional cards allow various different options:
- Nirvana Cards - allow you to gain peddle cards from other players stash piles and gain an additional turn.
- Protection Cards - allow you to protect your peddle cards from other players.
- Paranoia Cards - force you to miss one or more turns, make every player pass 1 card to the player on the left and may force you to lose some (or all) of your unprotected peddle cards. Holding these cards at the end of the game costs you an amount of money.
- Skim Cards - allow you to gain peddle cards from other players stash piles or to skim 20% from each unprotected peddle cards at the end of the game.
Scoring occurs after someone plays a Market Close card and involves adding up the money in your stash, reducing it by the largest peddle card and any paranoia cards left in your hand. The banker, if any, also skims 20% and adds that to his total and the person with the most gains an additional $25K.
The Hooks
Obviously the theme of this game has some appeal, it's simple to learn and can easily be played after a few beers with your friends.
Your Tactics
The tactics become apparent quite quickly, but achieving them can often be more luck than judgement:
- Keep your opponents unable to trade using the Heat On cards.
- Protect as much of the money in your stash as you can using the Protection cards.
- Don't get caught with paranoia cards in your hand at the end, these can easily leave you worse off so that you end up with a negative score.
- Leave the Nirvana and Skim cards to the end game, hopefully use them in conjunction with a Close Market card so that you can perform an effective smash and grab at the end.
Conclusion
Great for an hour or two of rowdy fun with a few friends but the elements of luck in drawing the right cards prevent this from being a game one would wish to take seriously. It's in my game collection purely for it's fun aspect and can as easily be played with my non gaming friends as with those who play regularly.
Additional Reviews
Details from Boardgamegeek
