Card Game Review: ‘Vegetable Stock’ from Arcane Wonders

Vegetable Stock from Arcane Wonders is one of the fastest market-changing collection games to be found anywhere. It comes from the Dice Tower Essentials line, where Arcane Wonders has teamed with Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower network to bring indie games into the spotlight. Vegetable Stock from Taiwanese gaming company Good Game and designer Zong-Ger caught their eye, as it will anyone looking for an economy simulation game that can be played in minutes instead of hours.

Fast-paced Collection

Vegetable Stock is reminiscent of classic collecting games like Pit as players seek to corner the market on different commodities. Many games have players pursuing a single collection, but Vegetable Stock encourages a diversified portfolio by having each card contain three vegetables ranging from corn to eggplants and broccoli. These can come in any combination like a pair of eggplants alongside a tomato or three carrots all on one card.

In addition to its wide range of crops, Vegetable Stock stands out in its dynamic market mechanic. At the beginning of the game, random prices on the market cards set up a value for the different crops. For each round of Vegetable Stock, the deck deals out one more vegetable card than the number of players. Players take turns choosing a card, all eventually leaving one behind. Whatever is left behind affects the market, causing prices to go up or, if they get too high, crash down to the bottom value. Play continues for six rounds, at which time the game is over, and players add up the vegetables’ value on the market cards. The most valuable harvest wins!

Strategy with a bit of Luck

Because Vegetable Stock moves so quickly, the key to strategy in play is looking to the near future. Players may want to invest in cheaper crops early on since chances are that a few extra ones will be left behind down the road, increasing their value. The change is so abrupt from five to one in a collapsing market, though, that doing so can be a gamble, especially if other players are keeping an eye on what everyone has and might take a less valuable card as long as they can tank another’s winnings.

Eye-catching Art

Much of the fun in Vegetable Stock is the art. It harkens back to the old “rubber hose” style of cartooning popular in the early days of animation with large-eyed characters complete with bulky boots and white gloves. The deck also has a cartoony sun and tornado for Good Weather and Typhoon cards with special rules for extra cards or preventing markets from crashing.

Strong Replay-ability

Vegetable Stock is a card game for two to six players aged ten and up. Games are very quick, lasting only about ten to fifteen minutes depending on player count and how fast players make their choices. Being such a short game with a bit of a gamble on card choices, Vegetable Stock features high replay-ability with players often eagerly wanting to play another game as soon as one is over.