Objective of the Game

Welcome to the deliciously strategic world of Point Salad! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to become the ultimate salad chef by collecting the most victory points. You'll be drafting a vibrant mix of veggie cards and clever point cards to create the perfect culinary masterpiece. Outwit your opponents, build the most valuable salad, and claim your title as the Point Salad champion!

Preparation (Setup)

Let's get this salad bar ready! Here’s how to set up your game of Point Salad:

1. Card Count: First, you'll need to adjust the deck based on your player count. Without peeking at the point card backs, count out or remove specific numbers of each of the 6 veggie cards:
   • 2 Players: Count out 6 of each veggie (36 total cards).
   • 3 Players: Count out 9 of each veggie (54 total cards).
   • 4 Players: Remove 6 of each veggie (72 total cards will remain).
   • 5 Players: Remove 3 of each veggie (90 total cards will remain).
   • 6 Players: Use the entire deck (all 108 cards).

   Place any removed cards back in the box so no one sees which point cards were taken out.

2. Shuffle and Stack: Shuffle all the remaining cards thoroughly. Then, create three roughly equal draw piles, making sure the point card sides are face up.
3. Market Fresh: From each of the three draw piles, flip over two cards and place them in a column directly below their respective pile. This creates your fresh veggie market.
4. First Chef: Randomly choose a start player.

Pro Tip: Point Salad is super quick! For a longer game, especially with 2 or 3 players, consider playing multiple rounds. For 2 players, split the deck into 3 equal rounds of 36 cards. For 3 players, split it into 2 equal rounds of 54 cards. This way, you use the full deck and spend less time sorting!

Gameplay

On your turn, you get to draft some delicious cards to build your salad and score points. Here's how it works:

1. Draft Your Cards: You have two main options for drafting:
   • Option 1: Take one point card from the top of any of the three draw piles.
   • Option 2: Take two veggie cards from those available in the veggie market.

   Once you've selected your card(s), add them to your face-up tableau in front of you.

2. Optional Free Action: Once per turn, you can perform a special action! You may choose to flip over any one of your existing point cards (whether you drafted it this turn or on a previous turn) and turn it into a veggie card. Remember, you can't flip a veggie card back into a point card.

3. Refill the Market: After you've drafted your card(s), it's time to restock the veggie market. Draw cards from the corresponding draw piles in each column to fill any empty slots. As cards enter the market, flip them from their point side to their veggie side.
   • If one of the draw piles of point cards runs out, simply split the largest remaining pile roughly in half. Move the bottom half to replace the empty pile, making sure the top point card of the largest pile doesn't move.
4. Next Player: Once the market refill is complete, play continues with the next player to your left.

Note: The type of veggie is always indicated in the corners of the card.

End of Game and Scoring

The game keeps going until all cards from both the point card piles and the veggie market have been drafted. Once that happens, it's time to see who made the best salad!

Scoring

Players will tally their victory points by looking at each of their own point cards and adding up the scores. Here's how it works:

• When you're scoring a point card, your entire tableau of veggie cards is considered. This means each veggie card can be used to score every point card you have!
• You can score a point card multiple times if its condition allows, and you can use the same veggie card to score multiple point cards.
• Tie-breaker for Point Cards: If a point card has a condition like "most onions" and two players are tied for that condition, the player who owns that specific point card scores the victory points.
• Veggies that don't match any scoring conditions on your point cards (like a lone cabbage) don't score any points.

The player with the most points is the winner! If there's a tie in total victory points, the player who played later in the turn order wins.

Tips for Winning

Ready to get strategic with your salad?

1. Balance is Key: Don't just grab every point card you see! Think about the veggies you already have or can easily acquire that will maximize the points from your chosen point cards. Sometimes, taking two veggie cards from the market is better than a single point card if it completes a high-scoring set.
2. Flexibility with Flipping: Remember that optional free action! Being able to flip a point card into a veggie card once per turn is incredibly powerful. If you realize a point card isn't going to score well, or you desperately need a specific veggie to complete another scoring condition, don't hesitate to flip it. It can save a turn and boost your score elsewhere!