Stew is a card game where you’re collectively making just that.
But can you guess how good it is? (After the Vermin have eaten their share of course)
You and your fellow players take on the role of a farmer collecting items from the garden to make a stew. There are six vermin that want to eat your stew before you do.
Stew Game Play
The 6 vermin cards are laid out on the table and the ingredients are shuffled into a deck.
Players take turns drawing an ingredient from the deck, looking at it and deciding what to do with it.
They can place it face down into a pile called the stew pot, or feed it to a vermin card. If placed on a vermin, it’s placed face down and that particular vermin is now considered fed.
The active player can call out ‘Stew!’ after drawing a card, then play it to end the round. Alternatively, any player can call ‘Stew!’ after a player plays a card but before the next player draws one. This will also end the round.
The player that made the call takes the cards in the Pot and reveals them. Any unfed vermin eat the ingredient if it’s in the Stew Pot as shown on their card. For example, the Fox will eat the Chicken.
Then you score the cards left in the pot with each ingredient scoring differently:
Potatoes are points equal to the number of potatoes in the pot.
Carrots are 2 points each.
Garlic is worth 6 points if there is 1, 1 point each if both are in.
The Leeks are 3 points each.
The Stone is worth -3 points.
The Chicken is worth 5 points. However, if the Vagabond is unfed then a Stew Pot with a Chicken will mean the Vagabond gives you -3. If the Vagabond is unfed AND there is no Chicken in the pot, the vagabond gives you +3 points.
If the value of the Pot is 12 or greater, the player that called Stew! gets 2 points. if they are incorrect, all other players get 1 point. The first to 5 points wins.
Theme
Not sure if it’s deliberate, but it reminds me of the Folk Story about Stone Soup.
Setup
Layout the Vermin and Shuffle the Ingredients… That is all.
Components & Artwork
Cards!
I really don’t like the style of art but it’s functional so can’t complain.
Ease of Teaching
It’s very easy to teach. A player can easily do what they THINK is the best option and call Stew if they feel like it. You can get lucky or pick up points from other players messing up.
Stew Summary
There are a few push your luck games like this and I’d rather go with a game like Coyote than a game like Stew though.
Not to say it’s not enjoyable. I liked knowing that the Chicken is in the Stew and then looking for the feeding status of the Vagabond. Trying to work out what the total might be as cards pile up.
So there is fun to be had, it’s just not as interesting (or fun) as similar games.
Jesta ThaRogue