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Bad Beets card game review: Eat veggies to win
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Bad Beets is a simple, family friendly game in which players vie to be the first to eat their vegetables. The illustrations and game play are warm and inviting. - photo by Ryan Morgenegg
Bad Beets by Stoneblade Entertainment is a new card game that offers a fast-paced, easy-to-learn system centered around eating or getting rid of vegetables. The first person to have no beets in this bluffing game is the winner.

Each player starts with eight beet tokens, a reminder rules card and two action cards. On a turn, a player decides which action card to keep and which one to pass on to the player on his or her left. Actions consist of eating beets (get rid of one beet), feeding the dog (get rid of three beets), being a tattletale (get rid of four beets if you can guess an opponent's card) and sharing beets with another player (give two beets to another player).

After taking an action, an active player must wait to see if other players would like to react. For example, if a player plays the Feed the Dog card, he or she can get rid of three beets. If another player reacts with a copycat card, he or she can get rid of two beets, even though it's not his or her turn.

A fun, bluffing element of the game comes into play when a player wants to take an action he or she doesnt have the right card for. Players can bluff by stating the card they are playing is something it is not. An opposing player can call the active players bluff. If the player was truthful, the other player gains an additional beet and the card is played. If it was a lie, the player calling the bluff stops the action and gets to get rid of an additional beet.

After actions resolve, it is the end of the turn and play passes to the next player. Advanced rules allow for players to cause opponents to discard a card when eating a beet and ice cream tokens keep track of the rounds won. Three ice cream tokens win the match.

The most impressive part of this game is the components. The rulebook is well written and pleasing to the eye. There are beautiful linen cards; full-color, oversized player aids and 65 double-sided color tokens. Its obvious the publisher wanted to give this game some quality pieces.

Bad Beets is a simple card game with good components. Its a different genre for Stoneblade, which is the publisher of a great fantasy card game called Ascension. Its fun in a simple way. A round lasts about 15 minutes. There is nothing new or spectacular here, but it is a solid, easy-to-play game for families. Check it out.