Abandon All Artichokes - Game Review

Table of Contents

• Game Breakdown
• Abandon All Artichokes - Overview
• How to Play Abandon All Artichokes
• Abandon All Artichokes - Quick Reference
• Abandon All Artichokes - Tips and Tricks
• Abandon All Artichokes - Honest Review

Abandon All Artichokes - Overview

If you’ve ever wanted your own vegetable patch or farm, then Abandon All Artichokes might be the game for you. This game comes in a beautifully designed artichoke-shaped tin.

The goal of this game is quite simple: you need to get rid of all the artichokes in your hand (or prevent other players from getting rid of their artichokes). We’re not sure why the game designers dislike artichokes, but these high-fibre, vitamin C-rich vegetables are certainly evil in this game.

The first player to end their turn with five non-artichoke cards in hand wins the game (note: only at the end of their turn, not during someone else’s turn). To win, simply reveal all cards in your hand at the end of your turn, and as the game name suggests, say out loud “Abandon all Artichokes” (we guess this is probably the first and only time you will ever say these words out loud).

How to Play Abandon All Artichokes

Game Setup

Step 1: Make sure each player has a reference card. These can be useful for remembering each step in your turn, which can be a bit confusing, to be honest.

Step 2: Take all the artichoke cards from the deck and deal 10 to each player. All artichoke cards are the same, so these don’t need to be shuffled beforehand or anything.

Step 3: Shuffle the remaining cards (any vegetables not an artichoke - beetroots, broccoli, corn, carrot, eggplant, leek, onion, capsicums/pepper, peas and potatoes) and place them in the middle of the playing area to form what is called the Garden Stack.

Step 4: Place the top 5 cards from the Garden Stack and place them side by side to form the Garden Row. On the other side of the Garden Stack, leave space for the Community Compost Pile (yep, we know, there is a bit going on here). Basically, your setup in the middle of the table should look like this (from left to right):

• Community Compost Pile (1 Card Wide)
• Garden Stack (1 Card Wide, Cards Upside Down)
• Garden Row (5 Cards Wide, Cards Face Up)

Step 5: Each player fills their hand with 5 cards from their personal deck (these will all be artichokes). At this stage, each player should have 5 artichokes in their hand and 5 in their personal deck.

Step 6: You’re ready to begin. According to the official game rules, the person who last ate a cooked green vegetable goes first, and play continues to the left (clockwise)

Gameplay (Each turn)

The game rules aren’t worded the best, so we have tried our best to make them easier to understand.

Step 1: Replenish the Garden Row

If the garden row has fewer than 5 cards in it, replenish it so it has 5 cards. This can only be done at the start of your turn. Draw from the Garden Stack (upside-down cards). If the garden stack is empty, the rules state that the Garden Row cannot be replenished, so skip this step. If at any time the Garden Row contains 4 or more of the same cards, shuffle the entire row back into the stack and replenish it with 5 new cards.

Step 2: Harvest (take a card)

Take a card from the garden row. Each card has an attached action (see our guide below for the actions). You may play this card if it is in your hand, not your personal deck, at any time during your turn. But, remember, your goal is to try and get to the point where you finish your turn with no artichokes in your hand, so if you play all your action cards, that won’t be possible.

Step 3: Play Cards from your Hand (if allowed)

Only cards with actions can be played (basically not artichokes - unless another card instructs you to do something such as discard an artichoke) You can only play a card if you can fulfil all the requirements listed on the card.

Step 4: Discard (Return Cards to your Personal Discard Pile)

Return all unplayed (or unplayable) cards in your hand face-up onto the top of your Personal Discard Pile.

Step 5: Draw Cards

You now draw cards from your Personal Deck until your hand is filled with 5 cards. If your Deck runs out of cards before you have drawn 5 cards to your hand, then shuffle your Discard pile to create a new deck and finish drawing (note this shuffle step is missing from the TURN GUIDE card). If both your deck and discard pile run out, then you may finish with fewer than 5 cards in your hand.

Step 6: Winning

If you refill your hand at the end of your turn and none of the cards are Artichokes. You win. Reveal your hand and say “Abandon all Artichokes”. If in the middle of your or another player’s turn, you have no Artichokes in your hand, you do not win. It has to be after you draw cards (step 5) to refill your hand.

Abandon All Artichokes - Quick Reference

Taken from the game rules

Card	Description
Artichokes	The most common vegetable. You cannot do anything with an artichoke card unless another card instructs you to do so.
Beet	Choose an opponent. Each of you blindly draws a random card from the other’s hand and reveals it simultaneously. If both are Artichokes, compost them; otherwise, swap them. If you get a non-Artichoke card, you may play it during the same turn. If your opponent ends up with fewer than five cards in their hand after compositing an Artichoke, they do not draw back up to five cards until the end of their next turn.
Broccoli	Compost an Artichoke if your hand has three or more Artichokes.
Corn	Play this card with an Artichoke. Then put a card from the Garden Row on top of your Deck. If you have no Artichokes in your hand, you cannot play this card.
Carrot	As your only play action , compost exactly two Artichokes, along with this card.
Eggplant	Compost an Artichoke, along with this card. Then, all players simultaneously pass two cards (of their choice) face down to the player on their left. If a player has fewer than two cards in their hand, they pass as many as they are able to. You may end up with a different number of cards in your hand than what you started with.
Leek	Reveal the top card of an opponent’s Deck, and put it on top of their Discard Pile or into your hand. If they do not have a Deck, they must shuffle their Discard Pile to make one. If they don’t have a Discard Pile or a Deck, you can’t play this card on them.
Onion	Compost an Artichoke. Put this card on top of another player’s Discard Pile. If you have Artichokes in your hand, you cannot play this card.
Pepper	Put a card from your Discard Pile on top of your Deck. If you do not have any cards in your Discard Pile, you cannot play this card.
Peas	Reveal the top two cards from the Garden Stack. Put one on top of your Discard Pile, the other on top of an opponent’s Discard Pile. If there are no cards left in the Garden Stack, you cannot play this card.
Potato	Reveal the top card on your Deck. If it’s an Artichoke, compost it; otherwise, place it on top of your Discard Pile. If you don’t have a Deck, shuffle your Discard Pile to make one. IF you don’t have a Discard Pile or a Deck, you cannot play this card.

Abandon All Artichokes - Tips and Tricks

• Strategy in this game comes from balancing two things: playing action cards to remove artichokes, and keeping enough vegetable cards to eventually draw a hand without any artichokes.
• We found the rules of this game confusing, to be honest. We recommend watching a game walkthrough video. We used this one:

• Keep a watch on the Garden Row. Sometimes it might be worth picking up cards to have in your deck to use at a later date. Just like in farming, planning ahead is necessary.
• Cards that allow you to remove an Artichoke are super powerful. The fewer artichokes in your deck and discard pile, the higher the chance of drawing a hand without artichokes and winning.
• Don’t be afraid to build your deck early in the game or to do little or nothing when it is your turn to play an action card. It’s a balance between trying to get five vegetables in your hand and removing artichokes.
• Some cards can help you swap cards or pass cards to other players. This can be useful if it looks like your opposition players are getting close to winning.

Abandon All Artichokes - Honest Review

This game caught our eye in the game shop for its beautifully designed artichoke-shaped tin. We thought this would be a great standout on our board game shelf compared to the regular boxes that most games come in. Unfortunately, this was the best part of this board game, and it turned out to be more of a case of don’t judge a board game by its cover. Our biggest gripe with this game is that the rules are complicated and hard to follow for what appears to be a simple card game. It took a lot of reading of the rules and YouTube tutorials to get our heads around the game. This was despite Turn Guide cards for each player and instructions written on each vegetable card. The instructions feel poorly written, and there seem to be obvious flaws that are left unexplained in the game rules, like what happens if a player runs out of cards entirely (do they win because they have no artichokes?)

In terms of gameplay, this game felt highly repetitive and not particularly interesting. There wasn’t, in our opinion, a high level of skill with too much reliance on luck in this game. It sometimes feels like the theme came first and the gameplay was added later. This might be harsh criticism, but that is honestly how we felt. It’s not a game we see ourselves taking off the shelf to play again anytime soon.

To conclude, this game’s best asset is its design; the graphics are cute, and the tin looks nice on your game shelf. Apart from that, it is just an okayish game and unlikely to be on our favourite game shortlist anytime in the future. Your mileage may vary, and you may find you enjoy this game despite our review.