Cockroach Poker series continues with bidding board game about grasshoppers

The next entry in the insect themed card game series, Cockroach Poker, has been released at Essen Spiel 2021.

Called Grasshopper Poker, the latest release in the party board game series has players attempting to protect their precious gardens from a horde of ravenous grasshoppers. Each turn, players will bid to cultivate the most sumptuous vegetables within their gardens whilst hoping to avoid any hopping grasshoppers plotting their invasion.

At the start of the game, every player gets a hand of cards numbered from one to six along with an ace and x card. Three cards from the vegetable deck are revealed, which players will then bid upon using their hand of cards. Once players have chosen their card they reveal them simultaneously and resolve the results. Whoever played the highest numbered card gets to choose a card type and take all the cards of that type, before the player who laid the next highest card goes and so on until all the cards are gone. However, players that use the same numbered card are cancelled out, leaving the vegetable cards to the next highest number.

Should a player use their ace card then they’ll be able to take all of the vegetable cards on offer, regardless of type. If a player uses an x card when another player has laid down their ace then they get to steal all the cards on offer. However, if no-one has used an ace that turn then all x cards are nullified and those players get nothing. Players who have vegetable cards can organise them by type within their gardens and earn points whenever they collect three of the same type.

Grasshopper cards will also appear in the vegetable line-up and can be collected by unfortunate players who are last to take cards. If a player acquires three or more grasshoppers, then they are forced to discard all the vegetable cards in their garden and must start again. Whichever player collects the most vegetable cards after eight turns earns a point chip, with the eventual winner being whoever earns the most point chips by the end of the game.

Grasshopper Poker was designed by Jacques Zeimet, the creator of Cockroach Poker and other kids board games such as Ghost Blitz and Cockroach Salad.

Drei Magier Spiele is the publisher responsible for releasing Grasshopper Poker, alongside the other entries in the Drei Magier Spiele Ugly Animals series and family board games such as The Magic Labyrinth - a tabletop title that sees players trying to collect magic items for a magician - and Spooky Stairs.

Grasshopper Poker is available now at a retail price of €11 ($12/£9).