Борщ (Borscht) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview and Goal of the Game
• Game Contents
• Setup
  • Ingredient Card
  • Recipe Card
• Course of the Game
  • 1. Add an Ingredient to Your Borscht
  • 2. Take 2 Cards
  • 3. Play a Special Ingredient
    • Effects of Special Ingredients
  • 4. Trade Ingredients
• End of the Game and Scoring
• Simpler and More Complex Recipes
• Mini-expansion "Шкварки" (Cracklings)
• Additional Game Modes
  • "Турнір" (Tournament)
  • "Мемо" (Memo)
  • "Загублені інгредієнти" (Lost Ingredients)
  • "Запам'ятай рецепт" (Memorize the Recipe)
  • Mini-games with Ingredients for the Youngest
  • Learn More About Our Country Through Borscht Recipes

Overview and Goal of the Game

At the start of the game you receive a recipe card and collect all the ingredients listed on it, trying at the same time to outpace your competitors! To do this you will have to collect ingredients, trade them at the market, or even take them from other players.

Your goal is to score the most victory points (VP) for your borscht.

Note that to win it is not necessary to always cook your borscht as fast as possible. Different borschts, as well as different game situations, call for different tactics.

• Try to cook the borscht from your recipe faster than the others, but keep an eye on the VP in your opponents' borschts.
• Use additional and special ingredients wisely.

Game Contents

• 185 ingredient cards
• 20 shkvarky cards (cracklings)
• 21 recipe cards
• Rulebook
• Borscht reference book ("Довідник борщів")
• 7 reminder cards

Setup

1. Shuffle the ingredient cards and deal each player 5 cards face down.
2. Lay 8 ingredient cards face up on the table. This is your market.
3. Place the remaining cards face down next to the market as the ingredient deck. Leave space next to the deck for the discard pile.
4. Deal each player 3 recipe cards face down. Each player chooses 1 recipe card and places it face down in front of them, and discards the other 2. Discarded recipe cards are not needed in this game.

Do not show your recipe card to anyone.

Ingredient Card

• A. Cost. This is what the ingredient costs when trading at the market.
• B. Victory points (VP). This is how many points you score for this ingredient in your borscht at the end of the game.
• C. Type. There are 4 types of ingredient cards in the game:
  • Common. They are needed for almost any borscht (there are many of these cards).
  • Rare. They are needed only for some borschts (there are few of these cards).
  • Additional. These ingredients can be added to any borscht to score additional VP, even if they are not in your recipe.
  • Special. Cards with these ingredients are discarded to apply the effects written on them (these cards give no VP).

Recipe Card

• A (А). Recipe name.
• B (Б). Recipe description. A bit of history and facts about this recipe.
• C (В). Level of the cooked borscht: the number of common and rare ingredients in the borscht and the number of VP for them.
• D (Д). Recipe composition. The common and rare ingredients that must be added to cook the borscht according to this recipe.
• G (Г). Images of the main ingredients.

Course of the Game

The player who most recently cooked or ate borscht becomes the first player. Throughout the game, starting with the first player, you take turns clockwise, one turn each. Note that the first player does not change until the end of the game.

On your turn you perform ONE of the four available actions:

1. Add an ingredient to your borscht.
2. Take 2 cards.
3. Play a special ingredient.
4. Trade ingredients.

During your first games we recommend using the reminder cards. One side of the reminder card explains the symbols on the cards and briefly sets out the course of the game and the end-of-game conditions. The other side is the full list of ingredients and their quantities. This information will help you choose a recipe and plan your actions during the game.

1. Add an Ingredient to Your Borscht

Take 1 ingredient card from your hand and add it to your borscht (the play area in front of you).

You may not add several identical ingredients to a borscht (this also applies to "Вінницьке сало", Vinnytsia salo).

2. Take 2 Cards

Take the top 2 cards of the ingredient deck into your hand.

3. Play a Special Ingredient

Choose 1 special ingredient card from your hand and apply its effect. Then place the card in the discard pile.

Special ingredient cards show no VP, because they cannot be added to a borscht.

Effects of Special Ingredients

• Перець вогник (Hot Pepper). Choose a player and name an ingredient in his borscht. You may take that ingredient's card into your own borscht, or force the player to discard it. The chosen player may cancel this effect by discarding a "Сметана" (Sour Cream) card from his hand.
• Чорний перець (Black Pepper). Choose one of the effects (discard 1 ingredient card of your choice from the borscht of each opponent OR take 1 ingredient card from the hand of each opponent) and apply it to each player, starting with the player to your left. Each player may cancel the effect against himself by discarding a "Сметана" card from his hand.
• Сметана (Sour Cream). When the effects of "Перець вогник" or "Чорний перець" cards are used against you, you may discard a "Сметана" card to cancel the effects.
• Імбир (Ginger). Take any 2 ingredient cards from the market into your hand for free. Then refill the market with 2 cards from the ingredient deck.
• Кориця (Cinnamon). Look through the discard pile without changing the order of the cards in it. Then take any 1 ingredient card into your hand without showing it to the other players. If there are no cards you need in the discard pile, you may return the just-played "Кориця" card to your hand.
• Оливкова олія (Olive Oil). Take the top 5 cards of the ingredient deck and look at them. Choose 2 cards to take into your hand, and return the other 3 to the deck in any order.
• Паприка (Paprika). Discard all cards from the market, take 8 cards from the ingredient deck and lay them out. If you have cards in your hand, you may trade them for market cards according to the rules for trading ingredients (see below). If 3 identical ingredient cards appear on the market, you may refresh the market once more and make a trade.

4. Trade Ingredients

You may trade ingredients from your hand for ingredients from the market:

1. Lay 1 ingredient card from your hand on the market and take from the market 1 or more ingredient cards whose total cost does not exceed (or equals) the cost of the card you laid out.

   OR

2. Lay several cards on the market in order to take only 1 card whose cost does not exceed (or equals) the total cost of the laid-out cards.

After performing this action, discard excess cards or refill the market so that it again has 8 ingredient cards.

Hand limit: the hand limit is 8 cards; any excess cards at the end of your turn must be placed in the discard pile.

If there are 3 or more identical ingredients on the market, the player may replace all the ingredients on the market. This is not considered an action, so if after the refresh there are no ingredients the player needs on the market, he may perform any action.

If the ingredient deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile and form a new deck.

Example 1. Uliana lays the card "Білий буряк" (White Beet, cost: 5) on the market. The market has the cards she needs: "Свинина" (Pork, 2) and "Вітамінний пучок" (Vitamin Bunch, 2). The sum of their costs is 4, i.e. does not exceed the cost of the White Beet, so she takes these 2 cards into her hand. 7 ingredient cards remain on the market, so Uliana adds 1 card there from the ingredient deck. Uliana's turn ends.

Example 2. Nika sees on the market a card she needs, "Мед" (Honey, cost: 6). To buy it, Nika lays on the market the cards "Цибуля" (Onion, 1), "Буряк" (Beet, 2) and "Чорний перець" (Black Pepper, 3). She took 1 ingredient card from the market and laid out 3. So there are now 10 cards on the market, and Nika discards any 2 ingredient cards. Then her turn ends.

Your turn then ends, and the next player to your left takes a turn, and so on.

End of the Game and Scoring

If at the end of your turn you have laid all the required ingredients into your borscht, you must announce this to the other players. Now all the other players each take 1 more turn. After this the game ends. Special card effects cannot be used against the player who was the first to cook his borscht.

Now each player counts the VP he scores for his borscht:

• VP for each ingredient in the borscht. All ingredients count: common, rare and additional.
• VP for the level of the cooked borscht, as indicated on the recipe card. This is the number of ingredient cards from the recipe of the borscht you cooked. Additional ingredient cards are not counted.

Example (Classic Green Borscht): the ingredients Яйця (Eggs) 3, Картопля (Potato) 0, Цибуля (Onion) 1, Буряковий квас (Beet kvass) 3, Морква (Carrot) 0, Корінь селери (Celery root) 1, Сіль (Salt) 1 give 3 + 0 + 1 + 3 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 9 VP. The recipe's level scale reads "4 cards give 3 VP, 5 cards — 4 VP, 7 cards — 7 VP".

You score VP only for those common or rare ingredients that are indicated on the recipe card. If you added to your borscht ingredients that were not in your recipe, you must subtract their VP values from your total VP.

The winner is the player who scored the most victory points for his borscht!

In case of a tie, the tied players count the total cost of the ingredients in their borschts. The one whose ingredients have the greatest cost wins. If there is still a tie, count the number of ingredients. If there is a tie here too, then there is no best among equals!

Simpler and More Complex Recipes

At first glance it may seem that some borschts are cooked easily and quickly, like the classic green borscht, while others are difficult and long, like the lenten borscht with halushky and kvass. You might likewise decide that some borschts give more VP, so winning with them is easier, and vice versa. However, this is not so at all.

The combination of recipes and ingredients in the players' hands, the number of players and their style of play, the "assortment" on the market — all of this creates a unique game every time and demands different strategies. In one game you will manage to finish a small borscht in a flash and win, and in another you will cook a real giant of 14 ingredients for a long time and win without even finishing it.

Play "Борщ", try different approaches and strategies, and discover the game anew each time! And do not forget the "Recipe Reference" — be sure to cook your winning borscht not only in the game but in the kitchen too!

Mini-expansion "Шкварки" (Cracklings)

Shkvarky are various mishaps that happen in the kitchen! The set of cards will add chaos and fun to the game and lengthen the game by roughly 2 times. We recommend playing with the expansion when you have mastered the rules well, have played at least several games and have become experienced borscht cooks.

Depending on how powerful a rumpus you plan to cause in the kitchen, take from 3 to 8 random shkvarky cards. Do not look at these cards!

Prepare the game as usual, and before the first turn shuffle the selected shkvarky cards face down evenly into the supply deck!

Play by the usual rules! When you take a shkvarka, you must lay it face up on the table so that all players see it. You first complete your action and only after that activate the shkvarka's effect.

The effect of shkvarky always has priority over the effects of other cards and over the general rules of the game!

Example 1. Nika takes into her hand 2 cards from the ingredient deck. One of them is the shkvarka "Порвалася торбинка" (The Bag Tore). Nika sets this card aside and instead takes 1 more card from the ingredient deck. After that the effect of this shkvarka activates: all players discard excess cards from their hands until each has 4 cards.

Example 2. Uliana plays the card "Паприка", refreshes the market and takes from the ingredient deck the shkvarka "Згоріла засмажка" (Burnt Frying). Uliana sets this card aside, lays another card on the market in its place and makes a trade at the market if she wishes. After that the shkvarka's effect activates: all players discard the onion and carrot from their borschts.

If it so happens that a shkvarka's effect concerns several players (for example, three players have the same lowest number of VP), then this effect is applied to all such players!

By the duration of their effects, shkvarky are divided into 2 types:

• instant: after a certain action is performed, the card is removed from the game; its effect no longer applies;
• permanent: after a certain action is performed, the card is placed next to the market; its effect lasts until the end of the game.

The names of permanent-effect shkvarky are written in red, so they are easy to tell from instant ones.

If the ingredient deck runs out and you must shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck, do not shuffle shkvarky cards into it. Until the end of the game only the effects of permanent shkvarky will remain in force.

Shkvarky cards shown or mentioned in the rulebook (illustrated examples; card text as legible):

• Згоріла засмажка (Burnt Frying). All players discard the onion and carrot from their borschts.
• Балакучий кухар усе розбазікав (The Chatty Cook Blabbed Everything). All players lay their recipe cards face up and leave them so until the end of the game.
• Санепідемстанція закрила ринок (The Sanitary Inspection Closed the Market). The active player discards 2 ingredients of his choice from the market. From now on the market cannot have more than 6 ingredients.
• Порвалася торбинка (The Bag Tore). All players discard excess cards from their hands until each has 4 cards.

Additional Game Modes

"Турнір" (Tournament)

Players: 2-7 | Age: 8+ | Duration: 1-1.5 hours

If a single game seems too simple a challenge, or the different recipes and the VP for them do not give a sense of balance in the game, try the longer tournament mode.

Take a sheet of paper and make a tournament table with the names of all players. Record the target number of VP to win the tournament, for example 100.

Note that the average number of VP to win a single game is on average 22 to 29. So to reach 100 VP you will most likely have to play 4 games. One game lasts 10-20 minutes, so a tournament to 100 VP will last about an hour.

Play the first game by the usual rules. When it ends, write down each player's VP in the table. Start a new game, play, and add up the results.

The tournament ends when, after the results of a game, at least one of the players scores the target number of VP written in the tournament table (100 in our example) or more. The winner of the tournament is the player with the most VP. In case of a tie, the winner is the player who scored the most VP in the last game. If there is still a tie, the contenders share the victory.

Example table (target 100 VP):

Game	Vika	Maryna	Roma	Sasha
1	22	21	26	17
2	44	44	48	38
3	74	69	69	67
4	101	103	98	92

"Мемо" (Memo)

Players: 2-10 | Age: 5+ | Duration: 3-5 minutes

Select from 9 to 16 pairs of ingredient cards (from 18 to 32 cards respectively). For example, 2 "Картопля" (Potato) cards, 2 "Морква" (Carrot) cards, 2 "Курятина" (Chicken) cards, 2 "Перець вогник" cards, 2 "Часник" (Garlic) cards, and so on. If you wish you can take as many pairs as you like, but too few will make the game excessively easy, and too many difficult.

Shuffle the selected cards well and lay them face down in a square or rectangle. For example, 24 cards are conveniently laid out as a 6 x 4 rectangle.

The youngest borscht cook starts the game. He chooses any 2 cards and turns them face up.

• If the revealed cards are identical, they form a pair. The player who revealed the pair takes these cards and takes another turn, revealing 2 new cards.
• If the revealed cards are different (do not form a pair), the player turns them face down, without changing their positions. Then the next player to the left takes a turn.

The game ends as soon as the players reveal the last pair. The player who collected the most pairs wins.

"Загублені інгредієнти" (Lost Ingredients)

Players: 2-6 | Age: 5+ | Duration: 10-15 minutes

Select all common and rare ingredients, shuffle the resulting deck well and deal each player 5 cards face down. Do not look at them! Place the deck of recipe cards face down in the center of the table.

At the start of a round, reveal the top recipe card. All players look at it for 5 seconds, trying to memorize the ingredients in this recipe. Then the recipe is turned face down, and the players look through the ingredients in their hands and lay out those that, in their opinion, are in the recipe they have just seen.

After that the recipe card is turned face up, and the players check their ingredients:

• each ingredient present in the borscht the players take into their own separate stock;
• each absent one is discarded, and together with it 1 more card from the stock (if any).

At the end of the round everyone draws back up to 5 ingredients in hand (do not look at them). Discard the revealed recipe card, and at the start of the next round reveal a new one.

The game lasts 21 rounds (by the number of recipe cards), but you can adjust its length by taking fewer recipes. If the ingredient deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile and form a new one.

The winner is the player who at the end of the game has the most ingredients in his stock. In case of a tie the contenders share the victory.

"Запам'ятай рецепт" (Memorize the Recipe)

Players: 2-∞ | Age: 5+ | Duration: 2-3 minutes

Select all common and rare ingredients, shuffle them well and lay the ingredients out face up so that they are visible to all players.

Deal each player 1 random recipe card face down. Do not look at them. After the last player receives a recipe card, all players simultaneously reveal their recipes, look through the list of ingredients for exactly 15 seconds and set them aside face down. Now the players try to collect, from memory, the ingredients for their borschts from the common supply.

After that, reveal the recipe cards and check whether you collected everything correctly. The players who correctly collected their borschts win.

Team mode. You can split into teams. Play by the rules described above, except that the recipe is memorized and then collected not by one player but by the whole team.

Mini-games with Ingredients for the Youngest

The cards from the game "Борщ" can also be interesting learning material!

• Take a random ingredient card and ask the child to tell in what other dishes this product is used. Let them imagine and recall the maximum number of dishes. Which dishes do they like? Which not? Into which dishes could this ingredient be added?
• Suggest that the child sort the ingredients — by which need to be cooked and which can be eaten raw; which grow in the ground, which on the ground, and which are not of plant origin at all; by color, by the first letter of the name, and so on.
• Try geometric games, suggesting that the child build the longest row of ingredients of one color, or a square or triangle where one side is of one color (except the corners), or conversely is made of ingredients that never repeat.
• Take 2, 3 or 4 random different ingredients and ask the child in which dishes all these products are found. Add one more new random ingredient and ask the child whether the listed dishes can be cooked with it.

Experiment with the components of "Борщ" and create new play forms of communication for children to develop their imagination, creative abilities and communication skills!

Learn More About Our Country Through Borscht Recipes

Talk with the children about each borscht recipe from different corners of Ukraine. Read their descriptions from the recipe book included with the game. Tell how the recipes reflect the essence of our country's history, the specifics of the regions, what exactly influenced the choice of ingredients and the method of cooking — for example, why in the Lviv region mushrooms are added to borscht, and in Odesa fish, which is incredible to imagine in the central part of the country.