I am an avid collector of strange and unusual games. Once I saw the "Weed" Card Game by Kheper Games, I had to have it for my collection.

The object of the card game is simple; grow the most plants in your garden. The rules are also simple, and I honestly believe my eight-year-old could understand this game.

The playing begins by shuffling the cards and dealing each player five cards face down. The rest of the deck is placed face down in the center of the players. Make sure that you have enough room in front of you, so that you can plant your "garden," or cards. You only have to follow one rule when planting your "garden," and that is you can not have any more than five cards in it at any given time.

You can choose who goes first and then take turns clockwise or counter-clockwise, your choice. To avoid arguments (we are adults so there really shouldn't be any) you can just do what I do when I play games with the kids; the youngest goes first, and then move clockwise for each turn. When it is your turn, you simply pick up a card from the deck in the middle. The next thing you need to do is either play or discard one card from your hand. If the deck happens to run out, continue playing without drawing any cards. If you cannot play, then you have to discard a card from your hand.

The round ends when a player "plants" five plant cards in their garden or when all the players have run out of cards. You then tally or add the number of pot plants in each garden to each player's score. You keep playing rounds until at least one player reaches 50 points. The player with the highest score is the winner. If there is a tie, just continue for another round.

The nice thing about card games is that you can easily change the rules to what suits you. Instead of playing to 50 points, you can make the game go longer by setting the goal at 300 points. You can also reshuffle all of the discards to keep the middle deck in play a little longer. Once the deck in the middle can no longer be reshuffled, you can continue on like the original rules stated.

There are 54 playing cards in the game "Weed", and also included are the Rules of Play and two Rules of Card Value Cards. Speaking of card values, there are seven different categories of cards and they are as follows;

1) Plant Cards (only 10 one-plant cards, 10 two-plant cards, 6 three-plant cards, 3 four-plant cards, and 1 six-plant cards)- These cards have one, two, three, four, or six pot plants pictured on them. You play a Plant Card by setting it in your "garden". When someone plants a dandelion card in your garden and you have five cards in your garden, you must first kill the dandelion with weed killer before adding another plant card. The round ends after one player has five cards in their garden.

2) Dandelion Card (only 5 cards in the deck)- This card can be placed in any garden of your choice. A dandelion card in someone's garden blocks them from having five plant cards, thus leaving them unable to end the round.

3) Weed Killer Card (only 5 cards in the deck)- You use this card to remove a dandelion card from your garden. After playing the Weed Killer Card, discard it with the dandelion card from your garden. Weed Killer Cards can also be used to remove a dandelion from another person's garden, but why would anyone want to do that?

4) Hippie Card (only 3 cards in the deck)- You can place a Hippie Card in the garden of your choosing, but it has to go on top of the lowest Plant Card Value. If by chance the player has two equally low cards, you can only choose one of them to place the Hippie on. The Hippie's mission is that he smokes the plants on the card, then both cards are discarded.

5) Steal Card (only 5 cards in the deck)- You place the Steal Card next to the garden of your choice, which informs that player of what you are going to do. Next, you can select any of their plant cards to transfer to your garden. You then discard the steal card. The only rule to playing this card is that you are NOT allowed to play it if you already have five plants in your garden.

6) Busted Card (only 2 cards in the deck)- You can bust another player by placing the card next to their garden. You can then confiscate his or her highest Plant card and discard it. Leave the Busted card next to his or her garden so he or she can discard it instead of taking their next turn.

7) Potzilla Card (only 1 Card in the deck)- He wipes out everything in someone's garden. You place this card on someone's garden and then proceed to take all of their pot plants. You discard all of their plants and the Potzilla card.

You are not allowed to trade cards with other players, except when someone decides to use their turn to kill a dandelion in another player's garden.

The cards are of a higher quality than I expected; they are the same as a standard deck of playing cards. They have held up well to multiple uses and the "bridge" shuffle. The cards have cute cartoon-like designs on them, and the back of each card is lime green with the word "Weed" written on it in white.

The box is also like a standard deck of playing cards, with the exception of the pot leaf on the front. Above the pot leaf is the saying "Unleash Your Inner Hippie with Weed!" Underneath the pot leaf it states that this is " A Novelty Card Game That Explores the Fine Art of Growing Pot Plants". The back of the box shows small picture examples of some of the cards. It has a small blurb about the object of the game. This game is recommended for 2-4 adult players, so if you want more players you will probably need to buy another deck. There is a disclaimer at the bottom of the box, which I found humorous. It states that the "game is for fun and not meant to encourage drug use. Be smart and don't smoke pot. It's illegal for a reason."

There was no special packaging for this card game. It came sealed in plastic shrink-wrap. You just peel it open like a pack of cigarettes to remove the plastic wrap. You would store this like any other deck of cards. The box is not discreet, but I really see no problems letting anyone see it. It is a card game and not something that I would feel embarrassed about. My kids have even seen this and played it.

Now, before everyone goes off on how bad of a parent I am because my kids have played this, let me say this: It is a great "ice-breaker" if you want to do that dreaded "Say No To Drugs" lecture. It makes the kids seem more at ease and willing to put their guard down during the discussion. I was surprised as to how comfortable we all felt being able to talk about the subject. Also, the game is easy and fun. I enjoyed adding this game to our collection. This is one that will keep getting played for years to come.