To Bean or Not to Bean
This family card game is all about being the best bean farmer there is. Wheel and deal, trade your cards, negotiate your way to getting what you want. Give this game a try. Everyone who tries it loves it! This German game by Uwe Rosenberg is released by Rio Grande in the United States and is guaranteed to be a hit.
What is Bohnanza?
Bohnanza Game
Amazon Price: $15.76 (as of 09/05/2008)
Players: 2-7
Game Play: 45 minutes - 2 hours+
Ages: Recommended for 12+
Bohnanza is a fantastic game. It's a great family card game where you plant, trade, and harvest beans for gold coins. Yes, I know it kind of sounds strange when it's described like that, but everyone who has played it will say just that. It is guaranteed to make people laugh and scoff with you (or at you?).
This is a completely social game. You could play the 2 person variant, but getting 4 people to play really makes the game interesting. If you can get 7 people to play, you'll be amazed how a simple card game can get so many people excited at the same time.
Anyone can learn to play the game. You start out with two bean fields, which allows you to plant two different types of beans. Stack up cards with the same beans in each of your fields, and keep in mind that you need to have a minimum number of identical beans in each field before they are worth any coins. When you reach the minimum, harvest your beans for gold. The winner is the one with the most gold coins after playing through the draw deck three times.
In each of your turns, you're allowed to plant one or two beans from your hand. But there's a catch. You cannot change the order of cards in your hand! If you're forced to play a bean that does not match any of your existing beans, well, you'll have to prematurely harvest your beans. Sometimes, that means no profit at all! You should have traded the cards in your hand before it became your turn again! It's time to work on your negotiating skills!
So why is this, perhaps, the most perfect family game? Successful negotiation isn't always about a winner and a loser. No one is going to take your deal if they don't get anything out of it. You need to learn when to give a little or take a loss and when to stand your ground and turn down the deal. You need to know when a little niceness is going to pay off in the future. You need to when to reveal what you've got and when to keep silent. Just because you have an MBA doesn't mean some teenager isn't going to outdeal you in this game. With skills and a little bit of luck, anyone can be the winner.
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Rules of the Game
Every bean card has two major bits of information. In the blue circle, we see the number that indicates how many cards of that bean variety are in the deck. Remember, however, that as the game progresses, this number will no longer be accurate when beans are turned into coins.
The red circle shows perhaps the most important information. The number indicates how many beans you need to plant in order to get the number of coins shown. For the Soy Bean, if you harvest 4 Soy Beans, you get 2 coins.
Depending on the number of players, certain bean varieties are removed from the deck. Check the last page of the rules booklet for details. Each player is dealt five cards to start, but do not reorder your cards! You must keep the cards in the order they have been dealt to you. Very briefly, each turn consists for four parts:
- Plant the first bean card in your hand. If you must tear up a bean field to make room, do so now. Collect coins if you are able from that harvest. If you would like, you have the option of planting a second card.
- Flip the top two cards from the draw deck. If the deck runs out, draw the first card and shuffle the discard pile before turning the second card. At this point you can trade or donate bean cards from the two you flipped over or from anywhere in your hand. All players must set aside any cards that were involved in a trade or donation. All trades and donations must involve the player whose turn it is.
- Plant all traded and donated cards. All players must do this if they received cards. It may be necessary to prematurely harvest a bean field.
- Draw three cards from the draw deck. These cards must be added, in order, to the back of the hand. If the deck runs out, the drawing player shuffles.
- The oldest player gets to shuffle to start the game.
- If you are harvesting, you may not harvest the field with only one card if another field has more than one card. However, if all your fields have only one card, you are allowed choice.
- On the final run through of the deck, if the last card is drawn on the draw step, the game ends after trading is completed. If the last card is drawn on the "Draw three" step, the game ends immediately.
11 Bean Varieties and Gold Coin (back of card)
Bohnanza Strategies and Hints
Are you the King of the Beans? What strategy do you employ all the time, and what strategy is a dud? Vote up your favorite strategies, and add your winning strategy. (If you can bear to share it with us!) These are strategies for 3 or more players. The 2 player duel is completely different.
#1
Get a third bean field as soon as possible.
There's nothing like diversification. As soon as you can, buy a third bean field so you can plant extra crops. This reduces pressure to harvest early and allows you more flexibility in trades because more cards will interest you. However, the farther into the game you are, the less useful the third bean field will be because there will be fewer turn left!0 points
#2
Trade all the cards in your hand.
For some people, this just works. One of the toughest parts of the game is being forced to prematurely harvest one of your fields because you must plant the next card in your hand. If you didn't have cards in your hand, you wouldn't need to do this. Also, all this card turnover can also help you quickly get into bean varieties other people are not in. They will trade them all to you.0 points
#3
Count cards. Know what beans are in the draw pile.
As game play continues and people harvest their beans, gold coins are paid out from the harvested cards. That means, fewer of that bean variety will be left, and you can no longer rely on the number stated on the card. If a large harvest has just taken place, those cards now in the discard pile will not come back into play until the current draw pile is depleted and everything reshuffled.0 points
#4
Know how many turns are left in the game.
Each turn takes five cards from the draw deck, two flipped over and three put into the hand. This means that on the third round through the draw deck, which is much smaller at this point, you may not get that one last turn to let you plant. When the game ends, only the beans you can harvest immediately will count towards your gold so make sure you trade and plant all the beans you can before the end of the game!0 points
The Fan Edition
Rio Grande Games Bohnanza Fan Edition
Same rules but only up to 5 players can play at once. The cards have bean art submitted by the biggest fans of Bohnanza from around the world.
Amazon Price: $14.19 (as of 09/05/2008)
House Rules
Sometimes the real rules are just too strict. What are your favorite house rules? And if you haven't played with these variations yet, give it a shot next time. Vote for your favorite house rule, and add your rules to the list.
#1
Cards can be traded more than once.
During the trade portion of the turn, ignore the rule that states "cards may not be further traded or donated." This way, it is possible to organize 3-way trades or even bigger trades! More people can get what they want, but I must warn you that each turn can get extremely long.0 points
#2
Cards can be traded back to the original owner.
If you allow cards to be traded more than once, it is possible to trade the active player a card in your own hand with the stipulation that you can get that card back. Perhaps you pay with another bean card for this service. In essence, it allows you to plant a bean from the middle of your hand immediately on someone else's turn.0 points
#3
Trade options.
What if you really want that card on the table but have nothing to trade? Offer an option. In return for getting that card, the other player will get first dibs on the two cards you flip over on your next turn.0 points
#4
Pay out gold from unused game cards first.
Depending on the number of players, different bean varieties will be removed from the game. When the first few players harvest, instead of taking coins from that bean variety, pay out from the beans set aside. This lets the deck remain larger for longer, and you won't have to start counting cards until later.0 points
Bohnanza Links
- Bohnanza at Board Game Geek
- A great place for all things Bohnanza. Check out the forum, photos, discussion, eBay, downloads, and more.
High Bohn Plus Expansion
high bohn plus bohnanza expansion card game
Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 09/05/2008)
From the publisher Rio Grande:
This expansion contains new game variants and two new bean types, the Cognac bean and the Field bean. With High Bohn, the players may spend their thalers on buildings located in Virginia City. These building have attributes that give the players new tactics for winning. The Plus part of this expansion adds order cards which allow players to earn extra thalers when they can fill very specific orders.
Take a peek at the full rules here.
Bohnaparte Expansion
bohnaparte bohnanza expansion family card game
Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 09/05/2008)
From the publisher Rio Grande:
Unrest in Beanland. Bean princes in all parts of the land are trying to conquer foreign villages and cities. They use the profits from their bean sales to finance their attacks. At the end of the game, bean thalers have no value. Instead, players only score the lands they control as victory points. Thus, the most powerful bean prince is crowned Bohnaparte of Beanland.A new and exciting expansion for the great BOHNANZA game!
Take a peek at the full rules here.
Get the Bohnanza Bundle
Bohnanza Card Game Bundle by Rio Grande
Jump into the bean game with both feet! Get Bohnanza and both expansions for this low bundle price.
Amazon Price: $35.00 (as of 09/05/2008)
Bohnanza Inspired Games
Rio Grande Games SpaceBeans
This game is the successor to the popular Bohnanza but is a lot simpler and has less player interaction. Players attempt to harvest 30 "space" beans to win the game. This is accomplished by having 1 public and 1 secret beanfield.
Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 09/05/2008)
Bean Trader
In Bean Trader, the players take the roles of bean traders and are members of the famous Bohn Hansa, the union of northern European cities and merchants involved in the bean trade in the middle ages. The players travel from Hanse city to Hanse city in wagons filled valuable beans to deliver bean orders and to buy more beans.
Amazon Price: $24.02 (as of 09/05/2008)
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Are you a winning bean farmer?
Does your family enjoy this game? What's your winning strategy? Share your thoughts here! Also, you can rate this lens at The Isle of Squid or even submit your own lens there.
