Bohnanza
2-7
13+
45
This great card game is about planting, trading, and selling beans - 11 kinds of beans (this English version includes all the cards from the original game and the first expansion). Players try to collect large sets of beans to sell for gold. There is limited growing space and always new beans to plant. To avoid planting unwanted beans, players trade them to other players who want them for their bean fields.
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As a strategic board gamer, I love long, involved, and intense games. However, it can be hard to get friends together or make time for those lengthy gaming sessions. This is where Bohnanza, an early work of famed game author Uwe Rosenburg (Agricola) comes in. The game takes about 5 minutes to teach, and last between 30-40 minutes. I have personally played this game about 15 times.
This game of “bean economics” has two major elements: set collection and dynamic social trading. The overall point of the game is to collect sets of beans, then exchange them for coins (Victory Points) at the appropiate times. Sets of beans are generally worth between 1 and 4 coins, depending on how many of the beans you have collected.
Here is a quick overview of a turn in the game:
First, you *must* plant the first (and can optionally plant the second) card in your hand. Your planning is hindered because you can’t change the order of the cards in your hand. On top of that, you can only collect two sets at a time (expandable to a third), thematically handled as your available “bean fields”. If forced to plant a new kind of bean in one of your fields, you must sell the beans you have collected thus far. Even if it nets you zero points.
Second, you draw two cards and place them face up in front of you. You must either plant them in your own fields, or trade them away to other players. You may also trade card from your hand, clearing out the cards you don’t want in hopes of collecting the beans you are working on. This is the main focus of the game, as trading is the main component of the game and the key to victory.
Finally, you add a few cards to the back of your hand depending on the number of players in the game.
There are several things that make this game interesting play after play.
First is the differing value of beans. It takes a few plays to really grasp the value of the beans, but over time you’ll find yourself agonizing a bit over which beans to plant.
Second is the social dynamic that comes up between the player themselves. The trading is left open, so alliances, future trades, and backdoor deals happen naturally over the course of a few games. For me, this adds a huge fun factor to the game. The social aspect makes the game different with each group of people.
Third are some of the minor intelligent design aspects of the game.
a. The game ends when the deck had been completely drawn three times. It seems slow through the first run, but as beans are sold and become coins the deck thins and suddenly there is a rush to the finish.
b. As the beans themselves become coins (the back of the cards is a picture fo a coin), groups of beans are permanently taken from the deck, changing the value of beans during each game.
c. The beans themselves have simple, but memorable names. Each group of people I played with have their own nicknames for the cards.
Overall, this a must-have for anyone that likes games you can play with anyone. It is a perfect game for “non-gamers”, fun to play drunk, and generic enough to not scare anyone away.
Bohnanza is fun, light, trading game, that is easy to learn, and fun to play, especially for those gregarious people who enjoy haggling and bartering.
The Mechanics:
In Bohnanza, players attempt to plant and harvest beans to gain profit. Players may always plant the first bean in their hand (the order of which cannot be changed), and have the option of planting the 2nd. They must then proceed to flip over two bean cards which must either be planted (In one of their two beans fields) or traded away to other players.
The Fun & Jollification:
The suspense of the card flip always keeps the game intriguing. When a popular bean is flipped, players often jump into action proposing trades for the current player. It’s a lot of fun to low-ball and haggle back and forth, as well as playing hard-ball when you know the other person is desperate. I suppose a fair trade can be rewarding too ;). The social interaction really gives this game its charm. If you’re not up for table-talking, laughing, and bartering, you’re not going to win.
Potential Cons & Irritations:
This game definitely has an element of luck, which for some people is a downside. There is however a lot of pre-planning type strategizing involved, which can be fun. Sometimes the overly zealous players can become annoying whilst trying to constantly manipulate and dissuade others from trading with you, but this of course is dependant on who you’re playing with.
Overall:
You have to be in a gregarious mood, but if you are: GREAT game! An excellent blend of strategy, luck, and social interaction. I highly recommend Bohnanza.
Let me first say that I am partial to card based games. For some reason I happen to really enjoy games that use cards. I like this game because it’s easy to learn, it plays rather quickly, and the game changes in subtle and refreshing ways depending on how many people are playing.
In Bohnanza (my family affectionately nicknamed this game “Beano.”), you are a bean farmer – and joking about beans is definitely allowed. There are various beans you can plant, and you start the game with two bean fields. You plant beans from your hand, and you get coins (represented on the back of all of the bean cards) for planting a certain number of any particular bean.
The person with the most coins at the end of the game wins.
The game ends when the draw pile has been depleted three times.
Back to the beans…planting beans sounds easy, right? Well, there are a couple rules to follow. First, you can’t rearrange the beans you hold in your hand – you must play them in the order you receive them. That means you may have to trade cards out of your hand to get the beans you want to plant into the front of your hand. Trading is a very necessary and fun part of this game. And here’s the thing about trading – any card involved in a transaction needs to be planted before the turn is over. For you and anyone else that received a card. What if you don’t want it because you’re going for other beans? Unfortunately, you’ll need to harvest one of your bean fields. Or perhaps not! You can also choose to purchase a third bean field for three of your hard earned coins.
Not all beans are created equal. There are some beans that are prevalent, and some that are not. For instance, there are 24 coffee beans, but there are only 8 red beans. How many beans do you need to plant to get coins? Every single card tells you. For example, to get 4 coins in the coffee beans, you need to collect 12 of them. But for the red bean, you only need 5 to get your 4 coins. That is how the game keeps itself balanced. Yes, there are cards in the deck that are less common than others, but you don’t need to collect tons of them to get your coins. The maximum coinage per bean field is 4, no matter what bean you plant, and the general rule of thumb is that collecting half of the amount of a given bean will give you 4 coins, but there are exceptions. And if you don’t want to try to get 4 coins, then you can collect less and get 1, 2 or 3 coins, depending on how many you collected.
Component-wise, I think this game does a great job. The artwork is fun to look at (new players tend to laugh at it) and it gives you the information you need to know very simply. The cards are also very well made. (Side note – and mini rant – anyone who makes card games out of anything less than what’s used to make a standard deck of cards is totally ridiculous – make them sturdy enough to be handled, passed, shuffled and tossed without getting sticky/warped/bent/dog eared. Anything less tells me you’re cutting corners to save money, and that makes me sad…especially when you charge my hard earned money for something done halfheartedly.)
Anyway, the cards are made to be passed, shuffled, traded, and handled. I’ve played probably 40 games with my own game and they’re still in great shape.
I like this game because it’s lighthearted and a bit silly – once you see the artwork on the cards you’ll know what I mean. The Lightheartedness allows for some interaction between players that is not necessarily related to the game. It allows relationships to grow, if that’s something you want. Personally, that’s why I like to play games. Bohnanza is also nice because it plays well with different groups. When I play it with my family, the trading and bartering sounds more like a game of “Pit.” But when I play with my gamer friends, there is more calculation and counting cards and strategic maneuvering. I like games that allow for that flexibility. And with either group, the game lasts between 30 and 45 minutes, depending on how heated negotiating gets and how much trading there is.
Finally, I would recommend this game to just about anyone, except for power gamers. They will probably find it too simple and silly. For everyone else, give it a shot! While many games cost $50, you can find this one for under $20, and it has good replay value. I think you’ll find it’ll be quite a nice addition to your gaming collection!
Bohnanza is a bean trading game where you have a hand full of bean cards, two plots of soil in front of you, and you try to plant as many of the same type of bean as you can before uprooting the plot. You can trade beans with other players, and sometimes giving away a bean to another player is in your best interest!
Some of the unique twists in Bohnanza is that you are NOT allowed to organize the cards in your hand. When you draw more cards, they are added to the back of your hand. On your turn, you start by playing the first bean in your hand onto a plot, and optionally the second bean in your hand. Then you flip over the top three bean cards, which you can either plant yourself or trade away/with other players. Players can trade with what’s in their hand and/or among the beans in play, but only with the active player. All traded beans, no matter where they came from, must be immediately played, and any revealed beans that the active player does not trade away, whether by choice or because nobody wanted them, must be played by that active player.
At any time during the game, you may uproot one of your bean plots, and depending on which bean type you uprooted, you’ll get so much gold for having at least the specified number of beans. For example, a red bean will give you 1 coin for 2 beans, and up to 4 coins for 5 beans whereas a soy bean will give you 1 coin for 2 beans, but only 4 coins for 7 beans. There are also a different number of total cards for each bean, so red beans are rarer than soy beans. You may be forced to uproot one of your bean piles if you’re forced to play a bean that you haven’t already played, and you don’t have any available plots to plant in. Additionally, the game ends after going through the deck 3 times, and gold is acquired by flipping over that many bean cards and keeping them. So if there are 8 red beans in the deck, and you trade in 5 of them for 4 coins, then for the rest of the game there are only 3 red beans left, making them even rarer. You are allowed to purchase a third bean plot later in the game for 3 coin.
The components are excellent. All you use are cards, and the cards have great and amusing artwork on them. They also include very clearly and concisely the value of the bean type and how many of those beans there are in the deck. The box has an insert to hold all of the cards so they don’t fall around inside the box, and at the same time keeping the box to a small size. 5/5 for components.
The rules for the game are short, concise, and easy to understand. I love them. The only part I strongly dislike is that there are certain beans you play with or remove from the deck based on the number of players. This definitely helps balance gameplay which is great, but these little nuances in the rules based on player number as well as the annoyance of having to go through the entire deck to remove certain cards can be annoying. Rules are 4/5.
Gameplay is surprisingly fun. I never thought I would have so much fun trading beans, or even giving away beans when I desperately didn’t want them. The game is simple, short, but fun and keeps all players actively engaged even when it isn’t their turn due to the trading aspect. 5/5.
I would definitely recommend this game for nearly anybody who enjoys games. It is great from family, social, and casual gamers with its simplicity and player interaction, but also for strategy and avid players because it also requires planning and forethought into hand management and negotiation to get what you need on your side of the board, as well as to get rid of what you don’t want from your hand! Hardcore power gamers might not find much in this game, unless if they enjoy the occasional simple, fun game.
If you’ve ever played Settlers of Catan, you’ve no doubt been frustrated by the constant “2 brick for wood?” No. “2 sheep for wood?” No. Etc. Etc. The game is highly dependent on trading to succeed, but more often than not, there’s clearly one player who will benefit far more than the rest.
Bohnanza is primarily a trading game that makes trading not only fun, but integral.
Each player has only 2 Bean Fields. At the beginning of his turn, the player MUST plant the first Bean card in his hand (you cannot modify the order of the cards in your hand, which is a cool mechanic). If you only have 2 bean fields, this can be a problem. Then, you draw 2 bean cards from the deck. Guess what? If you cannot trade those away, you must plant them.
Players score points by planting a bean and then placing similar beans on top of it. Your score increases based on the type of bean and the number of beans planted. For example, if you can plant 5 of Bean A, you’ll get 2 Points. If you plant 7, you’ll get 3 points. So, you really want to not have to uproot these fields!
Here’s where trading comes in. It’s to the benefit of all players to trade. Sometimes you give, sometimes you take. Ultimately, playing the probability correctly (which isn’t too hard), being a good (or savvy) bean trader, and knowing when to harvest and when to plant is key.
The game is really simple and plays with up to 7 players in about an hour. With fewer players, the game plays more quickly. I’m a big fan of Bohnanza and think it’s definitely worth a look!
The name of this game is obviously a pun: “Bohnanza” is made of two words: “Bohn” (German: “bean”) and of course “bonanza” – a gold-abundant ground. The designer of Bohnanza was Uwe Rosenberg, yes, the same who invented Agricola a few years later. In fact it was the success of the first game about farming that made Rosenberg invent another and more complex one.
In Bohnanza players are farmers who decided to plant, harvest and trade various kinds of bean. Some of the bean species are rare and costly, some other are common and cheap so their larger amount should be accumulated to bring its owner a reward. Players starts with two “bean fields” (they may each buy a third one later on) and the tweak is that only one kind of bean may grow on a single field. This forces the players to continuously trade and haggle with each other either to obtain a desired bean card or to get rid of an unwanted one.
The mechanics of the game is quite simple as long as one important rule is kept in mind: the order of cards in players’ hands does matter. Under normal circumstances cards in hand form a “first in / first out” queue, so the players have to play their oldest cards first (trading may change it). The rules nicely blend resource management (including hand management) open-market trading (no fixed prices for bean trading among players) and limited market environment (fixed prices after harvesting a field).
Bohnanza has a lot of expansions that are worth trying when all the players got used to the rules of the basic game. Personally I recommend the Mutabohn expansion most.
Oh, and one more thing: playing this game in a big group can be a big fun but all the players have to enjoy haggling. For those who don’t like bargain sessions Bohnanza can be simply annoying.
Okay, usually when I buy a game by Uwe Rosenberg, I expect, no, DEMAND sheep. So I was quite disappointed by this one with its very distinctive non-sheepiness. Pushing this aside has revealed quite a gem, though, and I am willing to forgive this egregious oversight.
First off, this game is about beans. Yep, almost every kind of bean makes an appearance in cute, anthropomorphic form performing what are meant to be comical charades of their names. It works good. The cards are indeed funny, and the artwork fits the light mood of the game.
The rules are well-presented and easy to understand. New players will easily pick up the nuances of the game, and the combination of hand-management and trading is quite fun.
However, some things mar this otherwise fun experience aside from the lack of sheep. First off, a major part of the game has to do with keeping your hands in the order they were dealt. In practice this has turned out to be fairly trouble free, but my younger children always have trouble with this, to the point where we now use the card holders from T2R Asia in our games. They should be included in the box.
Also, if players have trouble making decisions, the game can last for a very long time, not really congruent with the theme or the light flavor of strategy this game offers. In fact, we normally play the game contrary to the rules by limiting play to one pass through the deck rather than three. However, this game strangely becomes faster with more player, at least in my experience.
If you enjoy beans, games, cards, boxes, gardens or garden gnomes you should try out this game. Even without sheep, it has my highest recommendation as a fun card strategy game.
Bohnanza is a bit of a weird game. Of course, I don’t need to tell you that. A game about trading and farming beans is pretty obviously weird.
When I teach Bohnanza, there are a number of strange little rules that throw new players off. You can’t rearrange your hand! The order matters. New cards go in at the back, you play the cards from the front… but when you trade, the cards can come from anywhere. On your turn, you have to play the first card out of your hand… but you can play two. You start with only two bean fields. It’s okay, though: you can harvest at any time, but if one of your bean fields only has one card…
Their eyes glaze over. They’ve never seen such a fiddly game. “I just want to put the different bean types all together like any reasonable card game!!” they say.
But soon, they see what’s going on.
The fixed hand order, the forced planting, the limited space. These strange restrictions breed perhaps my favorite trading game of all time. When the tidal forces of these restrictions meet the vagaries of the bean deck… well, sometimes you draw the most valuable bean in the game… but it’s going to cost you huge if you don’t give it away for free. Or worse.
And somehow, the games are always tight. I’ve played this hundreds of times and I don’t think I’ve ever won by more than 4 points. Sure, introverted players are at a disadvantage, but I’ve found that even the most reserved players get into it. They learn that you have to get in there and make offers. You have to become the Gordon Gecko of beans.
But it’s a social game, too. I’ve gotten handily beaten when pushing a little too hard for value in a trade turned the whole table against me.
There’s so much depth here, hidden behind a tiny deck with ridiculous illustrations and a few oddball rules. But in the decade since I became an “avid gamer”, there are very few games in my collection that have seen as much consistent play, year after year, as Bohnanza.
Each player is a farmer and the crop of choice is beans – 17 varieties of them. To play this game, you’ll need a total of 2-7 people to compete in the high-stakes profession of bean farming.
Each player is dealt 5 cards. At no point during the game can you rearrange the cards in your hand. The coin to bean ratio is on the bottom of each card. Also given are the number of each variety of that bean in the deck, which can be helpful for all of you who like to count cards (like myself).
You have two imaginary bean fields that you can plant your beans in, but only one variety of bean can be planted in each. When it’s your turn, you play the first bean card in your hand, plus your second card if you wish. You then turn over 2 cards from the deck for everyone to see. You use these, along with the bean cards in your hand, to trade and barter with your fellow farmers.
When all trading is done, you have to plant all the cards you gained or couldn’t trade. Everyone you traded with also has to plant the cards they gained. Since you are forced to plant these cards you may have to dig up one or more of your bean fields. Once everyone is settled, you draw 3 cards from the deck that go in the back in of your hand (remember you have to keep them in order). It’s now the next player’s turn.
Once you have enough beans to cash in, you dig them up and collect your pay. Once you have enough money, you can add a third bean field, which is extremely helpful. Once the deck runs out, you then reshuffle all the used and dug up bean cards and create a new deck. You do this up to 2 times depending on how many players there are. At the end of the game, everyone counts their coins and whoever is the richest farmer is the king, or queen, of beans.
What do I like about this game?
Personally I love the trading aspect of it. My family can get into some very lively trade deals and that makes for some interesting game nights. I especially enjoy trying to pull off some obscure trades. But hey, that’s why I’m the Supreme World Leader of Bean Farmers.
What don’t I like about this game?
It’s tough to play with someone that isn’t completely invested in the trading aspect. Also, patience is a must since some people take longer to make deals than others. But these are minor things and are more related to your fellow players than the game itself.
All in all, this game is fun to play and depending on how many people are playing, it’s a good hour of gaming entertainment.
Check out our video review: Gettin’ Higgy with Bohnanza
Bohnanza is a card game for two to seven players. It’s relatively fast and easy to learn (with a few quirks that I’ll note below), and has a lot of replay value.
Players collect different types of beans and try to plant them (the more of the same type in the “fields,” the better). Harvesting beans yields gold, and the player with the most gold at the end wins!
Players can trade beans to get rid of the varieties they don’t want in exchange for beans that will help them out. While this is my favorite part of the game, it can get pretty chaotic and even ruthless.
It’s worth noting that a few of the rules (like keeping your hand of cards in the order drawn) can take some time to grasp for new players.
What I like
Bohnanza thrives on player interaction. An introverted player might not get into the game as much as someone who is more at ease with haggling. I love the haggling part, but I realize that it might make or break the game for some.
I also love how the game’s bean farming theme is presented. It’s whimsical, sure, but doesn’t feel too tacked on.
What I don’t like
The group dynamic really affects gameplay. I guess that’s the case for most games, but it seems like it’s especially true for Bohnanza. Even having one belligerent or especially shy player in four-player game can make it drag.
Playing the game with the ends of the player spectrum (two or seven players) tends to introduce some changes that make the game wobble, too. I think four or five players works best, though the can be fun with any number.
Closing thoughts
I enjoy Bohnanza a lot, and think it’s a great gateway game in some ways. It’s relatively light, quick and has a surprisingly fun theme. The dynamic of your gaming group can impact how fun it might be, so that’s worth considering if you’re on the fence.
First impression:
My play group was getting a bit bigger throughout the year. And as it turns out, they did not want to split into groups on game nights. I wanted something that that can support many players at the same time still has some depth. I was also looking for something that didn’t have any player elimination, because dying off quickly in Bang! becomes lonely.
Game summary:
Players act out as bean farmers that collect large sets of beans to plant, trade and harvest for money. Players are limited to two fields (depending on player size) but can purchase a third field for 3 coins. Having limited fields for planting encourages trading. The player that has the most coins out of three rounds is the winner.
My Experience:
I have recorded about 20+ games to date. And I have played games with as low as 3 players and at the max with 7 players. I haven’t played this game with 2 players because I typically don’t play with that low of number due to how our group has grown in size. This game scales fairly well but I would recommend that 5 to 6 players is the best size play with.
I can compare Bohnanza to Settlers of Catan in some ways. In Settlers of Catan, the games can be exciting yet drag due to bad dice rolls. The most enjoyable part, which I believe, is the trading and negotiation. And Bohnanza is all about trading and negotiation. As a disclaimer when teaching the game, I inform the players that this game is about getting out there and marketing your beans. If you are quiet and slow you may not capitalize on some great deals. So as they say, “if you snooze, you lose”.
My Likes:
This is a great gateway game and I enjoy it very much for the trading aspect alone. The people I introduce it to enjoy it as well, especially when they get a good deal. Since the game is fairly compact, this is one of my go to games when leaving the house.
My Dislikes:
In this game, there is one awkward card rule. You cannot rearrange or shuffle your cards that you have been dealt. You must leave the cards in that order. And that can be hard for some people to coupe with, because when you are dealt a hand cards you automatically want to set them in a certain order.
Another item would be at the higher player counts, at 7 players you start out with 3 cards if you are the first player. The next player has 4, the player after has 5, and the rest has 6 cards. And if you completed all your trading after the first 3 people, you end up waiting around before it is your turn again.
Lastest Impression:
My dislikes in this game is very miniscule compare to how much I enjoy the interaction of trading within game. This is a great game and is always welcome when people ask to play it. And people do ask to play it often. This game is fairly compact and can be found for under $20! That’s better than all your stink beans!
Hey dudes & dudettes,
As I work in shifts and I have too many hobbies I just can’t find the time to start reviewing some big ones. But when I find the time I’m happy to review some smaller games for you guys. This one could even become a small series as it’s about a game with a bunch of expansions: ‘Bohnanza’.
How did I get to know this game?
As some of you might have read in other reviews I often visit big toy stores in addition to the specialized gaming stores. Bart Smit is one of these and that’s where I saw this game for the first time. It was always calling out for me from the shelves and when my brother asked me to make a list of things that I’d like for christmas I put ‘Bohnanza’ on there amongst a bunch of other games.
I mean, come one, the box art is appealing, no?!
What’s that theme?
In ‘Bohnanza’ you’re a small farmer planting, harvesting and eventually selling beans on a limited space. You compete with other farmers to sell not only the most, but also the most expensive beans. You won’t be surprised when I tell you this is one of Uwe Rosenberg’s earlier games .
And the components?
As this is just a small card game there’s not much more in the box than, ehm… Well… Cards!
These cards, however, are of good quality. And that’s a good thing too, considering they’re for double use. More on that later .
Also the artwork in this game is right up my alley. Love the style!
Another big plus (for me anyway) is that Uwe Rosenberg and artist Björn Pertoft share a sense of humor that I can certainly appreciate. For example: You can find ‘Bohnanza’ artwork on cards in Agricola.
And that’s not the only easter egg .
How does it work?
Each player starts with 5 cards in hand. It’s very important you DO NOT rearrange your cards. Cards are played in order, so you have to draw them on by one and keep ’em like that!
At the start of the game you have 2 fields to plant beans on. You can only plant 1 bean family per field. Through the course of the game you can expand your farm by 1 extra bean field.
Every turn is played over 4 phases in order:
1. Planting beans: First, you MUST plant the first bean card in your hand and you MAY plant the second one. If your first card is a bean that you haven’t already got on one of your fields, you have to empty a field. If possible you may harvest ’em, if not they’re lost and you start over with the beans you have to plant. Important detail: If there’s only 1 bean card on one of your fields it’s protected and you have to use the other one, otherwise you choose which field you use.
2. Trading: Second, you turn over the 2 top cards from the draw pile, these become the ‘market’. Players may bid on these (paying with cards from their hands) or you may keep them for yourself, but they HAVE TO be planted in the next phase. If you really don’t want them and players don’t want to pay for them you can always give them away, but if the receiving player doesn’t accept your ‘gift’, you’re stuck with it and still have to plant them yourself!
3. Planting more beans: This is a short phase in which you just plant all the beans you acquired in the last phase. You choose the order, but all other rules and restrictions apply.
4. Drawing new bean cards: At the end of the turn you draw 3 new bean cards from the pile. You draw these one by one and add them to you hand at the back! If the draw pile is emptied you shuffle the discard pile and use this as a new draw pile.
Some details:
* End of the game: When the draw pile is emptied for the third time the active player finishes his turn and the game is over.
* Harvesting beans: When you (have to) harvest beans you count the number of beans you have on a field and match that to the number of coins that amount of beans is worth. You turn that number of beans over to the coin side and put them on your money pile. The rest goes to the discard pile and waits to become draw pile again.
* Getting an extra field: “An extra field? How about fields?”. Nope, you only get ONE extra field, use it wisely! You can purchase this extra field whenever you want (it doesn’t even have to be your turn) and it will cost you 3 coins. You may choose which coins to use to pay for the field (so you can get those expensive beans back into the draw pile!). Paying happens by putting the chosen cards from your coin pile face up on the discard pile.
So how do you win again?
Quite simple: You sell beans for coins. The player with the most money at the end of the game wins.
Any tricky parts?
Absolutely!
– A field with only 1 bean card on it is protected and CAN NOT be harvested UNLESS ALL your fields house only 1 bean card.
– I keep repeating it: you CAN NOT rearrange the cards in your hand!!
– You can give away cards you don’t want, but the recipient doesn’t have to take them.
– You can buy ONLY ONE extra bean field. That’s why they only say ‘Third field’ and there are no ‘Fourth, fifth or more’ fields available.
– You CAN trade hand cards in the trading phase. Even if not for market cards.
– …
Just keep up when counting and trading and … A mistake is easily made .
So what exactly do I think about this game?
Honestly, I like it. It’s fascinating to see how much fun and tension one can put in a small and seemingly simple game like Bohnanza.
Actually, I love all of Uwe Rosenberg’s games for as far as I’ve played them. They seem to always have a great balance between lovely art and fun on one side and great mechanics and player interaction on the other.
This is another one of those games to which I wouldn’t dedicate a whole evening, but I will often play it on a loose night or in between.
A bunch off spin-offs and expansions are available. I have several, but haven’t played all of them. I’m quite curious actually . If you’ve played spin-offs like ‘Ladybohn’ or ‘Al Cabohne’, go ahead and let me know ;).
My family has owned this Bean Farming game for some time and it seems to be brought out a decent amount. To be frank I liked but didn’t love this game when i first played it. However, the more I play now the more i notice how great it is. It has subtle yet not overbearing strategies. It is easy to learn and great for new gamers or just those who aren’t in the mood for something more serious. I am glad I own this game and am almost always happy to play it.
The Good:
1. Relatively quick
2. Easy to learn, Good introduction game
3. Fairly interactive, even when it is not your turn
4. Has enough strategy for us heavy thinkers
5. Could be played with kids and teenagers
6. Has a unique theme
7. Trades terms can be flexible.
8. Re-playable
9. Is a perfect starter game.
10. Can be played with 7 people.
The Bad:
1. Could drag on with the wrong croud.
2. Fun can be dependent on who you play with.
3. Best with 3-6 people
I think this is a great game for any group.
8/10
Bean on!
Bohnanza is a solid game, even for power gamers. But where it really shines is introducing people to gaming who don’t think of themselves as gamers: People who would run screaming from a Catan board or give a polite no-thanks to Carcassonne and its meeples will more often than not give the cute little beans a chance, and then ask to play again, and again, and again. It’s the most successful gateway game for bringing new players into the hobby, in my experience.
I’ve played Bohnanza with fashion models who weren’t yet ready to join “the German Farming Bikini Team” and I’ve carried it on my back while backpacking across Europe. I ended up buying an extra copy to leave behind at one hostel because it would have been too cruel to cut the newly-minted gamers there off from their new obsession.
There’s a lot more you can say for Bohnanza: It rewards friendly play. It seats up to 7. It’s fast to pick up and fast to play and still has some depth in spite of that. But most of all I love it for its ability to give people who wouldn’t have given gaming a chance an appreciation for my world, and an invitation to join in.
Bohnanza is a nifty little trading game about beans! The goal of the game is to have the most gold coins by selling your bean fields. Each player tries to maximize their beans in their limited number of bean fields (start with two, purchase one more). It’s important to trade and give to get what you want, because every turn you must plant the first bean in your hand even if it’s a bean you don’t want. That’s the beauty of the game of trying to manage your hand while trying to get the right beans to plant.
The game is fun and good for a socializing. The graphics are cartoony, so it appeals to kids. My daughter has the strangest strategy for an eight year old, yet she either wins or comes close each time. Also, it makes a good filler on game nights. Family gamers should enjoy it, because it appeals to kids, easy to learn, and is fun. It’s a very social game with all the trading and negotiating going on throughout the game, so social gamers should really like it. Causal games should be able to pick it up easily as well.
Bohnanza is card trading game for up to 7 players. The game includes instructions for 2 players. However, I think the game is most dynamic during the trading phase – so the more people the better! It only takes a few minutes to explain the rules to new players. Which makes it an easy game to introduce friends to.
This game encourages lots of negotiation. You can only plant one type of bean in your two (up to three) bean fields, and you must “plant” the cards in the order you’ve drawn them. So you have to decide when to trade, plant, and give away your cards. To earn points you must harvest all your beans in that field and then convert them (with the help of the “beanometer”) to their coin value. So keep an eye on which beans are converted into coins because that can limit your chances of a successful harvest the second time through the deck!
I wouldn’t necessarily call this a kids game, but I think the age requirement is more like 7+, because it’s not very complicated. The subtle strategies might not be picked up by the younger kids, but it’s still fun for them. It is called simply “The Bean Game” in my house.
For adults, it can be a fun social game. The illustrations on the cards are light hearted and fun. The card trading makes this a highly interactive game.
A highly interactive game, that scales well with many players. It implements a simple, easy to learn, system of hand management and probability (that matching cards will come up), very effectively to create a good game to start or end an evening with. As players are always trying to cut the best deal for themselves, there is usually plenty of banter and laughs flying round the table.
There are two types of bonanza players, the nice, family type who give helpful cards to others and the mean type who give others cards that destroy their bean field progress. You can never mix these people in a single game, the meanies always win. This is the meanest little box of fun I own!
This game gets a lot of mileage with my group because it can play up to seven. The game plays just fine as few as three and seven. The two player variant can be some intense fun for an otherwise tame game.
This game is very easy to learn. The only rules that seem to get forgotten or questioned is that a player must keep the cards they receive in order, any cards received in a trade must be planted immediately, and a single card can not be harvested unless all of a players fields are single cards.
A key to keeping the game an enjoyable length is to use the suggested cards for different numbers of players. If you play with only three the game can get too long with all of the cards.
Bohnanza is not a game of deep strategy, and the deal of the cards can sometimes decide the game, but it is a good, usually quick game, for many people.