Bohnanza

 

Bohnanza

Designer	Uwe Rosenberg
Publisher	Rio Grande games
Age rating	13+
Time	45 min
Players	2-7
Fun	4/5
Complexity	3/5

Bohnanza - a game where you plant and harvest beans of all kinds, and try to collect as many coins as possible. I don’t know of many other agricultural games, but this is the best one I played so far.

The titular beans are represented by 154 cards depicting various types. These beans are cute and the way they are represented stands out. You can find coffee beans multitasking and bursting with jolting energy, red beans that need to go to the toilet so much they’ve turned red, hippy soy beans flashing the peace sign, chili beans lighting a cigarette near a jerrycan… For a game which only uses cards and game mats, it is well designed.

The gameplay consists of many rules, but it becomes much easier with every turn. The rules for the two player game, the so-called duel, are a bit different the the ones for more players, but not too much. In short, you first plant beans from your hand, then you turn over bean cards from the draw deck and trade them with other players, then plant the ones you traded or turned over, and finally draw more and add them to your hand. On paper it sounds dry and monotonous, but in real life it becomes intuitive after a few turns.

One thing that clearly differentiates this game from other card games is its golden rule. The order of the cards in your hand cannot change. This little quirk brings a new level of planning, as you have to think ahead to know what you will plant and where. You have three bean fields in front of you, and one field can only have one type of bean. At any point in the game, you can decide to harvest some of your beans. By doing this, you get gold coins. The amount you get is depicted on the cards.

Therefore, it’s up to you to choose whether you will plant coffee beans, which are plentiful, but require you to have seven beans to earn two gold coins, for example, or you will take your time and wait for the elusive garden beans, which give you three coins for only three beans. Depending on the way the cards have been shuffled, you might get a hand that lets you plant away and harvest with ease, or one that makes you pull your hair out. Such situations can be remedied, however, with careful planning, and trading.

Trading is one of the best parts of this game, in my opinion, but it is not included in the two player version. There is no set “one bean for one bean” rule. You can offer as many, or ask for as many as you want. There is even an option to give beans as a gift, which can help you get rid of pesky beans that would just ruin your meticulously planned bean fields. 

The number of gold coins is counted only at the end of the game, so you will always be tense, trying to earn as much as possible. There is a joke about capitalism somewhere in there, but I can’t seem to find it.

Overall, I found Bohnanza to be an underdog champion. I had never before heard about it, but the gameplay is visually pleasing and interesting enough to keep you playing. The human element lends it much of its charm, and the somewhat large difficulty at the beginning diminishes with every round you play. So go play Bohnanza, and become a bean farmer that plants and harvests beans with faces that make you think they have a personality.