Like many people, I had a bit of trouble with the 3 English translations for Bohnanza on The Games Cabinet. I had 95% of the game understood, but there were questions that everyone seemed to be asking. I built this rules set based on TGC translations, and included the answers. The expansion set rules are here also. If I've got anything wrong, please let me know. Doug
Bohnanza "I think he digs it!"
Published by Amigo. Designed by Uwe Rosenberg, 3 - 5 players, 12+ years, c. 45 Minutes
Contents
104 cards 6 cards labelled '3 Bohnenfeld' (third beanfield) 1 set of rules
Game Idea
Each player trades beans which he grows in his fields and tries to sell them for as high a price as possible. The more beans of the same type a player owns, the more money he will make when he sells them. Unfortunately the player is usually forced to sell his beans too early at a lower price. Sometimes he makes nothing at all. The aim of the game is to earn as many coins as possible by trading beans.
The Bean Cards
There are eight varieties of beans. Each is composed of a different number of cards; the value of the beans is inversely proportional to their frequency.
- 20 x Blue Beans (Blaue Bohnen)
- 12 x Soya Beans (Sojabohnen)
- 18 x Peppers "Fire Beans" (Feuerbohnen)
- 10 x Haricots Beans (Augenbohnen)
- 16 x Broad Beans (Saubohnen)
- 8 x Kidney Beans (Rote Bohnen)
- 14 x Runner Beans (Brechbohne)
- 6 x French Beans (Gartenbohnen)
A beanmeter is represented on the bottom of each card. It explains to the player how many coins he will receive for the sale of his beans. The numbers show how many beans of the same variety have to be sold in order to earn one, two, three or four coins (exception : French beans). It is not possible to receive more than four coins. Example 1: a broad bean with a beanmeter 3 - 5 - 7 -8. Three or four broad beans are worth one coin when sold, five and six are worth two coins, seven are worth three coins and eight or more are worth four coins.
The Coins
On the back of each bean card is a coin of value one. A player gets his money by turning up sold beans.
Beans Fields
At the beginning of the game, each player is allowed to plant two and only two varieties of beans, in front of him. This is called a bean field. Each player has the possibility, once during the game, to buy a third field. With a third beanfield, a player can put three rows of cards in front of him. A third beanfield costs three coins (which are put in the discard pile). He receives a "3 Bohnenfeld" card, which he places in front of him.
Note: there are six "3 Bohnenfeld" cards in the game, one is a spare.
Setup
The five cards "3 Bohnenfeld" remain in the game box. The bean cards are well shuffled and dealt, one by one, to the players. Each player is dealt five cards, which constitutes his hand. Important: the order of the cards in a players hand should never be altered during the game. Sorting the cards is strictly forbidden. Clarification: each card is placed in the hand in the order in which it is received. A new card is always placed behind the oldest cards. The remaining cards are placed in a stack in the middle of the table, coin side up. They form the draw pile. The player at the left of the dealer starts.
Sequence of Play
The player whose turn is to play performs the following four actions, some are optional.
1. Play bean cards (mandatory)
The player must put the first card in his hand into one of his beans fields (Exception: if the player has no cards, he proceeds to next action). He starts or extends a row of the same variety of beans. Then he may put a second card into one of his fields. A player must always put beans belonging to the same variety in a field. Often a bean card is not compatible with the one already in the fields. In this case, the player must make some space by harvesting all the beans in a field.
Harvesting Beans (optional)
If a player wishes or has to harvest beans, he gains coin cards (flip the appropriate number of bean cards) as indicated on the bean cards beanmeter. Beans not converted into coins are placed on the discard pile. Example 2: three runner beans are worth one coin. The player turns up one card. The two remaining cards are discarded. The player puts his coin in front of him.
Important: a field with only one card cannot be sold. However, if all the fields of a player have only one card, he chooses a field, from which he removes the card and discards it. For this card he receives nothing.
2. Trading Beans (mandatory)
The player takes two cards from the pile and puts them face up on the table. He may choose to keep these two cards, or he may trade them with the other players. Example 3: a Soya bean and a French bean card have been drawn. The player doesn't want these cards because they are not compatible with his fields of kidney and haricot beans. He asks to the other players: "Does someone want one or two of these cards ? I wish for a kidney bean for the Soya bean."
He can also offer cards from his hand. Example 4: the player says "Well, the French bean and a blue bean from my hand for the kidney bean".
The other players can only offer cards from their hands. They can also offer or ask for many cards for one card. All the players can only trade with the player whose turn is to play.
Important: during the trading action, the card order in the players hands should not be altered. The traded cards can be taken from anywhere in the hand, but they must be removed from the hand only at the moment of the exchange. Keep traded cards well separated from cards in the fields. They should not be put back in the hand, nor exchanged again. When all the players have finished trading, the action is ended.
During all the trading action the players may also give their cards away. The player whose turn is to play can give cards from his hand or the cards he has just drawn. The other players can only give cards in their hand. The gifts does not have to be accepted.
3. Plant Beans (mandatory)
Now, all the players who traded plant their traded bean cards in their fields. If the player whose turn is to play has kept the one or two of the drawn cards (see action 2), or if he did not succeed to get rid of them, he must now put them in his fields. When it is not possible, he must harvest beans to make room for the traded beans.
4. Draw new cards (mandatory)
The player takes, one by one, three cards from the pile and puts them in his hand. They are put behind the old cards, in the order in which they are drawn. Play then passes to the player on the left.
Other player actions
The players can sell beans, or create a third beanfield, whenever they want. This is possible even when it isn't their turn. The players can also make promises, whenever they want, that they are not obliged to keep.
Game End
As soon as the pile is empty, the discarded cards are shuffled. They form the new pile. Players should be given the opportunity to harvest beans to ensure the cards go into the reshuffled deck. When the deck is empty for the third time, the game ends immediately. Each player is still allowed to harvest his beanfields. The cards in hand, are worth nothing. The player with the most coins is the winner.
Variants
For the beginners, we recommend that you use three fields in a three player game. With five players, the third field should cost only two coins.
Bohnanza Expansion Set Overview
These cards are an expansion to Bohnanza - you must have the original game to use them. The expansion set expands the number of players from 3 to 5 to 3 to 7, thus more can learn the joys of planting and growing beans.
Expansion Set Contents
24 Coffee beans (Kaffeebohne) 22 Brandy beans (Weinbrandbohne) 4 Cocoa beans (Kakaobohne)
What Has Changed in the Expansion Set
With 3 players: Remove the Cocoa beans and set them aside. Each player starts the game with a third beanfield at no extra charge. The game ends when the deck is exhausted for the second time, not the third time.
With 4 players or 5 players: Remove the Coffee beans and set them aside.
With 6 or 7 players: Remove the Cocoa beans and Garden beans and set them aside. The first player starts the game with 3 cards in his hand, the player on his left has 4 cards, the next player has 5 cards, and the rest have 6 cards. In the fourth action "Draw new cards", each player draws 4 rather than 3 new cards. A third beanfield costs 2 coins rather than 3 coins.