Rio Grande Games Bohnanza - Award-Winning Card Game for Family & Friends | Perfect for Game Nights, Parties & Strategy Lovers

I love playing this game. It's fun and easy for younger children to play too. Part of the gameplay is bartering with other players which can be fun or frustrating. The only problem I have right now is that I don't have anyone to play this game with because my two sisters don't see eye to eye on the trading and bartering so they are refusing to play.An easy to learn and relatively quick to play game that’s fun for any family. My 8 and 5 year old both picked it up pretty quickly after a few turns.A really great and unique card game. And while the designer of this game has designed several games that would properly be considered a "Eurogame" I'm not sure this one would. Just because a designer lives in Europe doesn't mean every game he designs is considered a "Eurogame" as commonly considered by the serious gaming community. But, whatever.This game has several unique mechanics. Ultimately, it's a set collection game but the fact that you're not allowed to "sort" the cards in your hand, and generally must play them in the order received, is certainly unique. The one exception to that rule is when trading, you can trade cards from anywhere in your hand. So this means that as you see cards coming up for play in your hand that you really don't need or want, you may be more motivated to trade them away instead. And there's a lot of trading going on in this game, it's highly interactive in that regard which is one of its good points. Also, the fact that it will play 2-7 players is a big plus, this one is one we consider a "party" game to a large extent,since it's also easy to learn. Also plays in about 45 minutes.Play consists of first, planting your next card in your bean field. but you have a limited number of "rows" you can plant in, so you may have to harvest something in order to plant. And when you harvest, you cash in on the crop, but you may not be ready to harvest because you've got more cards in your hand you'd like to plant in the row first. Be that as it may, you must plant the next card in your hand every turn, and optionally the following card can be planted. The second phase of a turn you draw two cards and show them face up. These cards you must plant too, or trade away. So at this point, trading begins, and you can trade not just the two face up cards but any cards in your hand, and you can make pretty much whatever deal you want as long as the current player who's turn it is is involved in one side of each deal. So you trade as much as you want and then everyone must plant whatever they got in trade immediately (which again, may require a harvest if the player doesn't have a row available that can take the card). The more you have of any one crop the more you get when it's harvested. You play three times through the deck, which at first looks like it will be forever because the deck is huge. However, as crops are harvested, you keep a few cards which from the harvest which essentially represent your score and it takes those cards out of the deck in the process-- so the deck gets quite a bit smaller every round, by the third time through the deck, the deck isn't nearly as big. Also, multiple cards are used from the deck each turn so they are consumed quickly. In the end, whoever has the most from their harvests wins.One great thing about it is there's pretty much no down time. On anyone's turn, trading is likely to come into play that could involve anyone or even everyone. While the current player who's turn it is has to be involved on one side of the trade, multiple trades can occur. So you don't sit getting bored waiting for someone to decide what they want to do, since the trading stage of any turn is highly interactive with the other players.The title doesn't do much for it, it's hard to remember and is often conflated with the TV western. It's usually referred to as "the bean game" because that gets the message across better, though I don't know that I would have called it that either.Also, there are expansions for it now but I haven't tried them so I can comment.The base game is an excellent game that has stood the test of time, we've played it quite a lot and still hits the table pretty often.In Bohnanza, which you should play with 3 or more, you have a handful of cards that you have to keep in order, and you have to plant the first card (and your second, if you want) in one of your two bean fields in front of you. Bean fields can only have one type of bean and there are a wide variety of beans in the game. The goal is to collect a bunch of a couple varieties of beans, as the more you collect, the more money you get when you harvest and sell them. You always start your hand by planting one or two bean cards, so if you're about to start your turn and you're holding a wax bean and your bean field contains a row of blue beans and a row of chili beans, you have to harvest (i.e., get rid of) either the blue beans or the chili beans.If you have 3 blue beans in that row and you need at least 4 to collect a dollar, and you only have 1 bean in the chili beans row, then the rules state that you have to harvest the row that has two or more cards. That'd be the blue beans. With 3 blue beans on the table and you need 4 to collect a dollar, you're going to have to harvest those blue beans and get absolutely NOTHING for them. Nice going!What should you have done? You should've got rid of that damn wax bean in the last trading round, or the trading round before that!After planting, you draw two cards face-up and you have the option of keeping those cards (and then planting them immediately), or trading (or just giving away) those cards, and any from your hand, to those willing to take those cards. That's where you needed to get rid of your wax bean! And that's where you should've tried to trade that wax bean for a blue bean, so you would've had 4 blue beans in your blue bean row, and you would've then been able to collect at least a coin come harvest time!For three bucks, you can buy a third bean row. Is it worth it? That's up to you. Scoring is often pretty tight but your score might be that high because you have the luxury of having that third bean field.When your turn is over draw three cards, put them in the hand in the order you drew them, then drink a glass of water and figure out what you need to trade away out of your hand, and what you want for it.If you don't trade well or if you try to screw over your opponents, you'll probably not do too well in the trading game. But you will have a lot of:"What are you gonna give me for this blue bean?""I've got nothing to give you""Then you're not getting it""Fine, then plant it yourself. Looks like you'll have to harvest early""Anybody else want this blue bean?""See?""See what? I don't mind planting it!""THEN DO IT!""FINE, I WILL!""NO WAIT! I'll give you a green bean for it.""Fine. And you're a sucker, cause I would've given it to you for nothing."There is some luck of the draw to this game obviously, but there's also a good deal of careful planning, weighing your trade-offs, and good trading that make this game a lot of interactive fun.I don't know if it's pricey for a card game, but what I'm paying for is board game fun and this baby delivers! Highly recommended to anybody.As for learning the game, I recommend playing a couple hands as you're reading the rules. The rules are very brief and when you play a hand while reading through the rules, you can very quickly pick up the idea of what you're supposed to be doing.Games I love include Dominion, Agricola, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, and Alhambra. This one ranks right up there with all of them, and I'm looking forward to playing it again tonight.This is a great game! It's simple for kids to learn and play. We've had a blast playing with kids ages 7 and up.I bought this on several friend's recommendations, along with some other games, to play over the Christmas holidays with my husband and 13 year old son. Bohnanza has proved to be by far the favourite which surprised me because outwardly it looks so simplistic and a bit juvenile. It's cleverly scaled so it works with a wide number of players with minor modifications (instructions clearly explained in enclosed pamphlet), it even works well with only two as we discovered last night. It's not a game of chance; yes, there is a certain element of the 'luck of the draw' but you do have to intelligently utilise your skills of negotiation and consider probabilities in order to gain the most 'coins' and ultimately win so younger children would probably need a bit of assistance. Bohnanza is addictive and we are reaching for it regularly. Brilliant value for money, would highly recommend.This game is a real treat and differs from many other games because of the trading and 'donation' aspect, which makes the gameplay more fluid and engaging as you can participate in the trades even when it is not your go.The game features a very large deck of good quality bean cards: these are divided into different bean types (cocoa beans, chilli beans, red beans, &c.) and there are a varying amount of each bean type, which makes some rarer, and therefore more valuable, than others. The cards also, cleverly, double as money: on the back of each card is printed a coin and so when your beans are harvested you retain the appropriate number of cards to use as coins. The use of cards as money does away with the need for any other scoring or monetary chits.Gameplay involves planting cards from your hand (which you cannot rearrange) into two or three bean fields face up in front of you. You have two fields to begin with but you can buy a third with the coins you make from harvesting your beans. A bean field can only have one type of bean in it and the more of you have the more coins you get once they are harvested. On each turn you have to plant the first card from your hand and optionally the second. There is then a phase where you draw cards from the deck and trade these, and the other cards from your hand, with the other players. The drawn cards and the traded cards have to be planted immediately so this is the only way to get the cards in your hand into the sequence you want for planting. Finally you draw three more cards and put them at the back of your hand.You can harvest your beans at any time and if you have beans you must plant and no empty fields then you have to harvest an existing field prematurely, sometimes for no coins at all.The gameplay is pretty simple but it's a lot of fun trading (or purposely not trading) your cards to make a profit.Who would have thought that a game about being a bean farmer could be so compelling?From the country that brought you "Settlers of Cataan", we have a game where you are dealt a hand of beans and have to make the most money planting them. The complication is, you only have a couple of fields, have to deal with your cards in the order you receive them and each field has to have a single class of bean in it. So, you have to trade with your rivals to get rid of beans you don't want and get more of the ones you do. The winner is the one who earns the most money once the deck runs out the second or third time (depending on the number of players).A quick and easy game, with some strategy, but good for killing half an hour. (If you get into it, there are also a couple of expansions, "King Bean" and "Beanaparte", which add new rules and complications).We originally got this as a gift for our wedding. Upon opening it, we found that 2 or 3 of the bean types were not written in English (as per the rest of the set) - maybe Portuguese or a similar language. It's not a super big deal, more just aesthetically irritating but as it was a gift and somebody paid good money for it, we decided to request a return.As this seller was the only one selling the game on Amazon, we ordered another set on the assumption it was probably a misprint only to have the same thing happen again! We then decided to return the second set and are waiting until we can replace it with a fully English set... quite disappointed as we really love this game!One of the few games my wife will actually play.Sounded a bit boring at first, just grab beans and put them down. Highest wins. However, it's the trading that makes this game fun.Trades aren't as simple as a this for that - you may have things in your hand that are preventing you from getting that good bean you really need to get more gold so you can try and use it to sweeten the deal - or if the other player notices - you might just have to give it away. There are ulterior motives behind each trade and you can compete with everyone at once.