Bohnanza Rules

Bohnanza is a card game designed by Uwe Rosenberg, and it is all about planting, trading and harvesting beans. These rules cover the original base game for 3 to 5 players with the original bean kinds. The box holds the bean cards themselves — 24 Coffee Beans, 22 Wax Beans, 20 Blue Beans, 18 Chili Beans, 16 Stink Beans, 14 Green Beans, 12 Soy Beans, 10 Black-eyed Beans, 8 Red Beans, 6 Garden Beans and 4 Cocoa Beans — plus 7 third bean field cards, the bean field mats and a rule booklet.

Objective

The objective of Bohnanza is to earn the most gold coins by planting, trading, and harvesting beans. The player with the most gold coins at the end of the game wins.

Setup

Each player receives a bean field mat, which has one side showing three bean fields and one side showing two fields. If there are three players, use the mats with the three bean fields side up. If there are four or five players, start with two bean fields each.

A starting player is chosen and given the starting player card. Shuffle all the cards and deal five cards to each player. The remaining cards form the draw pile in the center of the table, gold coin side up; a discard pile is built next to it during the game, and each player keeps a gold coin stack in front of them.

Then comes the single most important rule of the whole game: you may never change the order of the cards in your hand. The first card you are dealt is the front card, fully visible to you, and every card you receive afterwards goes behind the last one, in the order you drew it. No sorting, ever, for any reason — that constraint is what turns an ordinary hand of cards into a queue you have to negotiate your way out of.

How to Play

The game consists of four phases that players go through in order during their turn: Planting Bean Cards, Turn Over and Trade Bean Cards, Planting Turned-over and Traded Bean Cards, and Drawing Bean Cards.

Phase 1: Planting Bean Cards

Players must plant the first card in their hand (the one that is completely visible) in one of their fields. After that, they may choose to plant one more card in one of their fields. When planting, players start or extend the column of cards in the field. If a player has to plant a kind of bean they do not have space for, they must harvest a field first. If a player does not have any cards in their hand at the start of phase 1, they skip it and go straight to phase 2.

Phase 2: Turn Over and Trade Bean Cards

Players turn over the top two cards from the draw pile and put them next to it face-up for all players to see. These cards belong to the active player and can be planted in their fields or traded with other players.

Players may trade using their hand cards, no matter where they are in their hands. The active player can use the two turned-over cards for trading in addition to their hand cards. Players cannot trade cards they have received in a trade or the cards in their fields. They are allowed to trade any number of beans for any number of other beans. Both players have to agree to the trade. Any bean cards received in trade are put next to the player's bean fields horizontally for now.

Phase 3: Planting Turned-over and Traded Bean Cards

All players who have horizontal cards next to their bean fields now have to plant them. Players also plant any turned-over cards they have not traded away. Players can plant their new bean cards in any order they choose.

Phase 4: Drawing Bean Cards

Players end their turn by drawing three cards, one after the other, from the draw pile. These cards are put in the back of their hand, behind the last card, in the order they draw them. The player to the left becomes the new active player.

Scoring and End of Game

Players can harvest beans from their fields at any time during the game, even when it is not their turn. Each kind of bean has its own beanometer printed on the card, which tells you how many gold coins a given number of beans is worth. The Stink Bean is a good illustration of how stingy those scales are: one or two Stink Beans pay nothing at all, three or four earn a single coin, five or six earn two, seven earn three, and it takes eight or more to reach four coins.

To harvest, count the cards in the field, check the beanometer on the top card, turn over as many of those cards as you earn coins so their gold side shows, and put them on your gold coin stack. The rest of the field goes face up on the discard pile — you always empty the whole field, never just part of it. One restriction applies: under the Bean Protection Rule, a field holding a single bean card cannot be harvested while another of your fields holds more than one card.

When the last card is drawn from the draw pile, the discard pile is turned over and reshuffled into a new draw pile. The game ends when the draw pile runs out for the third time; if that happens during the trading phase, the active player finishes phases 2 and 3 first. Everyone then harvests all their remaining fields — cards still in hand count for nothing. Each card on your gold coin stack is worth one coin, and the player with the most coins wins. If there is a tie, the tied player sitting furthest away from the starting player, going clockwise, takes the win.

Common Variants

The three extra bean kinds in the box — Cocoa Bean, Wax Bean and Coffee Bean — are not part of the base game at all. They belong to the variant for up to 7 players, which is why you set them aside for a standard 3-to-5-player session. The box also contains 7 third bean field cards, and the field mats themselves are double-sided: three fields on one side for a three-player game, two fields on the other for four or five players.

A Fun Fact or Record

Count the base-game beans and you find a perfect descending staircase: 20 Blue Beans, 18 Chili, 16 Stink, 14 Green, 12 Soy, 10 Black-eyed, 8 Red, 6 Garden. Two cards fewer at every step. That single line of numbers is the whole economy of the game — common beans are easy to pile into a long, profitable field, while a Garden Bean may cross the table only two or three times in an entire session, which is exactly what makes it such a bargaining chip when someone needs one.

Where to Get the Game

Embark on an engaging bean-trading adventure with the bohnanza card game on Amazon.

Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

1. Trying to sort the cards in your hand: Remember that the first card you are dealt is the first card in your hand and you cannot change the order of the cards at any point during the game.
2. Forgetting that you can only plant one kind of bean in each field at a time: Be careful not to mix different types of beans in the same field.
3. Ignoring the Bean Protection Rule: If there is only one bean card in one of your fields, you cannot harvest it as long as you have another field containing more than one bean card.

FAQ

1. How many players do these rules cover?

   • They describe the original base game for 3 to 5 players. A separate set of two-player rules exists, and a variant takes the game up to 7 players using the Cocoa, Wax and Coffee Beans.

2. Can I trade the cards already planted in my bean fields?

   • No. Cards in your fields are out of reach, and so are cards you have just received in a trade. You may trade any card in your hand, wherever it sits in the queue, and as the active player you may also trade the two turned-over cards.

3. What if I have to plant a bean and no field will take it?

   • You harvest one of your fields first to make room, then plant. A field can only ever hold one kind of bean, although the same kind may grow in two different fields at once.

4. Can I trade a bean card I received in an earlier trade?

   • No. Cards received in a trade are laid horizontally beside your fields and must be planted in phase 3; they cannot be traded on or added to your hand.

5. Can I harvest only part of a field?

   • No. You count the whole field, take the coins the beanometer allows, and discard the rest — the field must end up empty.

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