Pyramid Review
Bohnanza
Published by Rio Grande Games
Designed by Uwe Rosenberg
154 bean cards, 7 3rd bean field cards, rulebook; $14.95
Players sitting through their first session of Rio Grande Games' German import, Bohnanza, may have trouble deciding which is funnier, the idea that they are all a bunch of bean farmers, or the hilarious illustrations of their crops. Bohnanza is a card game of resource management and wily trading. Once all of the laughter subsides, and that may be a while, players will find a clever game that continues the tradition of substantial German imports.
Two to seven farmers manage two bean fields, attempting to plant beans and harvest them at just the right time to get the best price while making room for incoming crops. After the farmers have gone through the deck three times, the player with the most gold coins wins.
The rules of the game are clear and easy to follow. The rulebook is colorfully illustrated and the margins contain text that repeats the most important rules for easy reference. The final page contains variations on the game based on the number of players. By removing some of the cards, players can adjust the game for two to seven players, although the two player version requires significant rule changes.
The cards are high quality playing cards with simply fantastic illustrations. The black-eyed bean is a dazed boxer with a shiner, the soy bean is dressed like a hippie, and the red bean is very embarrassed . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: March 9, 2001
Copyright © 2001 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to webmaster@sjgames.com.