Bohnanza

Customer Reviews

A Great Fun! Review by Liska

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I have got this game for my husband as a New Year gift. It was after midnight when the presents were open, and we felt sleepy, but it is New Year, so you at least have to try to stay up! So, we gave a try to Bohnanza, and it made the longest night of the year into the jolliest night of the year.

I think one of of the best points of this game is in communication. You need to trade bean cards, but how? The rules do not really limit the possibilities. With different people we faced different ways of trying to manipulate each other. From the normal "I will give you this bean card if you give me that bean card" to "Are you my husband or not? Give me that bean!" It makes it interesting in a company: you are talking, laughing - and trading beans! :)

Another good point is that the rules are simple, so you can just take this game out at some family gathering and invite your uncles and aunts to join the world of beans. (Posted on 5/24/11)

A Casual Love Affair with Bean Farming Review by Wasgo

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Bohnanza is one of those games that surprises you. At first glance, it appears to be a mindless card game, with attractive cartoon art and a very thin theme. After a few games though, it is very obvious that it is one of the most addictive casual games on the market.

A better game than most for playing with families of significant others, Bohnanza is one of the few games that doesn't punish players for playing friendly and relaxed. In fact, only the two player variation seems to reward overly competitive behaviour at all. Highly recommended. (Posted on 12/21/09)

I absolutely love this game! Review by Jasmine

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Bohnanza continues to be a favourite game among my group long after I introduced it to them. We still have yet to get sick of it.

I think the major reason for this is because there is no real "screw-you" mechanism in the game. In fact, the opposite mentaility is encouraged! As you are unable to change the order of the cards in your hand and must plant the first card, you must continue to make trades in order to earn coins.

Recently, we discovered that we had missed a vital rule that you cannot sell a bean field with only one bean in it if you have another with multiple beans. This meant that players could not hoard a bunch of beans and try to build a long chain. This actually encouraged us to trade even more and to be even more friendly to each other.

The only opportunities for bitter feelings come from neglected traders, those that always seem to be overlooked for someone else. People do need to speak up in the game and negotiate agressively in order to do well in this game, which might turn off some of the more quieter players. However, because it is done in a friendly and light-hearted manner for the most part, it may encourage the silent-types to speak up. (Posted on 11/5/09)

Socialism the game Review by Murray

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Bohnanza is a great game to bring out for a casual, non-competing game. The main reason for this is that, as long as people play nicely, the player who does favours for other players the most tends to win. This notion was discovered quite accidently during one session among my group, as co-operative players tended to amass more coins than the anti-social competitive players. Since then, the general accepted strategy was to be nice and friendly to everyone and help each other grow their bean farm. This, the game became known as Socialism in a box among my group.

The game is a pure card game. There is nothing but the cards, which are fairly well made themselves. The face of the card has a bean and information relating to the bean. The back of all cards have a coin, which works both as money in the game as well as a mechanism to remove superior beans from the game at specific points.

I love the fact that the game has no real player limit. This, along with its great fit as a good strategic planning and light competitiveness level, means I can always bring it along in a deck box as a back up game for any group.

Bohnanza is pretty easy to learn and plays fairly quickly. It is inexpensive and highly portable and durable. Highly recommended to anyone. (Posted on 9/8/09)

Simple but Strategic Review by Mark

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This is a great card game to pull out with 3-7 players. It is easy enough to learn within 5 minutes, but there is enough strategy to keep it interesting for any gamer for many, many plays. I highly recommend adding this game to your collection as a great filler game.

I wouldn't recommend the 2 player "Bean Duel" as much as the game with more players. It just didn't seem to work as well. (Posted on 8/5/09)