C Paget
Canada
Toronto
ON
...
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I do not speak German, but my copy of Bohnanza was bought on a trip to Munich as I was getting into games. And then I expanded it to get the extra beans, and also because the job cards sounded neat.
So when I play this game, the beans are constantly being renamed. Here’s a sampling of some of the more exciting names we’ve used: 6 – Jumping beans, 8 – “I need to pee” beans, 10 – Fighting beans, 14 – Sick beans, 22 – Drunken beans (note that these are the German kidney beans, not the puritan North American wax beans). The fact that the beans have to be “translated” can make the game a bit for confusing, but also more amusing for my gaming group – and they used to it fast.
In this review, I will be rating the base game as “Bohnanza” – this includes the expansion beans for different numbers of players because it doesn’t change the gameplay, just the odds.
My ratings for the Erweiterrungs-Set include the addition of order cards (aka job cards).
I’ve mostly ignored the Field beans, because they don’t have a huge effect on gameplay, but they also don’t really deserve to be grouped in with the base game because they operate differently...
In my text, I will refer to the Erweiterrungs-Set as the “E-Set,” because it’s a beast to spell.
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Value: Is it worth the price?
8(Bohnanza) / 6 (Erweiterungs-Set)
My ratings here are a little irrelevant, because I own the German editions of the game, and my complaints are (mostly) addressed by the North American editions.
The base game is generally worth the cost, except that it does make you wish that it came with the extra cards needed to extend the number of players (which comes in the E-set). The North American version does just that – so if you’re looking at buying the North American version than this would be a 10 rating.
The E-set, however, contains three extra things: the 22 and 24 count beans for adding more players, the field beans for a different type of rare bean, and the order cards. Now the order cards are only available with this expansion, not in other North American versions. So you’re pretty much faced with a choice: buy the pair of German editions or buy the North American edition and skip the order cards expansion. If you really wanted the order cards, then you need to buy the E-set and accept that you’re going to get extra copies of the bean cards... So the E-set value isn’t satisfying.
Variety: Is each play different?
2(Bohnanza) / 3 (Erweiterungs-Set)
Not a lot of variety in the game. Although there are different types of beans and each turn is based on the luck of the draw in hand, the game always feels the same.
The E-set adds a bit of variety, in that you can play with or without the order cards, and you can swap between field and cocoa beans as the most rare beans. When you use the field beans, it adds a bit of variety because it has a different style of earnings/beanometer. But even with the order cards and the field beans in play, the game still feels very similar to the base game, so the increase in variety is only slight.
Replayability: Can you play again & again?
7(Bohnanza) / 8 (Erweiterungs-Set)
Bohnanza is great for replay value. It’s an easy game to understand, and the challenge of negotiating trades is appealing – so you can expect it to hit the table relatively often. Although some people will want to play multiple times in a row, this isn’t usually the case. So most of the replays will happen as single plays on different occasions. I find that Bohnanza is lighter than many of my other games, and also very social (in the negotiations) so it’s perfect for later on in a games night, when people don’t want a brain burner but they still want an engaging game.
However, the odds of replay can be lowered based on who is playing the game: Bohnanza is less fun if you have players making “unfair” trades, or even trades that seem unfair (but may still be fair). So if your game group is likely to hold grudges from previous games, or if they have vastly different styles of negotiation, then Bohnanza can get a bit frustrating. But for the right group of people, Bohnanza will consistently hit the table.
The extra replay value in the E-set comes from the addition of more players, more than from the order cards. Extending the game up to 7 players means that Bohnanza is more flexible and can be played in more situations, thus will be more play. For the same reasons, I would rate the North American edition as a 7 replay value, not a 6.
Slow to Master: Experience to move beyond rules?
5(Bohnanza) / 6 (Erweiterungs-Set)
Bohnanza is very quick to learn, usually taking at most a couple of games for players to understand how the games works and to formulate their own strategies. But then it takes longer to get into the grove of negotiation, to learn how to best negotiate and how to adapt your negotiation strategies to suit your opponents’ playing styles.
Adding in the E-set’s order cards ups the game complexity, so players take a little longer to get up to speed with the game. And it takes longer to figure out prioritizing between the order cards and the base game. Players often lose money by focusing too much on the order cards, or by ignoring them completely; you need to strike a balance between the two money-generating mechanisms.
Overall, Bohnanza is really quick to get up to speed, but there is a surprising amount of room for growth and mastery in such a simple game.
Strategic Depth: Opportunity for decision-making?
6(Bohnanza) / 7 (Erweiterungs-Set)
At first, it seems like Bohnanza doesn’t have much strategy because there is so much luck involved in your card draw, both in terms of what beans are drawn and the order that they’re drawn in. But the game is more about what you do with your luck, and how you trade your cards for the cards that you want. At the same time, the game is more about tactics than long-term strategy, although it still has plenty of room for long-term decision making. Overall, it is a deceptively deep game, and there are a lot of things to consider in each decision.
The E-set ups the strategy level slightly, by offering more opportunities for making money. But it’s a little double-edged as you have to have more control over your fields when using the order cards.
Player Interaction: Contact between players?
10
Bohnanza is all about player interaction! It’s a negotiation game, so you have to consider the value of certain beans (cards) both in terms of their intrinsic value / rareness but also their specific value to you or to your opponent. And then each player is trying to maximize their advantage in each deal that they strike. It’s a highly interactive game, where often a gain for one is a loss for another but where it generally feels like everyone is gaining because the relative value of each trade is difficult to assess. So I would say that although Bohnanza is a combative game, it can still have that “friendly” feel to it. Most excellent.
Fun: An enjoyable experience?
8
I think that Bohnanza is a lot of fun, and that the majority of people will enjoy it.
However, there are some people who aren’t well suited to negotiation games. There have been a few times where Bohnanza I’ve introduced Bohnanza and its fallen flat. After talking to these groups about what they liked and didn’t like about the game it really came down to the fact that they enjoy trying to make a good deal. These players were uncomfortable with the idea of trying to make a trade that benefitted them at their opponents’ expense; players that are better suited to games with indirect interaction instead of the direct interaction found in Bohnanza. But I do think that this situation is relatively rare, and that the majority of people will enjoy the game.
Luck-Free: Is winning independent of luck?
6(Bohnanza) / 4 (Erweiterungs-Set)
Luck is a strong element in Bohnanza, and there are definitely games where the winner in determined by luck. But what makes Bohnanza intriguing is the fact that it has both a lot of luck and a lot of strategy, when generally there has to be a trade off between luck and strategy within game design. As I mentioned before, this is a game about doing what you can with the cards that you draw, and a good negotiator can take a bad card draw and turn it into something useful for themselves!
The order cards of the E-set introduces a lot more luck into the game. Some of the order cards are easier to fill than others, and occasionally a player will pick up a card that they just happen to fill. To even out the advantages of lucky order card draws, I would recommend keeping track of scores over multiple games.
Theme Fit: Does it match the theme?
4
Bohnanza is an abstract game with a pasted-on theme. But they’ve fully committed to that pasted on theme, and have done an excellent job with it. The artwork is great, and you start to like the cute little beans with their funny names.
A key point, when introducing this game to new players, is to focus on the gameplay more than the theme. For many people, a “bean farming” game isn’t very attractive, while a “negotiation” game sounds much more interesting.
Gateway: Is it good with non-gamers?
8(Bohnanza) / 5 (Erweiterungs-Set)
Bohnanza is wonderful gateway game because it’s easy to get into and it’s a great stepping stone into more complex games. Other great gateway features are that it’s a short game, and it has enough luck that newbies don’t feel that they’re at a disadvantage when playing with experienced players.
Adding the E-set is not as great an option for non-gamers, because the order cards are another thing to keep track of. However, it’s great to be introduced once players are understanding the base game.
There are a couple caveats to consider when selecting Bohnanza for non-gamers. The first is that it is an abstract game at heart and sometimes non-gamers have trouble with arbitrary rules (as opposed to the more intuitive gameplay found in many highly themed games). The second is the fact that it’s a game of direct interaction (as discussed above) and that some people only want the generally friendlier indirect games. Although I think that it’s important to mention these caveats, I also think that they are pretty specific situations – so most of the time Bohnanza is a fantastic gateway game.
Rules A-OK: Confirming it isn’t broken?
10
Rules are great.
Teachable : Is it easy to teach?
7(Bohnanza) / 6 (Erweiterungs-Set)
The rules are relatively simple, and can easily be reinforced over the first few turns of a game. But there are two rule “traps” that often cause trouble. The first is to make sure that everyone remembers not to change the order of cards in their hands, this is only difficult because it’s unusual when compared to traditional card games. The second trap is that new players need to understand the importance of bean rarity and how it affects the beanometer: it can be heart breaking to watch a new player make a horrible trade when they’re obviously not understanding that the value of a cocoa bean isn’t the same as a blue bean!
The E-set is a bit harder to teach, because of the subtle changes in game play depending on the number of players, the strangeness of the field beans, and because of the extra complexity found in the order cards. But once a group knows the base game, it’s easy to teach the new rules for the E-set.
Least Text etc: Minimal Reading/Symbology?
6(Bohnanza) / 5 (Erweiterungs-Set)
The game is essentially language independent (I consistently play the German editions with Anglophones) but the numbers hold a lot of meaning. There is a lot of meaning expressed in the beanometer and in the bean rarity, although these two measures are highly correlated.
The good thing is that interpreting these numbers gets much easier with experience, and it becomes easy quite quickly.
The added numerical element in the E-set, and the importance of field order, makes the E-set’s order cards more symbolically heavy, by just a little.
Short Set-Up: Does it set-up quickly?
8
Very fast set-up. The most time consuming part is removing bean types based on the number of players.
Components: Are the bits high quality?
9
Excellent quality for a card game. The cards have a nice linen finish, and are white bordered to show less wear. The aesthetic is fun and funky, with great colours and art. And the design choice to show coins on the card’s reverse is a nice touch. My cards are older now, and have seen a lot of plays, but they’re still looking great and going strong.
Bottom Line
I highly recommend Bohnanza if you’re wanting a negotiation game in your collection. It’s a light card game and an excellent choice for a Gateway Game, and also for a portable and social game.
The E-Set is a must-have for people with the German edition of the base game, because it allows for greater flexibility in number of players. If you have the North American edition of the game, then you need to assess the E-set on the value of the order cards alone.
For me, I like the order cards because they are a game expansion that fits seamlessly into the base games, without introducing entirely new mechanisms. I haven’t played other Bohnanza expansions (so take my comparison with a grain of salt...) but they seem a bit more cumbersome than the order cards, which are an elegant and simple game expansion.
For those that are interested here is an overlay graph of Bohnanza compared to Erweiterungs-Set:
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