Bohnanza Board Game

Bohnanza is AWESOME. It is probably the most instantly enjoyable "board game suppliers" out there. I put board game in quotes, because it is essentially a card game - and it is all about trading. Each game takes about 45 minutes to an hour to play, depending on the speed of the players.

Bohnanza is a trading game. You get cards, which represent beans, and you can plant your beans in your fields, which return you gold once they are harvested. You are only allowed to plant beans in two fields however (you can buy a third later on in the game), and you can't plant more than one variety of bean in a certain field.

The decision to plant a certain bean in your field is a crucial game-changing choice. Once planted, you are dedicating yourself to the acquisition of that certain bean variety, and you will try to trade for those beans during the game with other players.

There are 12 or so different varieties of beans (depending on the amount of players, you add or remove some of the rare bean types). Some bean varieties require four of its beans on a certain field before you can harvest a gold piece for them, while others are instantly worth a single gold with a single bean.

Once a game of Bohnanza begins, it becomes it's own little economy. All you hear for the next hour are trade offers being thrown around the table from all sides, which causes rifts, battles, and overall a lot of fun. While playing, you need to be aware of what kinds of beans are currently in demand in the market (around the table). If you can successfully plant beans that are low in demand each time you plant a new variety, you will often be successful.

I struggled to rate the replay value of Bohnanza simply because it is enormously high for the first 30 or so times you play the game. I set it at 3.5 stars because after you play the game over and over and over, players begin to recognize that a trade is either beneficial or not - and you don't often see a mutually beneficial trade happen. This resulted in a number of stalemates in games between highly experienced players. That said, overall, you can't afford NOT to try Bohnanza out. It's easy to learn and immensely enjoyable. It is 10/10 fun. (3-5 players)

Bohnanza as a card/board game is instantly gratifying and a ton of fun. For a comprehensive ranking of Bohnanza and many other great games, check out this Best Board Games [http://www.lpboardgame.com/] site.