Review: Bohnanza, the card game

2024-12-09: Sorry, this seems to be more of a recommendation than a review. It has been so long that I do not even remember much of the game. I have not played it since mostly due to other life activities not because I didn't like the game. I probably will play this game again if it comes up, but probably not in the near future due to other life priorities.

Recommendation Summary

I just played this game for the first time and only one time. We had seven people with 2 more competitive players and 3 'have fun' players and 2 'forced to play along' players. The rules are pretty simple although a little difficult to explain as I tried to summarize the rules. I and another friend kept referring to the rules as we were playing and let a few rules go by just to keep the game moving.

Trading

Although this was not a problem with this group of friends, but I can definitely see this being abused with certain people (typically those who deny any knowledge of it and I believe that they genuinely think that way which does not change the fact that they abuse it). Trading is such a big pain point of mine and, in my opinion, oftentimes a failure point for many games.

I am not one to want to keep arguing trades that are obviously bad trades. By bad trades, I am generalizing to include macro level strategies. For example, a single player (player A) has been benefiting from a couple trades. The third person also entertains the thought of trading with player A because it benefits him not realizing that the trade benefits player A even more so due to the previous trades. Or even more simply that player A is already in the lead.

I have another friend who is very aggressive with trading. The game is very difficult to play when we have a player who is too kind to say no for many different reasons (no clue what is going on so goes with the 'flow', deceived to think that the trade is beneficial, wants to be friendly). These players are typically new players or new friends who will soon learn quickly not trade, but some people never learn. This friend of mine has a much higher win rate when there are new players or friends at the table.

When there is no one too gullible, the friend will continue to make trades that appear to be beneficial to them but do not realize that it benefits the other player more. I do not mean obvious trades where they give two and receive one. Many games have mechanics where you can build up a potentially long term high scoring game changing strategies. In these cases, I will typically lose to whoever happens to have the resources needed for the mentioned friend. I have no control over the trade. I could argue but after so many games, I am just too tired to explain. I'll play along but some players will just completely go into a 'forfeit' mode which just ruins the game too which makes it harder for me to come back from. I have been on the beneficial side of the trades at times too. But overall, I think trading ruins the game on the macro level especially when you have more players.

Besides strategy, there are many biases among players. You have couples who obviously would benefit in other ways besides within the game. Many times the wives will get the better side of the trade with a simple threat of someone sleeping on the couch and that someone not being her.

Conclusion

I like this game because it seems like you could play this straight forward with some strategy behind it. I think the game is pretty easy to explain after a game or two. There is quite a few opportunities to create a strategy on how to harvest and plant the beans which includes remember what cards have been played or used.

One con to the game that I do not particular enjoy even with other games is the ability to trade.