Bohn to Be Wild!
Bohn to Be Wild! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Concept
By Uwe Rosenberg. For 1–7 players, ages 12 and up. Duration: about 60 minutes.
Contents: 154 bean cards, 7 trade cards, 1 overview board.
Bohn to Be Wild! plays just like the original Bohnanza, except for the appearance of wild beans with additional actions. The Bohnometers also have gone pretty wild: they go up to five Bohnentalers!
Each player is a bean merchant, which she grows in her fields and then sells as profitably as possible. The more beans of the same variety a player has in a field, the higher the profit when she sells the bean harvest. Unfortunately, a player often is forced to harvest her beans too early, and must sell at low prices; sometimes a harvest brings no profit whatsoever. The aim of the game is to earn the most coins in the bean trade.
Note: If you already are adept with Bohnanza, you will have an easier time digesting the rules if you first refer to "What's New in Bohn to Be Wild!", which provides an overview of the key changes.
Components
The Bean Cards
There are eleven different bean varieties. Each variety appears with a different frequency in the game. How many cards of a variety are available in the game is indicated on the respective bean card.
Frequency of the 11 varieties of beans in the game:
- 19 × Pferdebohnen (horse beans)
- 18 × Kuhbohnen (cowpeas)
- 17 × Gemeine Bohnen (common beans)
- 16 × Schwarze Bohnen (black beans)
- 15 × Chilibohnen (chili beans)
- 14 × Chinabohnen (China beans)
- 13 × Jamaikabohnen (Jamaica beans)
- 12 × Yin Yang Bohnen (Yin Yang beans)
- 11 × Fassbohnen (barrel beans)
- 10 × Indianerbohnen (Indian beans)
- 9 × Helmbohnen (helmet beans)
At the bottom of each bean card, you will find the Bohnometer. The numbers indicate how many bean cards a player must sell to get one, two, three, four, or five Bohnentalers (bean dollars).
Example: Selling a crop of 1–2 Pferdebohnen earns no Bohnentalers; 3–5 Pferdebohnen are worth one Taler; 6–7 earn two Talers; 8, three Talers; 9, four Talers; and 10 or more Pferdebohnen earn you five Bohnentalers.
Each variety has some bean cards with an icon at the top or on the right side of the card. Cards with these icons are called "wild beans". Wild beans enable you to perform special actions (see "The Wild Beans" below).
The Bohnentalers
When you sell a bean harvest, you earn Bohnentalers by turning over bean cards from the harvest. To this end, each face-down bean card is worth one Bohnentaler.
The Bean Fields
The table space in front of you represents your bean fields. On a bean field, you may plant as many beans of the same variety as you like. Place the bean cards overlapping in a column, so everyone can see how many beans are in the field.
Each player has the following number of bean fields:
- with 3 players, four fields
- with 4–5 players, three fields
- with 6–7 players, two fields
The Trade Cards
These cards are used in the trading phase. They serve to remind you who owes you one or two cards on her turn.
Setup (3–7 players)
Shuffle the bean cards. Deal each player five cards for her hand.
Fundamental Rule: You are never allowed to change the order of the cards in your hand. Sorting the cards, as is customary in other card games, is forbidden. This means that when cards are dealt to you, you must take them in the order the dealer deals them. A new card is always inserted behind the last (rearmost) card.
The remaining cards are placed coin-side-up as a draw pile, in the middle of the table. The player to the left of the dealer is the first active player. She gets the trade card with the "1". Clockwise around the table, each other player receives the next-higher trade card. (E.g. Player 5 gets the "5".) Return unused trade cards to the box. Place the overview board, with the notes on the "wild beans", where everyone can see it.
Playing the Game
When you are the active player, your turn has four phases:
- Plant bean cards from your hand
- Trading and donations
- Plant received beans
- Draw new bean cards
Phase 1: Plant Bean Cards From Your Hand
You must plant the first card in your hand, which is the foremost card in your hand, whose entire front you can see; place it on a bean field in front of you. You either start a fresh bean field, or add it to an existing field.
Next, you may plant a second card, which is now the foremost card in your hand. A third card is not permitted.
A bean field can only have cards of one variety, unless a wild bean permits otherwise. If you plant a wild bean, its special action goes into effect immediately.
If you are forced to plant a bean variety that does not match the varieties in any of your fields, you must harvest all the beans from a field to make room for it (see "Harvesting and Selling Beans").
Phase 2: Trading and Donations
Draw three cards from the draw pile and place them face-up on the table. If you want to keep one, two, or all three cards, put them in front of yourself, well separated from the cards of your bean fields.
Any cards you do not want to keep, you can offer to the other players. If nobody is willing to take any of the face-up bean cards, you will have to take them and plant them in the next phase, "Plant received beans".
Note: You may place one of the three cards revealed during the trading phase on the discard pile, which is formed next to the draw pile.
Example: Uwe revealed a Chilibohne, a Jamaikabohne, and a Kuhbohne. He keeps the Chilibohne and offers the other two beans to the other players, because they do not fit on his bean fields. He asks, "Would someone like these two beans, in exchange for giving me a Schwarze Bohne?"
Basically:
- The active player may interact with any player. The other players may not trade with each other.
- The active player may offer cards from her hand, in addition to the face-up cards. The other players may only offer cards from their hands.
- The order of cards in the players' hands must not be changed; however, you are allowed to offer any hand card, regardless of where the card is in your hand. Just don't remove it from your hand until the trade is completely agreed upon.
- A player is welcome to offer several bean cards for one bean card or request.
Example: Uwe says, "In addition to the two face-up beans, I'll kick in a Pferdebohne from my hand for a single Schwarze Bohne." Volker counteroffers: "I'll give you a Schwarze Bohne for the Jamaikabohne and the Pferdebohne, but I don't want the Kuhbohne." "It's a deal," says Uwe, who then chucks the Kuhbohne onto the discard pile.
- Always set cards you receive in trade well away from your bean fields. You may not put them into your hand, nor are you allowed to re-trade them!
- While trading you may not reveal whether a card is a normal bean or a wild bean. If you have both, you can give whichever card you wish.
- Even if the cards revealed from the deck have found homes, hand cards can still be traded.
Donations
During the entire trading phase, bean cards may also be given away. The active player may give any players cards from his hand or cards that he has revealed from the deck. The other players may only give (or trade) cards to him — and only hand cards, at that. You are never required to accept donations.
Trade Cards
If you want a particular bean card from another player, but right now you have nothing to offer in return, you may promise to give the player one or two cards the next time you reveal cards from the deck in Phase 2.
If the player consents, she gets a reminder in the form of a trade card. She lays it in front of herself, either one-card-side-up or two-card-side-up, according to the trade agreement. The arrow should be pointing toward you. Once you have revealed the three cards in your next Phase 2, the player is allowed to immediately take one or two cards (depending on which side is facing up on the trade card) and place them in front of her (not yet on her fields). The player does not have to take a card. In either case, she gives the trade card back to you.
Your "Trading and donations" phase is done when you do not want to do any more trading, and you declare it over.
Phase 3: Plant Received Beans
All players now add the beans they received in Phase 2 to their fields. The active player starts, with the other players following in clockwise order. The order in which you plant your beans in your fields is up to you. As soon as you plant a wild bean, its action is in effect.
Example: Uwe must now plant the Chilibohne and Schwarze Bohne he received from Volker. He plants the Chilibohne on his first field, and the Schwarze Bohne on his second field.
Note: Between the various plantings, bean fields may be harvested.
If you have nowhere to plant a bean, due to mismatched types, you must harvest all the beans of a bean field, so you can plant all the beans you received in Phase 2.
Phase 4: Draw New Bean Cards
Each player draws one card from the draw pile and takes it back to his hand. The active player starts, the other players follow in clockwise order.
The role of the active player moves clockwise to your left neighbor.
The Draw Pile Is Exhausted
If in Phase 2 or Phase 4 there are no more cards in the deck, shuffle the discard pile and turn it face-down as a new draw pile (see also "Game End").
Harvesting and Selling Beans
Bean fields can always be harvested and the beans thereupon sold. You select the field that you wish to harvest. You must always harvest and sell all the beans on the field.
Note: A bean field with only one bean may only be harvested when the player has no other bean field with more than one bean on it.
Selling means: Count the beans on the field; the Bohnometer at the bottom of the card indicates how many Talers you receive for these beans. Starting with the most recently planted card, turn the corresponding number of bean cards to their coin side, and then set them in front of yourself, separated from the rest of your cards. The beans not converted into Talers go bean-side-up onto the discard pile.
Example: Three Schwarze Bohnen are worth just one Bohnentaler. Marc turns the most recently planted of the three Schwarze Bohnen over onto his profits to receive one Bohnentaler. He puts the other two Schwarze Bohnen on the discard pile.
Sometimes you have to harvest a field even when you will receive no Talers from the sale.
Example: Volker harvests two Gemeinen Bohnen, but earns no Bohnentaler.
The Wild Beans
Bean cards with icons are "wild beans". The wild beans' icons are shown at the top or the right of the card.
Wild beans are no different from normal beans when they are revealed in Phase 2, or when they are in a player's hand.
The action of a wild bean immediately goes into effect when it is planted in a field in Phase 1 or 3. The effect applies as long as its icon can be seen in the field. An icon at the top will always be visible, but an icon on the right can become covered by another card.
Explanation of the Assorted Action Icons
- On this field, you may plant either variety depicted. Always use the visible Bohnometer when you harvest.
- When harvesting this field, count this card as two beans of the variety depicted. If this causes you to earn more Talers than there are beans in the field, take the additional Talers from the draw deck.
- When you are the active player, you must take at least one of the three cards you reveal in Phase 2 to plant on your fields in Phase 3.
- Before you plant your beans in Phase 1, you ask your right neighbor whether you must plant precisely one or precisely two beans from your hand.
- When you are the active player, you must skip Phase 1.
- Beans that you are required to plant in Phases 1 and 3, you may instead actually put on the discard pile.
- In Phase 1, you may plant any one or two hand cards, regardless of where they are in your hand.
- When you are the active player, you may draw one additional card in Phase 4.
- In Phase 4, you may choose whether to put the card you draw in the front or back of your hand.
- Before you perform your Phase 1, you may show and offer any one card from your hand to the other players. Whoever receives the gift must plant it in Phase 3. If multiple players want to accept the gift, you decide who gets it. If no one accepts the gift, you may put the card in the back of your hand.
- On some "wild beans", there is a bean-skull, instead of a Bohnometer. This means: if you harvest this field while the bean-skull is visible, you earn no Talers from this field. Once the bean-skull becomes covered, it is again possible to harvest the field for Talers.
Game End
Bohn to be Wild! goes into the last round when the draw pile has been exhausted:
- once in a 3–4-player game,
- twice in a 5–6-player game,
- thrice in a 7-player game.
Play out the round until the player to the right of the start player has finished her turn. The start player does not get another turn. Each player can now harvest and sell her bean fields. The cards in your hands do not count for anything. Whoever has the most Bohnentalers wins.
Also see the comic-rules at www.amigo-bohnanza.de.
The Two-Player Game
The trade cards are not used, and the wild beans' actions are ignored. Any bean-skulls that turn up are ignored; treat them as if they were the Bohnometer for the corresponding bean variety.
All previous rules apply, with the following changes. Before the game begins, each player receives five cards in the hand and five cards on the table in front of her (well separated from her bean fields) as an offer for her opponent. Matching beans may be sorted and offered side-by-side.
Each player has four fields. The players alternate turns. The active player's turn consists of two phases:
- A. The hand cards phase
- B. The offering phase
A. The Hand Cards Phase
- The active player draws two cards, one at a time from the deck, to her hand. She decides where in her hand to put the two cards.
- The active player plants any number (at least one) of hand cards. With each card, she always has the choice of planting the foremost or the rearmost card from her hand. So, in the same turn, she is allowed to plant cards from both the front and the back.
Attention! In the hand cards phase, a maximum of one new bean field can be started. That is, the active player may grow only one new bean variety, which was not already in his fields.
B. The Offering Phase
- The active player draws two cards from the draw pile and places them face-up in her own offer.
- Then she draws one card from the draw pile and places it face-up in her opponent's offer.
- The active player chooses one of the two offers and plants as many bean cards as she wants (at least one) from this offer on her fields.
Attention! In the offering phase, a maximum of one new bean field can be started. Thus, over the course of the active player's turn, a maximum of two bean fields with new bean varieties can be started.
Bonus Taler
Once a player empties an offer or his hand of cards, the offer or the hand is immediately replenished with five cards from the deck. The cards are drawn one at a time, and taken to the offer or the hand (as appropriate). As a reward, the player may then receive one Bohnentaler: she takes a card from the draw pile, or any card from her hand, and places it on her Talers.
Game End
Once the last card of the draw deck is drawn, the game ends. The phase in which this occurs is played to the end. All hand cards and the cards in the offers go onto the discard pile. Then both players harvest and sell their bean fields. The player with the most Bohnentalers wins. In a tie, the player who was not the first player wins.
The Solo Game
This is played according to the rules of the two-person game, with the following changes. You have three offers available (Offers A, B, and C). Alternate between the hand cards phase and the offering phase. Nothing is different with the hand cards phase. At the beginning of the offering phase, you must add one card from the draw deck to each of the three offers. Do this in a specific order: first Offer A, then B, then C.
Your goal is to earn at least 80 Bohnentalers.
What's New in Bohn to Be Wild!
Naturally, Bohn to Be Wild! is a Bohnanza game. But there are a number of changes from the original game.
First, there are the eleven new bean varieties. They are actually all new varieties of beans, and they are not inventions of the designer or publisher: the new names are generic or trade names. You can find a little more information at www.amigo-bohnanza.de. Each new variety also has a new Bohnometer, which goes up as high as five Bohnentalers for some varieties. Depending on the variety, the Bohnometer will have either three, four, or five steps.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the trading phase changes. The active player will reveal three cards, instead of two, and the active player may put one of the three cards on the discard pile. The trade cards provide a new way to trade beans with one another. In the draw new bean cards phase, each player draws one card to her hand, regardless of who the active player is.
The game does not end immediately when the draw pile is exhausted; instead, finish the round: the game ends when the player to the right of the start player finishes her turn.
The biggest change is the "wild beans". For each variety of bean, there are beans with additional actions that will be carried out if their icons are displayed visibly in the fields.
Last but not least, there are new two-player and solo rules.
Afterword by Designer Uwe Rosenberg
To whose children he notes how fast they get older. I am fortunate that my daughter and my son are still very small, and my perception of this time does not pass as fast.
"Bohnanza", certainly my oldest "baby" (and this term matches my feelings over the years), is now 15 years old, and is in the middle of puberty. Actually, 17 years, because I had invented "Bohnanza" in 1995. I spent the two-year "gestation" (it took so long for the first playtests until publication) impatiently. In the first three months of "pregnancy" I felt pretty good. Every day, I had played "Collective" — so the game was still called. Today I play "Bohnanza" not quite as often. But it is a general truth that fathers and their adolescents do not play together as often. After all: "Bohnanza" and I are friends on Facebook, and this status between father and teenage children is often uncool.
Once I got my women-and-men-Bohnanza "Ladybohn" and the resulting variant "Mutterböhnchen" working, I had the idea of giving the beans character. I wanted manly beans, so that there could be specifically unmanly, plain "Mutterböhnchen". The game was a very lively one. So much so, that I also wanted to have similar actions in "Bohnanza". It was a short path from "lively" to "wild" to "Bohn to Be Wild". I developed 60 card texts, from which the AMIGO editors selected the best and — much like the Indians — translated them into an arrow and icon language. For this achievement, my sincere thanks! The icons are chosen very aptly. It is fascinating to me how many beans we have found that are associated with America and the western theme.
I wish you much fun with BOHN TO BE WILD!
— Your Uwe, Gütersloh, in July of 2012
Afterword by Illustrator Björn Pertoft
I remember very well how, at the AMIGO stand at the 1996 Toy Fair, I was commissioned to draw funny beans for a game with the working title "Collective". Then I wallowed in meters of cooking and gardening books to have something to base my caricatures upon. There were also puns like Blaue Bohne (a "blue bean" — a German idiom for a bullet, equivalent to the American word "slug"). From this pun, "the graphical game" lives on, even in Bohn to Be Wild! From this, I felt there should be more of a "beany" implementation of themes of America and adventure. For the first drawings, I was sitting in the garden at sunset. I lacked only the wild mountains of the American desert, and the mood would have been perfect. I hope that all Bohnanza fans pick up on this mood when playing, and I wish you the same fun I have had in this wild drawing.
— Your Björn, Darmstadt, Germany, in July of 2012
Publisher Information
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