Rabohnzel
Rabohnzel Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Comparison to Bohnanza and Game Preparation
All the rules from "Bohnanza" apply, with two exceptions: A permanent "3rd Beanfield[1]" cannot be bought. In addition, the draw deck is played through four times with four or five players.
The Magic Cards are shuffled. Each player gets assigned a face-down Magic Card. On the Magic Card sits the first incantation that a player learns. In the course of the game, players may get further cantrips. The rest of the Magic Cards form a face-down draw deck.
The starting player is determined with the countdown procedure. First someone asks: "Does someone have a Magic Card that is worth ten bean pfennigs?" If nobody announces herself, someone continues by asking: "Does someone have a Magic Card that is worth nine bean pfennigs?" This procedure is continued until a player is found, who has the appropriate Magic Card. This player shows his Magic Card and becomes the starting player. Subsequently, each player sets out her Magic Card, face-down, in front of herself.
The deck with the bean cards is shuffled and placed face-down on the counting card for the draw deck. When the card deck becomes empty the first time in the course of the game, the discard pile is shuffled and placed on the counting card in such a way that the text "2nd Draw Deck[2]" is visible. On the back of the counting card sits "3rd Draw Deck[3]" and "4th Draw Deck[4]" for the third and fourth draw deck.
In "Bohnanza", a turn comprised four phases; "Rabohnzel" adds a phase with the number 1½, namely, the Magic Phase: It finds its place between the first phase, "Play bean cards from hand", and the second phase, "Trading and giving".
Alternative Actions in the Magic Phase
Basically, there are two alternative actions in the Magic Phase.
A. The types of beans on the fields of the current player unfurl their magic effect.
B. The current player can activate her Magic Cards by playing Magic Beans from her hand.
A. The Bean Types and Their Magic Effect
Of the seven types of beans, five have a magic effect: In the Magic Phase, the player whose turn it is may use the alternative actions, which her planted beans provide. She does not need to harvest the bean fields to do this. Which magic effect a type of beans has, is described on the bean cards, and is further elucidated below.
Examples: Sabine planted White Beans and Magic Beans. In the Magic Phase, she may use the magic effect of the White Beans and Magic Beans, once each. Then, it's Marion's turn. She has Pluck and Magic Beans planted. In Phase 1 she must play her foremost hand card, a Cape Bean. She harvests the Pluck Beans, plants the Cape Bean, and finishes Phase 1. Unfortunately, she cannot use the magic effect of the Pluck Beans in the following Magic Phase. And the Cape Bean has no magic effect.
B. Magic Beans Are Played from the Hand
The current player may pull as many Magic Beans from his hand as she would like, and from any position. She puts these bean cards on the discard pile. For playing these Magic Beans, each one activates its own Magic Card of her choice, by uncovering the card.
The activation of a spell is equivalent to the preparation of a magic potion. The potion can be drunk at a later time during her turn. Activated Magic Cards may thus be used once at any time later in her turn, i.e. the text on the card is executed. A used Magic Card is once again turned face-down. Ultimately, at the end of her own turn, all activated Magic Cards are again face-down: Used magic potions do not lose their effect.
The Magic Effect of the Beans
Pluck Beans[5] (×9 in the game): The player may steal the rear hand card from a fellow player. She announces which type of bean is shown on this card. The current player may stick the stolen card at the rear of her own hand, or place it on one of her own cultivated or empty bean fields. Of course, it is permitted to harvest a bean field immediately before planting the new bean. If she plants the new bean card on a (now) empty field, she may still use that new field's magic effect in the same phase. If she plants it on a cultivated field, nothing changes in her possibilities of using the magic effects of her bean fields.
Example: Andreas has Pluck Beans planted, takes a Pluck Bean from Heinrich, harvests his planted Pluck Beans, plants the new Pluck Bean on the newly empty field, and may again steal the rear bean from an opponent.
Cape Beans[6] (×11 in the game): The Cape Beans have no magic effect. Therefore, they grant no special alternative action for the current player during the Magic Phase. The advantage of the Cape Beans: Whoever harvests at least two Cape Beans (short form of "Capendo Bean[7]" ["Understanding Bean" – capisci?]), draws a new Magic Card from the draw deck, reads it to herself, then puts it face-down with her existing Magic Cards. She may keep the card a secret until she uses it for the first time. If the draw deck with the Magic Cards is empty, no new spells can be learned any more with Cape Beans. Anyone who harvests at least three Cape Beans gets not only a Magic Card, but additionally earns one to three bean talers (see beanometer).
Beastly Beans[8] (×13 in the game): Whoever has four or more Beastly Beans planted lets her fellow players shuffle their bean talers and randomly reveal a taler. All fellow players who have the highest number among the revealed cards may keep their taler. All fellow players who do not have the highest number must put their bean taler on the discard pile. Fellow players who do not have any bean talers are not affected by the magic effect of the Beastly Bean.
Example: Anja and Jana each reveal a Princess Bean (number 17); and Frank, a Cape Bean (number 11). Only Frank – being the player with the Cape Bean – must give up his bean taler.
White Beans[9] (×14 in the game): Whoever has White Beans planted may draw a new card from the draw deck to the back of her hand. Anyone who has four or more White Beans planted may instead choose to plant the drawn bean immediately. If the player plants the drawn bean on an empty bean field, she may use its magic effect immediately (as with the Pluck Bean). If the player plants the drawn bean on a cultivated field, she gets no additional advantage.
Example: André has four White Beans planted; because of that, in the Magic Phase, draws a card from the face-doen deck: a Pluck Bean. He harvests the White Beans, and plants the Pluck Beans, whose magic effect he uses immediately. He takes the last hand card from Frederikes and gets another Pluck Bean. He plants it on his existing Pluck Bean field; however, this means he cannot use the magic effect of the Pluck Bean again this turn.
Magic Beans[10] (×15 in the game): Whoever has Magic Beans planted may reveal one of her own Magic Cards and activate it in this fashion for the duration of her turn. Anyone who has four or more Magic Beans planted may even activate two Magic Cards. Activating a spell is equivalent to Alternative Action B, the preparation of a magic potion (see there).
Princess Beans[11] (×17 in the game): The Princess Bean has no effect in the Magic Phase. Instead, it has a very good beanometer (see right), for being represented 17 times in the game – why, is explained by the magic effect of the following bean.
Sword Beans[12] (×19 in the game): The current player may attack a fellow player. The chosen player must shuffle his money cards. Starting from the moment in which she names the player being attacked, that player may not harvest any more bean fields until the attack is done. The current player draws a bean taler from her fellow player, and shows which card she drew.
Princess Bean: The taler goes to the aggressor. Rabohnzel is released! The taler changes owners only if a Princess Bean is revealed. Thereafter, the attack is done.
Sword Bean: The bean taler remains with the defender. Now, the counterattack. The defender may now attack the aggressor, and draw a bean taler from her according to the rules described here (without even having to have Sword Beans planted). The current player may not harvest a field during the counterattack. A counterattack can lead to another counterattack.
Pluck Bean: The bean taler remains with the defender. The defender steals the rear hand card from the aggressor, says which bean card he took, and sticks it at the back of his hand or plants it – however, without then being allowed to use its magic effect. Thereafter, the attack is done.
Magic Bean: The bean taler remains with the defender. The aggressor may activate her own Magic Card. If it was through a Sword Bean counterattack that the passive player drew a Magic Bean from the current player, he may go ahead and activate a Magic Card now, and doesn't have to turn it face-down again until the end of his own turn. (The particulars: In this way, the Magic Card can already be used in, or directly before Phase 1 of his own turn.) Thereafter, the attack is done.
Cape Bean, Beastly Bean, White Bean: Nothing happens; the bean taler remains with the defender. The attack is done.
The Magic Cards
Magic Cards are activated in the Magic Phase. Each activated Magic Card may be used at any time during the player's own turn, exactly once. In parentheses, how much a Magic Card is worth at the end of the game, is indicated.
Aggression Spell[13] (Value: 1 bean pfennig): You only need to have at least one Beastly Bean planted in order to be able to use its magic effect during the Magic Phase. If you attack in the Magic Phase with Sword Beans, you may draw two talers from the opponent, then choose one! You return the other taler with no effect.
The Aggression Spell can only be used if the current player also has either Beastly Beans or Sword Beans planted. The Aggression Spell may only be used once with each activation – either for the Sword Beans or for the Beastly Beans (however, see the example of the Magic Card "Magical Card River"). Anyone who draws two bean talers of Sword or Pluck Beans by using her Sword Beans must choose one of the two – she may not purge both. An Aggression Spell may be activated several times in a turn.
Bean Field Spell[14] (Value: 1 bean pfennig): In the planting phase of your turn (Phase 3), you may open a third bean field. Note! As soon as you harvest one of your three fields, you have only two fields available.
Example: Anke has two Pluck and two Magic Beans planted. She would like to employ her Bean Field Spell in order to be able to plant her foremost hand card, a Sword Bean, to a third bean field. Unfortunately, it doesn't work this way, because a Magic Card can only be activated in the Magic Phase. Anke harvests the Pluck Beans and plants the Sword Bean. In the following Magic Phase, she activates the Bean Field Spell. She reveals two cards, a Sword and a Princess Bean. She plants both beans herself in the planting phase: The Princess Bean goes, by way of the Bean Field Spell, onto the third bean field. Until her next turn, she does not succeed in planting any further beans. Now she must plant her foremost hand card, a Cape Bean. Unfortunately, she must harvest both the Magic Beans and the Sword Beans, because her Princess Bean field is protected (it consists of only one card), and her third beanfield is not permanent.
Magic Card Exchange[15] (Value: 2 bean pfennigs): Give this card to a fellow player[16], and take a face-down Magic Card from him, which you either put down face-up or face-down in front of yourself: If you put it down face-up, it is activated. If you put the acquired Magic Card face-down, you may not activate another Magic Card in place of this Magic Card.
Commerce Charm[17] (Value: 3 bean pfennigs): At the beginning of the trading phase (Phase 2), you may immediately reveal a third bean card beside the usual two. You do not have to plant the bean cards you have revealed, and instead may put them on the discard pile in the planting phase (Phase 3).
The player decides, after she reveals the first two, whether she would like to reveal a third bean card.
Magical Card River[18] (Value: 4 bean pfennigs): You may play your foremost hand card, in sequence, as often as you like. Special case: If you use the Magical Card River while still in the Magic Phase, you may also use the magic effect of the newly played cards, if necessary.
The Magical Card River can be used in all phases. "In sequence" means that between the playing of the hand cards, only the magic effect can be used (Phase 1½) and bean fields may be harvested. It may not be traded (Phase 2), and also traded beans may not be planted (Phase 3). As with the magic effect of the Pluck Beans, here, too, the magic effect then can only be additionally used if a bean is planted on an empty field.
Example: Hagen is in the Magic Phase. He has the Magical Card River and uses it immediately. He has three Sword Beans in sequence in his hand. He puts the foremost Sword Bean on an empty field and uses the magic effect of the Sword Bean, since he is still in the Magic Phase. He harvests the Sword Bean, puts the next Sword Bean from his hand onto the bean field, and uses the magic effect of the Sword Bean again. Again, he harvests the Sword Bean, and additionally plays the third Sword Bean, and executes a third Sword Bean attack.
Deck Spell[19] (Value: 5 bean pfennigs): In the trading phase (Phase 2), you may place the top bean card of the discard pile face-up in front of yourself, and – like the two revealed bean cards – trade, give away, or plant it yourself.
Inevitably, whenever someone activates the Deck Spell by playing a Magic Bean from her hand, a Magic Bean will then be lying on top of the discard pile. The player must still harvest a field with a different bean, in order to be able to offer something other than the Magic Bean.
Example: It's Katrin's turn. She has two Pluck and two Magic Beans planted, and activates her Deck Spell. Katrin reveals a Sword and a Magic Bean. A Princess Bean lies on the discard pile. Susanne offers Katrin a Magic Bean, but she wants a Pluck Bean for it. Since Katrin doesn't have a Pluck bean in her hand, she harvests her Pluck Beans. She takes the Pluck Bean that just went to the discard pile, and exchanges it for Susanne's Magic Bean.
Enchantment of the Beans[20] (Value: 6 bean pfennigs): In the planting phase of your turn (Phase 3), you may put a second bean on any first bean in a field! In this way, you enchant the first bean instantly into the type of the second bean. In the event of a harvest, if a bean taler is produced, the enchanted first bean may not be taken for this.
Enchantment of the Fellow Players[21] (Value: 7 bean pfennigs): When you use this spell, all fellow players must plant their foremost hand card immediately. If you like, you may also plant your foremost hand card.
Example: Frank enchants his fellow players. All players put their foremost hand card on an existing bean field. None of his fellow players find themselves forced to harvest a bean field. Frank is annoyed. What he does not suspect: All players now have a bean card in the front of their hand that does not match their fields! Thus, the spell has provided Frank an advantage, nevertheless.
Relocation Spell[22] (Value: 8 bean pfennigs): You may relocate a hand card!
A player may even use the Relocation Spell after drawing the last bean card in Phase 4. The turn is not considered to be immediately over.
Hand Cards Spell[23] (Value: 9 bean pfennigs): If you refrain from trading with your fellow players in the trading phase (Phase 2); at the end of your turn, you may draw five cards, instead of three, into your hand.
In the trading phase, two cards must be revealed. She may lead discussions about the beans, as long as it doesn't result in an exchange of cards, if the current player wishes to draw five cards at the end of her turn.
Luck Spell[24] (Value: 10 bean pfennigs): Activate the top Magic Card of the draw deck! The card is shuffled back in at the end of your turn. Special case: If you draw and use the Magic Card Exchange, you will shuffle not the card you drew, but the exchanged card back into the deck.
If the draw deck for the Magic Cards becomes empty, unfortunately, the Luck Spell has no more effect.
Example for the special case: Hanno activates the Luck Spell. He reveals the Magic Card Exchange, and exchanges this card with one of Felix' Magic Cards. He takes Felix' Aggression Spell, and uses it. At the end of his turn, Hanno shuffles the Aggression Spell back into the draw deck, regardless of whether he used it. The Magic Card Exchange remains in Felix' possession; the Luck Spell remains in Hanno's possession.
Game End and Winner of the Game
In a game with three players, the match ends when the draw deck is exhausted the third time. In a game with four or five players, the match ends when the draw deck is exhausted the fourth time. The player with the most bean talers wins. Magic cards are worth bean pfennigs (100 bean pfennigs are equivalent to one bean taler): In a tie by bean talers, the one with more bean pfennigs is better.
Footnotes as printed in the source, giving the German original of each term:
[1] 3. Bohnenfeld [2] 2. Zugstapel [3] 3. Zugstapel [4] 4. Zugstapel [5] Pflückbohnen [6] Kapbohnen [7] Kapierbohne [8] Gemeine Bohnen [9] Weiße Bohnen / Weisse Bohnen [10] Zauberbohnen [11] Prinzessbohnen [12] Schwertbohnen [13] Angriffszauber [14] Bohnenfeldzauber [15] Zauberkartentausch [16] [We presume that your opponent receives your Magic Card Exchange card face-down, lest he be able to use it on his turn without activating it himself. Besides, you just drank the potion.] [17] Handelszauber [18] Magischer Kartenfluss [19] Stapelzauber [20] Verzauberung der Bohnen [21] Verzauberung der Mitspieler [22] Umsteckzauber [23] Handkartenzauber [24] Zufallszauber
The Rules of the Bohnanza Base Game
Game Concept
Each player trades with beans, which she plants on her fields. The more beans of the same type that a player has on a field, the higher the profit of the bean harvest. Unfortunately, a player is often forced to sell her bean harvest early at low prices. The goal of the game is it to earn the most talers in the bean trade.
The Bean Cards, Talers, and Fields
Each bean type is represented in the game with a different frequency. How many cards of a type there are is indicated on the bean cards. At the bottom of each bean card is the beanometer. It indicates how many talers a player receives for the sale of her beans: The numbers indicate how many bean cards of the same type a player must sell in order to receive one, two, three, or four bean talers. From the sale of her harvest, a player receives bean talers by flipping bean cards: one card has the value of one bean taler. Each player uses the table space in front of herself for the cultivation of the beans. This area represents her two bean fields. As many beans of the same type as desired may be planted on one bean field, i.e., the bean cards are put down one atop the other.
Game Setup
The bean cards are shuffled. Each player receives five cards in her hand. Note this ground rule: The players may not alter the order of the cards in their hands at any time during the game. Sorting the cards is not allowed. The rest of the cards form the face-down draw deck. A starting player is determined.
The Flow of Game Play
The current player's turn consists of four phases: 1. Playing bean cards from hand, 2. Trading and giving, 3. Planting beans, 4. Drawing new beans.
1st Phase: Playing Bean Cards from Hand
The player must put the first card in her hand, i.e. the foremost completely visible bean, on one of her bean fields. If the player does not have any cards in her hand, then she skips this phase. If the player must place a bean wich does not match the types of beans on her fields, then she must first harvest and sell all the beans from a field. Subsequently, she may play the second card from her hand.
2nd Phase: Trading and Giving
The player draws two bean cards from the draw deck and places them face-up on the table. She considers whether she would like to keep these cards. If she keeps one or both cards, she puts it/them down – separately from the cards on her bean fields – in front of herself.
Trading: Those cards, which she would not like to keep, she offers to her fellow players. In general: A trade is only permitted with the player whose turn it is. Besides the two revealed cards, the current player also may offer cards from her hand. Her fellow players may only trade with their hand cards. They can offer or demand several bean cards for one bean card. Even if the revealed cards find homes, hand cards may still be traded. Note: The traded cars are set down in front of each player, separately from the cards on the bean fields. They may neither be taken into the hand, nor may they be traded further! Also, with trading, the order of the cards in the players' hands may not be changed. They players may offer any card, no matter where the card is in the hand. Cards, which a player would like to offer, may only be pulled from the hand once the trade has been agreed upon.
Giving: During the entire trading phase, bean cards may also be given away. The current player may give cards from her hand, or cards which she revealed from the draw deck, to all fellow players. Again, her fellow players may give only her – no other player – cards from their hands. Gifts do not have to be accepted. If the current player did not manage to unload the revealed bean cards onto her fellow players, she is forced to plant them on her fields in the next phase, "Planting Beans". The current player decides when to declare the "Trading and Giving" phase as completed.
3rd Phase: Planting Beans
All players put the the cards they received onto their fields. The order in which a player puts the cards down on her bean fields is arbitrary. Players may harvest between the planting of individual beans. If a player cannot plant her bean due to having different types of beans on her fields, she must harvest the beans of one of her fields before she plants any further beans.
4th Phase: Drawing New Bean Cards
The current player draws three bean cards, one at a time, in order, from the draw deck, and puts them in the back of her hand. In a clockwise direction, the following players get their turns.
If the draw deck becomes empty in this phase or in the trading phase, the discard pile is shuffled to become the new draw deck.
Harvests and Selling Beans
If a player wants to harvest a bean field, she must always sell all the beans on the field. Sell as follows: The player counts the beans on the field. The beanometer on the card indicates how many talers the player receives for these beans. The player flips the appropriate number of the harvested bean cards to the taler side, and puts them down – separately from the remaining cards – in front of herself. The beans not converted into talers are put with the bean side face-up on the discard pile.
In some cases, a player receives no bean talers from a sale. If a player wants to or must harvest beans, she may select the field whose beans she harvests. However: A bean field, on which there is only one card, may not be harvested! Exception: Only if each of a player's bean fields has no more than one bean card on it, may the player harvest an individual bean card.
Players may harvest bean fields and sell the harvested beans at any time, even if it is not their turn.
End of the Game
If the draw deck becomes empty for the third time during the "Trading and Giving" phase, the "Trading and Giving" and "Planting Beans" phases are still played through. If the draw deck becomes empty for the third time during the "Drawing New Bean Cards" phase, the game is over immediately. Each player now may still harvest her bean fields and sell the beans. The cards in their hands do not count any more. Whoever has the most bean talers thereafter, wins!