Bohnanza FAQ
92 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Game components and setup
Step 1: Plant bean cards
- How many cards can you plant during the planting step of your turn?
- Can you plant the same type of bean in more than one field?
- Can you plant two beans of the same type in the same field in one turn?
- Is there a maximum number of beans a bean field can hold, and must you harvest once it reaches its top payout?
- Must you harvest a field when you have no empty field for a bean you must plant?
- If you must plant a bean and have no room, can you harvest a field that pays no coins?
- If you have an empty field, must you harvest a field before planting a bean that matches none of your fields?
- What happens if you start your turn with no cards in hand, or have no beans to plant?
- Can you discard a bean card instead of planting it?
Steps 2 to 4: Trading, planting received beans and drawing
- Who can trade with whom, and can you trade outside your turn or the trading step?
- Can the active player trade cards from hand as well as the two face-up cards, and must face-up cards be traded?
- Can you trade the two face-up cards before trading cards from your hand, and must you finish with them first?
- Can the active player trade with more than one player in the same turn, and is there a limit on cards?
- Can a trade be unequal, include zero cards, or be a donation?
- Can a non-active player donate a card to the active player, or start a deal with any trade ratio?
- Must a donated card be accepted, and what happens to a refused card?
- If nobody trades for or accepts your face-up cards or a drawn bean, must you plant it, or can you discard it?
- Can a card you receive in a trade or donation be traded again, or go back into your hand?
- Can you trade for a bean of a type you already hold, so both players can plant it this turn?
- Are promises, favours or IOUs binding, and can you trade a bean you do not hold yet?
- Can you give a different card than the one you promised, by handing it over face down?
- Can you trade gold coins for beans?
- Can you make simultaneous trades with two or more players and carry them out together?
- Can you trade away every card in your hand when you are not the active player?
- When must cards you receive in a trade or donation be planted, and in what order?
- How many cards do you draw at the end of your turn?
- When the draw deck runs out, is the discard pile reshuffled, and are gold cards reshuffled too?
- Can a trade take effect after the trading phase has ended, such as trading cards you drew at the end of your turn?
Harvesting and selling beans
- Can you harvest or sell a bean field during another player's turn?
- Can you harvest a bean field in the middle of your turn, between planting one card and the next?
- Can you harvest or sell a single-bean field while another of your fields holds two or more beans?
- Can you sell a single-bean field when your other bean fields are empty?
- Can you harvest one single-bean field to plant a new bean when all your fields hold only one bean each?
- When you sell beans, which bean cards go back to the discard pile?
- If a field holds more beans than the beanometer's highest step, how much gold do you get?
- Can you sell only some of the cards from a bean field?
Buying a third bean field
- Can you still buy a third bean field, and does that depend on the edition?
- Where do the three gold coins go when you buy a third bean field?
- Can you buy a third bean field at any time, even when you are not the active player?
- Once you buy a third bean field, do you keep it for the rest of the game, and does the single-bean sale rule apply to it?
Ending and scoring
Variations based on number of players
- Are the bean removals and starting hands for each player count optional?
- Which bean types are removed from the deck at each player count?
- How are the starting cards dealt in 6- and 7-player games, and why?
- In a 3-player game, does each player start with a third bean field, and keep it?
- Does the Amigo edition differ from the Rio Grande version in player count?
The bean duel for 2 players
- Do you play the regular game or the Bean Duel with only two players?
- Is there any trading in the two-player Bean Duel?
- In the two-player Bean Duel, can you harvest or sell beans, or a field, during your opponent's turn?
- In the two-player Bean Duel, can you sell a single-bean field to plant the cards you turned up, or clear a field one bean at a time?
- In the Bean Duel, can you keep all the turned-up cards so your opponent gets none, or plant all three into one field by selling in between?
- In the two-player Bean Duel, how do matching discard-pile cards join the three cards you draw, and when can you sell?
- In the two-player Bean Duel, can you plant beans you sold or discarded earlier this turn from the discard pile?
- In the two-player Bean Duel, do sold beans go to the discard pile or out of the game?
- In the two-player Bean Duel, how many times do you go through the draw deck, and what setup changes apply?
- In the two-player Bean Duel, when can you discard a card from your hand?
- In the two-player Bean Duel, what can you do with the cards your opponent left as an offer?
- In the Bean Duel, who decides the order in which unwanted offered cards are discarded?
- Can the two-player Bean Duel be played with a deck that lacks Cocoa, Wax or Coffee beans?
- Can you use the two-player Bean Duel rules with the Amigo edition?
General
- Are the English rules the same as the original German rules?
- What changed between the older 1990s rules and the current edition?
- Is there a solo mode for Bohnanza?
- Can you look through the discard pile or other players' coin piles to see which beans have been used?
- Can you show your whole hand of cards to the other players?
- Can you ask other players for a specific bean you need?
- If the last bean of a type turns up but you thought it was already gone, can you take it out of the game?
High Bohn PlusExpansion
- How many players does High Bohn Plus support?
- If an Order card is second in your hand, can you plant the bean behind it on the same turn?
- How much does a third bean field cost in High Bohn Plus, and must the thalers be the top three from your stack?
- How do you get a new order card in High Bohn Plus?
- In High Bohn Plus, where do the coins from a bean stew harvest go, and do coins placed under a Cognac building count toward your score?
- Can you trade coins for beans in High Bohn Plus?
- In High Bohn Plus, can all three bean fields be used for bean stew?
- Can you upgrade a building by buying a more expensive one for the same bean type?
- In High Bohn Plus, can you play with High Bohn, the Cognac beans and the Order cards together?
- In High Bohn Plus, do the Red Bean buildings' bonuses count thalers you spent on buildings?
- In High Bohn Plus, can you buy a Garden Bean building that costs more beans than your single harvest?
- In High Bohn Plus, what do the Distillery 2 and Bank 2 buildings do?
- Can you play a General Store bean and plant two other cards in the same turn in High Bohn Plus?
BohnaparteExpansion
- Does the Bohnaparte quarry start full, and can it be refilled?
- In Bohnaparte, does a Fortress count toward the twelve landscape cards that end the game?
- In Bohnaparte, does a Fortress raise the printed value of the card it protects, or only the defender's play?
- In Bohnaparte, can you attack a city without a cannon?
- In Bohnaparte, does a cannon break a tie at 20, and which defences does it break ties against?