Excalibohn

Excalibohn Rulebook

Table of Contents

Differences from Bohnanza
Game Material & Setup
Course of the Game
The Bean Harvest
- The special Bohnometer of the Cap Bean
- The Bean Protection Rule
An Empty Draw Pile
End of the Game
The Bean Abilities
The Spell Cards

Differences from Bohnanza

Do you already know the game Bohnanza? Then here is a quick overview of the most important differences in Excalibohn:

After planting one or two cards from your hand there is an additional Phase 1b for the active player: the magic phase.
Most bean varieties have special bean abilities. The active player uses these in Phase 1b if he has planted the corresponding beans.
Every player starts with one spell card and can receive more during the game. He activates them in Phase 1b in order to use them during his turn.

Game Material & Setup

Each player receives one of the five bean field trays and places it in front of him. It shows the two bean fields that are available to him during the game. Return bean field trays that are not needed to the box.

Shuffle the spell cards face down and deal one of them to each player. Determine who has the spell card with the highest Groschen amount at the bottom right. To do so, first ask whether anyone has the 10-Groschen card, then the 9-Groschen card, etc., until the first player speaks up. He is the starting player of this game. Then place your spell cards face down in front of you.

Place the remaining spell cards as a face-down spell card deck in the middle of the table.

There are 98 bean cards with seven different bean varieties. How often a variety appears in the game is shown by the large number on the respective bean card:

Pflückbohne (Picker Bean): 9x
Kapbohne (Cap Bean): 11x
Gemeine Bohne (Mean Bean): 13x
Weiße Bohne (White Bean): 14x
Zauberbohne (Magic Bean): 15x
Prinzessbohne (Princess Bean): 17x
Schwertbohne (Sword Bean): 19x

Shuffle all bean cards and deal five hand cards to each player, one at a time.

Attention, the most important rule of the game: You may NOT change the order of the cards in your hand during the entire game. The first card dealt to you is the front card of your hand. It is fully visible. You tuck every further card behind it. You may not sort the cards.

Place the remaining bean cards with the coin side up as a face-down draw pile in the middle of the table. In doing so, slide the round card halfway under the pile so that "I." is visible. This indicates that the draw pile is being played through for the first time.

During the game a discard pile will form next to the draw pile, and each player will have a coin pile.

Finally, give each player one overview card "The Phases of the Game" and one "The Bean Abilities".

Course of the Game

The starting player is the first active player. After that you continue clockwise. As the active player you carry out the following phases in order:

Phase 1a: Plant bean cards from your hand
Phase 1b: Use the abilities of the beans and activate spell cards
Phase 2: Turn up bean cards and trade
Phase 3: Plant traded and turned-up bean cards
Phase 4: Draw bean cards

Important rules for planting beans

On one field you may only plant beans of the same variety.
You are, however, allowed to plant the same variety on several fields at the same time.
The bean cards are laid one below the other on the fields. The card laid last on a field is the top, fully visible card.

Phase 1a: Plant bean cards from your hand

I. You must plant the front bean card of your hand, i.e. the fully visible card, on one of your fields.

II. After that you may plant one further bean card, the now fully visible card, on one of your fields.

You may not plant a third bean.

By planting you start or extend the row of cards on the field.

If you must plant a bean variety but have no field available for it, you must first harvest a field (see p. 13 "The Bean Harvest").

If you have no cards in your hand at the beginning of Phase 1a, go straight to Phase 1b.

Phase 1b: Use the abilities of the beans and activate spell cards

You may use the special abilities of the bean varieties that you have planted on your fields. Use the abilities in any order.

If you have planted the same bean variety on several fields, you can use its ability correspondingly several times.

If during Phase 1b you start a new row of cards on a field, you may also use the ability of the newly planted bean variety.

You do not have to harvest a field in order to use the ability of the planted bean variety.

Example 1: Timon has planted a Princess Bean and a Picker Bean on his fields. He uses the ability of the Picker Bean and pulls the rearmost hand card from a fellow player. Since it is another Picker Bean, he plants it directly on his existing field. Because with the new Picker Bean he has extended the row of cards and not newly started it, he cannot use the ability of the Picker Bean again.

All bean abilities are described in detail from p. 17 "The Bean Abilities".

You may discard Magic Beans from your hand in order to activate your spell cards (= turn them to the front side). For each spell card you want to activate, place one Magic Bean on the discard pile. It does not matter where this Magic Bean is in your hand.

All spell cards are described in detail from p. 20 "The Spell Cards".

Phase 2: Turn up bean cards and trade

Draw the top two cards from the draw pile and lay them face up next to it, visible to all. The turned-up cards belong to you. They are available to you for planting on your fields or for trading with your fellow players.

Example 2: Timon has turned up a Mean Bean and a Princess Bean. He keeps the Princess Bean. The Mean Bean he offers to his fellow players because it does not fit on his bean fields. He asks: "Does anyone want the Mean Bean? I would most like a Picker Bean for it."

Rules for bean trading

Only you as the active player may trade with other players. Your fellow players may not trade among themselves.
All of you may trade with your hand cards. It does not matter where the cards are in your hand.
As the active player you may also trade with the two turned-up bean cards.
With cards you receive after a trade, you may not trade further.
With cards lying on fields you may likewise not trade.
You may trade with different numbers of cards, e.g. two Sword Beans for one Cap Bean.
With spell cards you may not trade.

Example 3: Because nobody wants to trade with Timon, he raises his offer: "In addition to the turned-up Mean Bean I offer a Sword Bean from my hand for a Picker Bean."

Note: Do not pull a card from your hand until the trade really comes about because both players have agreed to it. Then there is no discussion about where the card was in the hand if you pulled your card prematurely.

Bean cards that you receive after a trade you first lay crosswise next to your fields. You may not take them into your hand.

Example 4: Nina accepts Timon's offer with the Mean Bean and the Sword Bean and gives him the coveted Picker Bean. Timon lays it crosswise next to his fields. Nina does the same with the Mean Bean and the Sword Bean.

Note: As a special form of trading you may also give each other bean cards as gifts. The recipient, however, does not have to accept the gift. If he declines, the trade does not come about.

Even if you have traded with your turned-up cards, you may continue to trade with your hand cards. Only when you no longer want to trade do you tell your fellow players and end this phase.

Phase 3: Plant traded and turned-up bean cards

All players who have cards lying crosswise next to their fields must now plant them. As the active player you must also plant the turned-up cards if you have not traded them away.

Everyone may decide for himself in which order he plants the new bean cards. The active player begins, the others follow clockwise.

Example 5: Timon plants the traded Picker Bean and the turned-up Princess Bean on his two fields. Nina plants the Mean Bean and the Sword Bean on her two fields.

If you must plant a bean variety but have no field available for it, you must first harvest a field (see p. 13 "The Bean Harvest") before you can continue planting.

Phase 4: Draw bean cards

Draw three cards one after another from the draw pile. Tuck them behind your last hand card without changing the order.

Now turn all your face-up spell cards back to the back side. After that, the player to your left is the new active player.

The Bean Harvest

You may harvest your bean fields at any time in the game, even if you are not the active player.

Every bean variety has its own Bohnometer. It shows you how many coins you receive for a certain number of planted cards of this variety when harvesting (the Bohnometer lists the number of cards and the number of coins).

Note: With some harvests you receive no coins. The Bohnometer of a Princess Bean tells you, for example: For a harvest of 1 Princess Bean you receive no bean coin. For 2 or 3 Princess Beans you receive one coin. For 4 or 5 Princess Beans you receive two coins, for 6 Princess Beans three coins and for 7 or more Princess Beans four bean coins.

Count all cards on the bean field that you want to harvest.
Look at the Bohnometer of the top card.
Turn as many cards as you get bean coins according to the Bohnometer to the coin side.
Lay these cards on your coin pile.
Lay the remaining cards of the harvested field face up in any order on the discard pile.
After a harvest, the harvested field is always empty.

Example 6: Keno has 3 White Beans lying on a field. The Bohnometer of the White Bean tells him that for 3 White Beans he receives one bean coin. Keno turns one card to the coin side and lays it on his coin pile. The remaining 2 White Beans he lays on the discard pile.

The special Bohnometer of the Cap Bean

If you harvest a field with 3 or more Cap Beans, you receive one to three bean coins as usual.

In addition, when you harvest at least 2 Cap Beans you receive a new spell card from the spell card deck. Look at the new card and lay it face down in front of you. As the active player you can activate it in Phase 1b of your turn.

If the spell card deck is empty, you no longer receive another spell card when harvesting Cap Beans.

The Bean Protection Rule

You may not harvest a single bean card on a field if on at least one of your fields there is more than one bean card.

An Empty Draw Pile

If you draw the last bean card from the draw pile, shuffle the cards of the discard pile. Then place them ready again as the new draw pile.

Turn the round card and slide it halfway under the draw pile again so that the next higher number is visible. This way you can see at any time how many times you are currently playing through the draw pile.

End of the Game

With three players the game ends as soon as the draw pile is used up for the third time; with four and five players, when it is used up for the fourth time. You do not form a new draw pile, but the active player still completes the current turn in full. It can happen that fewer cards are turned up or drawn.

All players now harvest their bean fields and receive bean coins for them where applicable. The cards in your hand count for nothing.

Everyone counts the cards in his coin pile. One card is worth one coin. Whoever has the most coins wins. In case of a tie, the tied player who can show more Groschen in total on his spell cards wins. If there is also a tie here, you have several winners.

The Bean Abilities

Five of the seven bean varieties have special abilities that can be used by the active player in Phase 1b.

Pflückbohne (Picker Bean)

Steal the rearmost hand card of a fellow player and either tuck it behind your hand or plant it on your fields. If you thereby start a new row of cards on a field in Phase 1b, you may use the ability of the newly planted bean in the same Phase 1b.

Gemeine Bohne (Mean Bean)

Note: You may only use this ability if you have planted at least 4 Mean Beans on the field.

Each fellow player shuffles his coin pile and turns up the top card. Whoever turns up the highest number puts his card back on his coin pile. This can also be several players. All other players must each put their card on the discard pile, in turn starting from the active player.

Example: Eiko has planted 4 Mean Beans on a field and, as the active player, uses their ability in Phase 1b. Nina turns up a Princess Bean (17), Timon a Picker Bean (9) and Keno a White Bean (14). Nina has turned up the highest number and may put the card back on her coin pile. Timon and Keno put their turned-up cards one after another on the discard pile.

Weiße Bohne (White Bean)

Draw a card from the draw pile and tuck it behind your hand. If you have planted 4 or more White Beans on the field, you may also plant the drawn bean directly on your fields.

Zauberbohne (Magic Bean)

Activate one of your spell cards by turning it to the front side. If you have planted 4 or more Magic Beans on the field, you may activate up to two spell cards.

Schwertbohne (Sword Bean)

Choose a fellow player, who shuffles his coin pile. Turn up the top card of his pile and, depending on the bean turned up, carry out the following action:

Princess Bean: Take the turned-up Princess Bean and put it on your coin pile.
Magic Bean: Activate one of your own spell cards. The turned-up Magic Bean you put back on the fellow player's coin pile.
Picker Bean: Your fellow player steals your rearmost hand card. He tucks it behind his hand or plants it on his fields. The turned-up Picker Bean you put back on the fellow player's coin pile.
Sword Bean: Your fellow player carries out a counterattack. First put the turned-up Sword Bean back on the fellow player's coin pile. Then shuffle your own coin pile and let your fellow player turn up the top card. Depending on the bean turned up, you carry out the action described above.

If you turn up a Cap Bean, a Mean Bean or a White Bean, nothing further happens. Put the turned-up bean card back on the fellow player's coin pile.

Note: While the Sword Bean's ability is being used in Phase 1b, no player may harvest his fields.

Kapbohne (Cap Bean) and Prinzessbohne (Princess Bean)

The Cap Bean has no special ability, but brings in new spell cards when harvested. The Princess Bean has an exceptionally rich Bohnometer.

The Spell Cards

There are eleven different spell cards. On the front side you find the following information: name of the card, function (= spell), and Groschen (at the bottom right).

You activate a spell card in Phase 1b by using Magic Beans and turning the card to the front side.

Use the spell of an activated spell card as the active player in the stated phase. You do not have to use an activated spell card; you may also forgo it.

After you have used a spell, turn the corresponding spell card to the back side. At the end of your turn, turn your still-activated spell cards back to the back side again.

Angriffszauber (Attack Spell) (1 Groschen)

Phase 1b: Use the ability of the Mean Bean, even if you have planted only 1-3 of them. Or: If you use the ability of the Sword Bean, draw 2 coins from a fellow player. Use one of them and give the other back without effect.

You use this card in Phase 1b for one of the two spells:

Use the ability of the Mean Bean, even if you have planted only 1-3 of them.
If you use the Sword Bean, draw two coins from a fellow player. Use one of them. Give the other back without effect by putting it back on the fellow player's coin pile.

Bohnenfeldzauber (Bean Field Spell) (1 Groschen)

Phase 1b: Temporarily open a 3rd bean field. If you harvest one of your fields, you again have only two fields available.

You use this card in Phase 1b. Temporarily open a 3rd bean field next to your bean field tray. If you harvest any of your three fields, you again have only two fields available.

Zauberkartentausch (Spell Card Swap) (2 Groschen)

Any time: Swap this spell card for a face-down spell card of a fellow player. Look at the card and lay it face up or face down in front of you.

You may use this card at any time during your turn. Swap this spell card for a face-down spell card of a fellow player. Look at the swapped card and decide whether to lay it face up (activated) or face down in front of you. Your fellow player lays the received spell card face down in front of him.

Handelszauber (Trade Spell) (3 Groschen)

Phase 2: Turn up a third bean card. In Phase 3 you do not have to plant turned-up, untraded bean cards still lying out, but may lay them on the discard pile instead.

You use this card at the beginning of Phase 2. After the first two cards, turn up a third bean card from the draw pile and lay it with the other two.

In addition, in Phase 3 you do not have to plant untraded bean cards still lying out, but may instead lay them on the discard pile.

Magischer Kartenfluss (Magic Card Flow) (4 Groschen)

Any time: Plant your front hand card as often as you like. If you thereby start a new row of cards in Phase 1b, you may also use the ability of the newly planted bean variety.

You may use this card at any time during your turn. Plant your respective front hand card as often as you like. If you do this in Phase 1b and thereby start a new row of cards, you may also use the ability of the newly planted bean variety.

Note: While you use this spell you may harvest fields and (in Phase 1b) use the abilities of the newly planted beans if you have started a new row of cards with each of them.

Stapelzauber (Pile Spell) (5 Groschen)

Phase 2: Add the top card of the discard pile to the two turned-up bean cards.

You use this card at the beginning of Phase 2. First turn up two cards from the draw pile as usual. Then decide whether you want to use the spell and add the top card of the discard pile to the two turned-up bean cards.

Verzauberung der Bohnen (Enchantment of the Beans) (6 Groschen)

Phase 3: Lay any second bean card on a field with exactly one bean card. The first bean now counts as a bean of the second bean variety.

You use this card in Phase 3. On a field with exactly one bean card, lay any second bean card that you must plant at that moment. The first bean on the field now counts as a bean of the second bean variety.

Verzauberung der Mitspieler (Enchantment of the Fellow Players) (7 Groschen)

Any time: All fellow players must immediately plant their front hand card. You may plant your front hand card.

You may use this card at any time during your turn. All fellow players must immediately plant their front hand card. If they have no free bean field for it, they must first harvest one. You yourself may plant your front hand card, but do not have to.

Umsteckzauber (Re-tuck Spell) (8 Groschen)

Any time: Re-tuck a hand card.

You may use this card at any time during your turn. Re-tuck a hand card (move it to another position in your hand).

Handkartenzauber (Hand Card Spell) (9 Groschen)

Phase 4: If you forwent trading with your fellow players in Phase 2, draw 5 instead of 3 cards.

You use this card in Phase 4. If you forwent trading with your fellow players in Phase 2, draw two more cards, i.e. five instead of three cards.

Note: In Phase 2 you may certainly talk with your fellow players about a possible trade. If you want to use this spell, however, no trade may have come about.

Zufallszauber (Random Spell) (10 Groschen)

Any time: Draw the top spell card from the spell card deck and lay it face up in front of you. At the end of your turn, shuffle it back into the spell card deck.

You may use this card at any time during your turn. Draw the top spell card from the spell card deck and lay it face up (activated) in front of you. At the end of your turn you shuffle it back into the spell card deck. If the spell card deck is empty, you can no longer use this spell.

Special case: If you thereby draw the "Zauberkartentausch" and use it, at the end of your turn you shuffle the swapped-in spell card back into the spell card deck.