"I think he digs it!"
Published by Amigo
Designed by Uwe Rosenberg
Graphics by Björn Pertoft
Translated by Catherine Soubeyrand, May 1997
3 - 5 players
12+ years
c. 45 Minutes
Each player trades beans which he grows in his fields and tries to sell them with as much profit as possible. More a player owns beans of the same variety, more he makes profit when selling them. Unfortunately the player is usually forced to sell his beans too early at a lower price. Even sometimes he does not win anything. The aim of the game is to earn as much talers as possible by trading beans.
There are eight varieties of beans. Each is composed of a different number of cards; the value of the beans is inversely proportional to their frequency.
| 20x Blue Beans (Blaue Bohnen) | 12x Soya Beans (Sojabohnen) |
| 18x Peppers "Fire Beans" (Feuerbohnen) | 10x Haricots Beans (Augenbohnen) |
| 16x Broad Beans (Saubohnen) | 8x Kidney Beans (Rote Bohnen) |
| 14x Runner Beans (Brechbohne) | 6x French Beans (Gartenbohnen) |
A beanmeter is represented on the bottom of each card. It explains to the player how many talers he will receive for the sale of his beans. The numbers show how many beans of the same variety have to be given in order to earn one, two, three or four talers (exception : French beans). It is not possible to receive more than four talers.
Example 1 : a broad bean with a beanmeter 3 - 5 - 7 -8. Three or four broad beans are worth one taler when sold, five and six are worth two talers, seven are worth three talers and eight or more are worth four talers.
On the back of all the bean cards is drawn a coin of one taler value. A player gets his money by turning up his card.
At the beginning of the game, each player is allowed to plant two and only two varieties of beans, in front of him. Such a cards row of the same variety is called a beans field. Each player has the possibility, once during the game, to buy a third field. Then he can put three rows of cards in front of him. It costs him three talers which are put in the discarded stack. He receives a "3 Bohnenfed" card, which he puts in front of him, visible of all the other players.
Caution : there are six cards "3 Bohnenfeld" in the game. One, useless, must be discarded from the game. It can be kept in the case of one of the beans field card would be lost.
The five cards "3 Bohnenfeld" remain in the game box. The
bean cards are well shuffled and dealt, one by one, to the players.
Each player is dealt five cards, which constitute his hand.
Caution basic rule : the cards order in the hand of a player
should never be modified during the game. Sorting the cards as it is usual
in many other games is forbidden.
Implication for the deal : each card is placed in the hand in the order which it is received. A new card is always placed behind the oldest cards.
The remaining cards are placed in a stack in the middle of the table, taler side. They form the pile. The player at the left of the dealer starts.
The player whose turn is to play must successively perform four actions.
1. Play bean cards
He must put the first card of his hand, in one of his beans fields
(exception : if the player has no cards, he proceed to next action).
He starts or extends a row of the same variety of beans. Then he may
put a second card, the first in his hand, on one of his fields. A player
must always put beans belonging to the same variety in a field. Often a
bean card is not compatible with the one already in the fields. In that
case, the player must make some place by selling all the beans in a field.
Sale of beans
If a player wishes or has to sell beans, he compares the number of
beans to the beanmeter of this variety. Beans
not transformed in talers are discarded, near the pile.
Example two : three runner beans are worth one taler. The player turns up one card. The two remaining cards are discarded and put near the pile. The player puts his taler in front of him.
Caution : a field with only one card should not be sold. Exception : if all the fields of a player have only one card, he chooses a field, from which he removes the card and discards it. For this card he receives nothing.
2. Trade and present
The player takes two cards from the pile and puts them visible on the
table. He may keep these two cards. He will have to plant them in his fields
during the next action. He can also propose an exchange to the other players.
Example 3 : a Soya bean and a French bean cards have been drawn. The player keeps no card because they are not compatible with his fields of kidney and haricot beans. He asks to the other players : "Does someone want one or two of these cards ? I wish a kidney bean for the Soya bean."
He can also offer cards from his hand.
Example 4 : the player says "Well, the French bean and a blue bean from my hand for the kidney bean".
The other players can only offer cards from their hand. They can also offer or ask many cards for one card. All the players can only trade with the player whose turn is to play.
Caution : during the trading action, the card order in the player hand should not be modified. The traded cards can be taken anywhere in the hand, but they must be removed from the hand only at the moment of the exchange. Traded cards must be well separated from cards in the fields. They should not be put back in the hand, nor exchanged again. When all the players have finished to trade, the action is ended.
During all the trading action (2) the players may also give their cards : the player whose turn is to play, can give cards from his hand or the cards he has just drawn. The other players can only give cards in their hand. The gifts does not have to be accepted.
3. Plant beans
Now, all the players plant the bean cards traded in their fields. If
the player whose turn is to play, has kept the one or two of the drawn
cards (see action 2) or if he did not succeed to get rid of them, he must
now put them in his fields. When it is not possible, he is forced to previously
sell a field of beans.
4. Draw new cards
The player takes, one by one, three cards from the pile and
puts them in his hand. They are put behind the old cards, in the order
in which they are drawn. Then it is next player turn in clockwise order.
The players can whenever they want, even if it is not their turn, sell beans fields. Same thing for the purchase of the third field. The players can also make promises, whenever they want, that they are not obliged to keep.
As soon as the pile is empty, the discarded cards are shuffled. They form the new pile. When it is empty for the third time, the game immediately stops. Each player is still allowed to sell his fields. The cards in hand, are worth nothing. The player with the more taler is the winner.
For the beginners, we recommend to use, from the start, three fields in a three players game. With five persons, the third field should cost only two talers.
The Game Cabinet - editor@gamecabinet.com - Catherine Soubeyrand