How to Play Bohnanza: Hand Order, Trading & Bean Fields
Bohnanza is a negotiation card game built around one unusual rule: you may never rearrange the cards in your hand. The front card will eventually have to be planted, so trading is how you manage future problems.
Scope: classic multiplayer base game from Rio Grande Games.
Keep your hand in fixed order
New cards always enter at the back of your hand. You may look at your cards, but you cannot sort or reorder them.
Phase 1: plant the first bean, optionally the second
You must plant the front card of your hand into a matching field or an empty field. You may then plant the next front card as well. If no legal field is available, you may have to harvest first.
Phase 2: reveal two bean cards
Turn over the top two cards from the draw pile. These become part of the active trading phase.
Trade or donate beans
The active player may trade the revealed beans and eligible cards from hand with other players. Negotiated beans can be exchanged in flexible quantities as long as both players agree. Donations are also allowed if accepted.
All traded beans must be planted
After trading ends, every player who received beans must plant them into their fields. They cannot be saved in hand.
Harvest a field using its Beanometer
Count the beans in the field and read the payout shown on that bean type. Turn the required number of harvested bean cards face down as Gold; discard the rest. The Bean Protection rule can prevent harvesting a one-card field while another field contains more than one bean.
Finish by drawing new cards to the back
Draw the required number of cards one by one and add them behind the existing hand without changing order.
Source: Rio Grande Games Bohnanza base-game rules. Checked September 21, 2026.