Designed by Uwe Rosenberg
Published by Amigo 1997
Translated by Richard Ingram
Distributed from The Rules Bank by Mike Siggins
Each player trades with beans which he has grown in his fields and then sells them as profitably as possible. The more beans of the same variety the player has in his field, the greater the profit accrued by selling. Unfortunately a player is often forced to sell his beans much too early at a bargain basement price, and sometimes there is nothing at all to harvest. The aim of the game is to earn the greatest amount through bean trading.
There are 8 different types of bean, each appearing a different amount of times. There are:
At the bottom of each bean card is a chart showing for how much the bean can be sold. The numbers show how many of the same type of bean must lie in a field in order to receive one, two, three or four coins through selling ( except garden beans ). A player does not receive more than 4 coins at any one time for his beans.
A player receives coins when he turns over a bean card. The back of each card shows a coin with a value of 1.
At the start of the game each player has the opportunity to lay down in front of himself up to 2 rows of cards, each made up of only one type of bean. Each row is a bean field. At any time during the game each player can buy a third field. He can then have up to 3 rows of cards in front of himself. The third field costs 3 coins, the necessary being placed, coin-side downwards, on the discard pile. The purchased field is placed in front of the purchaser for all to see. ( NB There is a spare third field card in the box in case of loss. )
Set the third bean fields to one side. Shuffle the bean cards well and deal 5 cards to each player.
NB When picked up, the order of the cards must not be changed. Extra cards will go behind the existing cards.
The rest of the cards form a coin-side up draw pile. The player to the left of the dealer starts.
On his turn a player must carry out four actions one after the other.
You must play the first card dealt to you on to one of your fields, unless you hold no cards.
In this case, action 1 is ignored. You thus begin a row of same type bean cards. You may then lay a second card ( the 2nd dealt to you ) on to a bean field.
If you cannot lay the first card because your card doesn't match any of your fields, then you must sell all the beans in one of your fields to make room.
If a player wishes to or must sell beans, he can choose which field's beans to sell. He compares the number of beans in a field with the table of values for that type. The beans not transformed into money will be placed bean-side up on the discard pile. The card (s) turned over to reveal money is /are laid to one side, separate from the player's other cards. NB A field containing only one card cannot be sold. However if only 1 card is to be found in each of a player's fields, he can choose one field and simply discard the bean card for no money.
You draw 2 cards from the draw pile and lay them face up. You can keep both of these cards, but must then place them in your fields as your third action. You can also offer them to your opponents in exchange for other cards. You state what you want in return. In addition you can offer your opponents cards from your hand. Opponents can only offer cards from their hands, and can only trade with the player whose turn it is. The numbers of cards exchanged do not have to be equal.
NB The order of cards in your hand can still not be changed through trading, but it doesn't matter where in your hand the cards being offered and exchanged come from. Cards which you want to exchange can be taken from the hand only when it comes to the exchange itself and not before.
Traded cards, kept separate from cards in the bean fields, are laid down by each player. They can neither be taken into the hand, nor can they be re-traded. When no one wants to trade anymore, action 2 ends.
Throughout the trading phase, all players can also give their bean cards away. The player whose turn it is can give away both the cards from the draw pile and those in his hand. Other players can only donate cards from their hands, and only to the player whose turn it is. Donations do not have to be accepted.
All players now lay their traded bean cards on their fields. If the player whose turn it is kept one or both of the turned over cards for himself, or they have not been got rid of on other players, then he must lay them on his own fields. If this is not possible, he must sell beans to make room.
You draw 3 cards one by one from the draw pile and add them to your hand. One by one they will go behind your old cards. Play then passes clockwise.
Players can at any time, even when it is not their turn, sell bean cards from one of their fields. The same goes for buying a 3rd bean field. Players can also make promises but these do not have to be kept.
Re-shuffle the discard pile each time the draw pile runs out. When the draw pile runs out for the 3rd time, the game ends immediately. Each player can now exchange his bean fields for money. Cards in the hand are of no value. Whoever as a result owns the most money is the winner.