BOHNANZA AND UWE ROSENBERG

On the subject of great board game designers, this year also saw the first major release by Uwe Rosenberg, renowned German designer of fascinatingly over indulgent strategy games. Rosenberg has been a game designer all his life, from a hobbyist passion at school self-publishing his own designs to one of the most prolific designers today, creating such classics as Agricola, A Feast for Odin, Caverna and

Le Havre, all of which are still found in the illustrious Top 100 list on BGG.

Whilst his first game may now sit at rank 463, it’s hard to not find Bohnanza a charming bean-trading beauty. Players are dealt a hand of highly animated beans in various varieties, with the objective to earn coins by growing matching sets of beans. You can plant one or two cards from your hand into a maximum of two fields each turn, but you must start with the oldest card in your hand first, with shuffling or rearranging your hand is forbidden. After planting the active player can trade cards with any other player, with the proviso that anything traded must be planted before the next player’s turn begins. As trading and negotiating games go it’s an accessible blend of shrewd dealing and lucky draws, great for families or more casual groups.

The game saw enough awards nominations and sales to put Rosenberg on the map, which for anyone who’s enjoyed any of his great works can highly appreciate.