Bean Trader

About this board game

Bean Trader is a board game for 3–5 players that takes about 90 minutes, placing you in the medieval bean trade of the northern European Hanse cities.

Players take the roles of bean traders and members of the famous Bohn Hanse, a union of cities and merchants. Traveling from Hanse city to Hanse city in wagons filled with valuable beans, each player seeks to deliver orders and earn money from the bank.

When you are in a city with an order card and the beans needed to complete it, you may deliver the beans and collect the order’s value. The beans you carry will not always be the ones you need, making exchanges an important part of the game.

• Travel: Move between Hanse cities with your wagon of beans.
• Fulfill orders: Deliver the required beans and collect thalers from the bank.
• Trade: Exchange beans with other players when you meet in the same city.
• Buy beans: Purchase beans in a city when it has the type you want.
• Harvest: Replenish bean supplies as directed by new harvest cards.

Trading lets players get rid of unwanted beans while acquiring the types required for their orders. The bean supplies change as new harvests occur, keeping the journey through the Hanse cities tied to the changing market.

After eight new harvests, the game enters its last round. When that round ends, the player with the most thalers wins. Also known as Bohn Hansa, Bean Trader is part of the Bohnanza family of games and was released in 2002.