Through the galaxy by bean
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Publisher's Description:Space, infinite beanfields. The are the adventures of the galactic bean- traders searching for Space Beans. Light years distant from Earth, they enter beanfields which no-one has harvested before. The trader with the most valuable Space Beans is the "Ruler of the Beaniverse". |
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Trev says:I've seen some bad reviews of this game, complaining that it's just a weak version of the trading game Bohnanza, without the trading! Yet everyone I've played it with has enjoyed it and at least one prefers it to the earlier game. I've also had to replace my set twice after giving it away to friends who liked it. The pack consists of seven suits (colours) with cards numbered from 1 to 9 (two of each for the higher numbers). Each player has two 'beanfields' - sets of cards of one colour - on the table, one face up and one face down and secret. Each turn you may draw two cards from the draw pile and then must play to (or start) one of your beanfields. If you don't have any colours matching your beanfields even after drawing two cards, you must 'sell' the contents of your face-up field, turn your face-down field face up and start a new face-down set. When you sell a set, you only score points if it contains a card whose value is equal to the number of cards in the set. And in that case you would keep that card and count its value to your points total. For example, a set consisting of values 2, 4, 6, 6 would be worth four points. If you added the card 8, the set would be worth nothing. If you also added the 3, the set would be worth six points. Then comes the other twist to the game. After you have played to a beanfield, you pass what is left of your hand to the player on your right before play passes to your left as normal. Next turn, you will start with the cards, if any, that will be passed to you by the player on your left. This sometimes causes a little confusion as many players try to have a turn when they are given cards, yet they need to wait until the player to their right has played. This continues until one player reaches thirty points and, usually, wins. There is a lot more opportunity for strategic play than some reviewers are giving it credit for. First, there are your own beanfields to manage - for example, if you've got the green 3, 7 and 8, do you plant the 2, sacrificing the 3 points in the hope of more to come. And if you've got to start a new field, do you collect the same as the player to your right or a currently more promising colour. A lot depends on how the player to your left is playing and whether you think they know what's in your hidden field. Then you have the problem of what you give to the player on your right - you don't want to give them easy points unless you are sure to get a bunch yourself. It's also good to keep track of which cards you have passed on and whether that player drew extras, in order to gauge what's in their hidden field. The tactics then spread out from there. Chris Dorrell gets credit for introducing to me the tactic of passing on cards wanted by the next player to my right, hoping that I would plough up my own beanfields in order to avoid passing them on. Couple all this with a game that generally moves along at quite a pace, and you've got a winner in my book. To buy: |
