My First Bohnanza - A Family Review

It’s time for the harvest, but little hands are needed to grow the perfect bean crop! My First Bohnanza is an adorable matching game for kids as young as four. Based on the fabulous family game Bohnanza, My First Bohnanza teaches young players the basics of gaming then gives them the tools to increase their yield—of fun!

5yo: “I liked the stink beans!”

My First Bohnanza starts with only a few bean cards and simple rules. And the beans have hilarious cartoon characters. As your young kids learn the game, you can slowly add new rules and new beans. We love this mechanic since it allows you to really customize the game’s challenge to your kid’s skill level. Eventually when your kid is a bean master, My First Bohnanza can be combined with the full Bohnanza game. It’s like training wheels on a game!

We found our five-year-old couldn’t quite play independently yet, but she absolutely understood the concept of the game. She quickly figured out the goal (matching beans) and how/when to harvest them. Trading will take her a bit more practice to get!

Although this game can play up to five players, we recommend a smaller group when playing with really young players.

11yo: “I really liked it as a game the whole family could play.”

It can be difficult to find games for preschool players that are also fun for other kids and parents. For that reason alone, My First Bohnanza is worth the purchase. It’s the type of game that grows with your family and turns into something you can play for decades of game nights.

Helpful hints

• Since players’ cards have to stay in order and be played from right to left, make a planting token and place it before the rightmost card to help younger players know where to start. Bonus points if you let the kids design their planting token!