Description

Simple racing-gamble game using "Mexican live jumping bean."
Players are trainers of the jumping beans. Players' love and body temperature vitalize a bug (laspeyresia saltitans) in its larva form (living inside the bean) and make it jump! The owner of the first bean reaching the destination ovals that surrounds the starting circle wins.
The Beans (from the information card)
"The Mexican jumping beans (laspeyresia saltitans) come from the mountains in the states of Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico. They can be found in an area that is 30 miles by 100 miles where the host plants (sebastiana pavoniana) grows. In the Spring, the moths emerge from last years beans and deposit the eggs on the flowers of the host plants (actually trees). The egg burrows its way into the seed and tender heart of the bean. By the time the monsoon rains come in July, they have eaten all the beans tender innards. There are 3 beans in a pod and it is covered by a thin skin, similar to walnuts. The trees need about 20 days to soak up enough water to cause the skin to disgorge the beans, again similar to the walnuts. Their jumping is a survival measure. The heat is their enemy. They jump to escape the heat as it would dehydrate and kill them. They search for a cool damp place to survivie until Spring. Many years ago, the bean harvest was over 12 million beans per year. Now it is about 1/5 that much. The scare of infestation at the various borders has made exportation more difficult. The pickers now are mostly senior citizens."