The Bean Machine is a circular enclosure with two chairs mounted to rails going around its back wall. The chairs can be rotated around to sit under one of two small tanks of gunge on the sides of the circle, or a larger reservoir of lumpy brown and orange gunge in the back centre.

Two players have to cooperate or contend against each other to avoid being underneath the big tank when it opens - for example, they could have to answer questions with a "pass" meaning their partner is spun around to take over, with a single wrong answer activating the tank.