The box cover of Agricola |
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| Designer(s) | Uwe Rosenberg |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Lookout Games Z-Man Games 999 Games |
| Players | 1 to 5 |
| Age range | 12 and up |
| Setup time | 5–10 minutes |
| Playing time | 30–60 minutes per player |
| Random chance | Low |
| Skill(s) required | Economic management, Resource management, Strategic thought |
Agricola is a German-style board game created by Uwe Rosenberg, and published by Lookout Games in Europe and Z-Man Games in the US. The goal of the game is to build the most well-balanced farm at the end of 14 rounds, consisting of plowed fields for crops and fenced pastures for livestock. The farm should have little fallow land and a large farmhouse built of high quality material. The player should also expand the family tending the farm from its initial two members to a maximum of five.
The game was released at Spiel 2007, where it was voted second-best game shown at the convention, according to the Fairplay in-show voting.[1] The game was released in English by Z-Man Games in July 2008.[2]
Agricola won the Spiel des Jahres special award for "Best complex game 2008"[3] and the 2008 Deutscher Spiele Preis.[4] It was also the game which ended Puerto Rico's run of more than five years as the highest-rated game on the board game website BoardGameGeek.[5]
Contents |
Each player begins with a small two-room farmhouse for a family of two. This allows them two actions per round, such as gathering building materials, plowing or sowing fields, extending their house, or building improvements to the farm. The number of different actions available varies according to how many are playing, and each action can only be played once per round.
There are two sets of rules: the Family version and the Standard version. The main board of the game is reversible: one side is for the Family Version (as noted by the icon of an adult and a child being devoured by a dragon) and one side is for the Standard Version. In Standard gameplay, each player is dealt two sets of seven cards: one for occupations, such as woodcutter, bread seller, rat catcher, etc.; and one for minor improvements, such as a fishing pole, an improved plow, a bean field and so on, which grant small advantages such as extra food or resources. With the Family rules, all the rules are identical, except no cards are used.[6].
There are 169 different occupations, and 139 different minor improvements, so the game will play differently every time.
As the game progresses and players expand their home, they can add new family members who then allow more actions to be taken each round. An additional action space also becomes available each round, adding the ability to acquire vegetables and animals (sheep, wild boar, and cattle) for planting, breeding and cooking.
Every few rounds there is a harvest turn, in which crops are reaped, animals bred, and, most importantly, each family member must be fed. This is one of the most challenging aspect of the game, as failure to feed family members is disastrous for a player's score.
Aside from feeding the family, players must seek a balance of building a well-rounded farm. Failure to farm the land or keep animals or pastures will result in penalty to the player's score.
2009
2008
2008 Nominations
2007
| Preceded by The Pillars of the Earth |
Deutscher Spiele Preis 2008 |
Succeeded by Dominion |