Agricola (board game)

{{Infobox game

| title = Agricola

| image_link = Agricola game.jpg

| image_size = 170px

| image_caption = The box cover of Agricola

| designer = Uwe Rosenberg

| publisher = Mayfair Games
Lookout Games (Germany)
Z-Man Games (U.S.)
999 Games (Netherlands)
Homolúdicus (Spain)

| players = 1 to 5

| ages = 12 and up

| setup_time = 5–10 minutes

| playing_time = 30–60 minutes per player

| random_chance = Low (Cards)

| skills = Economic management, Resource management, Strategic thought

| related = Civilization, Dominant Species, Le Havre, Caylus, Caverna: The Cave Farmers

| footnotes = {{cite book |last1=Goodridge |first1=Michelle |last2=Rohweder |first2=Matthew J. |author-link= |date= November 15, 2021|title=Librarian's Guide to Games and Gamers: From Collection Development to Advisory Services |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=243CEAAAQBAJ|location= |publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing|page= |isbn=9798216110958}}

}}

Agricola is a Euro-style board game created by Uwe Rosenberg. It is a worker placement game with a focus on resource management. In Agricola, players are farmers who sow, plow the fields, collect wood, build stables, buy animals, expand their farms and feed their families. After 14 rounds players calculate their score based on the size and prosperity of the household.{{Cite web |title=Best Eurogame: Agricola, Caverna, Puerto Rico or Terra Mystica? |url=https://netivist.org/debate/Agricola-Caverna-Puerto-Rico-Terra-Mystica-best-eurogame |access-date=4 October 2015 |website=Netivist}}

The game was published by Lookout Games and released at Spiel 2007, where it was voted second-best game shown at the convention, according to the Fairplay in-show voting.{{Cite web |title=Boardgame News Convention Report |url=http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/C113/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216112756/http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/C113/ |archive-date=16 December 2008 |access-date=6 August 2009 |publisher=Boardgamenews.com}} The game was released in English by Z-Man Games in July 2008.{{Cite web |title=Board Game Geek comments |url=http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/31260 |access-date=6 August 2009 |publisher=Boardgamegeek.com}} Playdek released an iOS conversion of the game in June 2013.{{Cite web |date=13 June 2013 |title={{title case|Playdek's highly-anticipated agricola challenges players to build the most productive farm; plough, sow and reap victory}} |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/194287/PLAYDEKrsquoS_HIGHLYANTICIPATED_AGRICOLA_CHALLENGESPLAYERS_TO_BUILD_THE_MOST_PRODUCTIVE_FARM_PLOUGH_SOW_AND_REAPVICTORY.php |access-date=13 December 2013 |publisher=Gamasutra}} A second edition of Agricola was published by Mayfair Games in May 2016.{{Cite news |last=McDuffie |first=Tina |date=4 June 2016 |title=Agricola Revised Edition - How it compares to the original |language=en-US |work=The Glass Meeple |url=http://theglassmeeple.com/agricola-revised-edition/ |access-date=9 November 2016}}

Agricola won the Spiel des Jahres special award for "Best complex game 2008" and the 2008 Deutscher Spiele Preis.{{Cite web |last=Ducksch |first=Stefan |date=25 May 2008 |title=Spiel des Jahres 2008: Best complex game 2008 (German) |url=http://spieldesjahres.kiratec.eu/cms/front_content.php?client=1&lang=1&idcat=12&idart=555&m=&s= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212224105/http://spieldesjahres.kiratec.eu/cms/front_content.php?client=1&lang=1&idcat=12&idart=555&m=&s= |archive-date=12 December 2008 |access-date=6 August 2009 |publisher=Spiel des Jahres}}{{Cite web |title=Deutscher Spiele Preis 2008 (German) |url=http://www.deutscherspielepreis.de/p068detail.php4 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901185600/http://www.deutscherspielepreis.de/p068detail.php4 |archive-date=1 September 2009 |access-date=6 August 2009 |publisher=Deutscher Spiele Preis}}

It was also the game that ended Puerto Rico's run of more than five years as the highest-rated game on the board game website BoardGameGeek, staying at the top of the rankings between September 2008 and March 2010.{{Cite web |title=BGG Top 50 Statistics |url=http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/137253/item/2049148#item2049148 |access-date=28 July 2014 |website=Board Game Geek}} {{As of|2024|10}}, Agricola is ranked 54th among all board games on BoardGameGeek, with the revised edition being ranked 78th.{{Cite web |title=Browse Board Games |url=https://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame?sort=rank |access-date=9 October 2024 |website=boardgamegeek.com}}

A two-player version called Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small was released in 2012. There is also a corresponding iOS app.{{Cite web |title=Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small |url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/119890/agricola-all-creatures-big-and-small |access-date=12 December 2016 |website=boardgamegeek.com}}

Gameplay

File:Agricola board game.jpg

Players start the game with a farming couple living in a two-roomed hut. Each round, they take turns placing their family members in action spaces to get resources and improve and grow their households.{{Cite web |last=Temkin |first=Max |title=Agricola |url=http://playtestblog.com/post/20947323250/agricola |access-date=5 October 2015 |website=playtestblog.com}} Only one family member can occupy each action space within the same round, so players need to time their actions to get maximum profit while denying progress to the opponents.{{Cite web |date=12 May 2015 |title=Agricola – Mechanics and Tension |url=https://acardboardempire.wordpress.com/2015/05/12/agricola/ |access-date=5 October 2015 |website=A Cardboard Empire}}

The game is played in 14 rounds, divided by 6 harvests, occurring after rounds 4,7,9,11,13, and 14.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-24 |title=Agricola Board Game Review - Back To The Farm |url=https://theboardgamer.org/board-game-review/agricola-board-game-review/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=The Board Gamer |language=en-US}} At each harvest, food is grown, people are fed, and animals multiply.{{Cite web |last=Appelcline |first=Shannon |date=18 May 2015 |title=Anatomy of a Revision: Caverna |url=http://www.mechanics-and-meeples.com/2015/05/18/anatomy-of-a-revision-caverna/ |access-date=5 October 2015 |website=Mechanics & Meeples}} Players lose victory points if they have trouble feeding their family, which makes food production a major point of tension in the game.

At the end of round 14 comes the final harvest after which victory points are counted. Scoring in Agricola rewards a middle-of-the-road strategy. Players are penalized for focusing on any one aspect of the game, and stop scoring in any area they focus on too much. The player with the most balanced and prosperous farm wins.

= Optional cards =

To achieve variation between games, players are dealt a hand of optional cards – occupations and minor improvements.{{Cite web |title=Eurogames |url=http://martinfowler.com/articles/eurogames/ |access-date=5 October 2015 |website=martinfowler.com}} Players get additional resources and various bonuses for playing these cards. They can also get an initial direction for their strategy, based on the occupations and improvements they were dealt. Numerous expansion decks have been released to fill in gaps in gameplay and add thematic settings.{{Cite web |title=Agricola: Gamers' Deck |url=http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/85704/agricola-gamers-deck |access-date=20 November 2015 |website=boardgamegeek.com}}{{Cite web |title=Review: Agricola World Championship and NL Decks |url=http://www.gamehead.com/article/1851/agricola-world-championship-and-nl-decks |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120172033/http://www.gamehead.com/article/1851/agricola-world-championship-and-nl-decks |archive-date=20 November 2015 |access-date=20 November 2015 |website=GameHead}}{{Cite web |title=Agricola Expansion: Belgium Deck |url=http://www.thegamernerd.com/reviews/agricola-belgium-deck/ |access-date=20 November 2015 |website=The Gamer Nerd |archive-date=20 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120101426/http://www.thegamernerd.com/reviews/agricola-belgium-deck/ |url-status=dead }} The game offers a simplified 'family' variation for less involved players,{{Cite web |title=Review: Agricola |url=http://www.pockettactics.com/reviews/review-agricola/ |access-date=5 October 2015 |archive-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006032522/http://www.pockettactics.com/reviews/review-agricola/ |url-status=dead }} in which occupation and minor improvement cards are not used.{{Cite web |title=Game Publisher |url=http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/files/agricola/Agricola_Rules.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130022507/http://zmangames.com/boardgames/files/agricola/Agricola_Rules.pdf |archive-date=30 November 2010 |website=zmangames.com}}{{Cite web |last=Meyer |first=Benjamin |title=Agricola Unofficial Rule Book |url=http://icefox.net/Unofficial%20Agricola%20Rules.pdf |access-date=5 October 2015 |archive-date=1 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201152317/http://icefox.net/Unofficial%20Agricola%20Rules.pdf |url-status=dead }}

Differences in the revised edition

File:Agricola animeeples (cattle and wild boar) (5650295714).jpg

The original Agricola used multicolored wooden pieces of the same circular shape to denote various resources (clay, wood, reeds, etc.). The 2016 edition offered shaped wooden pieces for resources that make it easier to differentiate between the many types of resources. The new edition also included fewer optional cards – two decks for a total of 96 cards (as opposed to three decks with 308 cards in the original edition). Some reviewers praised the balance of the new decks.{{Cite news |title=Agricola: Revised Edition Review - Let Them Get Their Own Food!! |work=Broken Meeple |url=http://brokenmeeple.blogspot.ae/2016/07/agricola-revised-edition-review-let.html |access-date=12 January 2018 |archive-date=13 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113093128/http://brokenmeeple.blogspot.ae/2016/07/agricola-revised-edition-review-let.html |url-status=dead }} The revised edition is a 1-4 player game, as opposed to the original version's player count of 1–5. However, there is a 5-6 player expansion for the revised edition.

Reimplementation

Rosenberg has reimplemented many mechanics from Agricola in later boardgames, in particular, Caverna (2013) and a two-player version Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small.

Awards

2009

BoardGamer.ru Game of the Year
Golden Ace (France) Special Jury
Gra Graczy – Gamesfanatic.net (Poland) Winner
Gra Roku – Gamers' Choice (Poland) Winner
Gra Roku Game of the Year (Poland) Winner
Jogo do Ano 2008 Spiel Portugal (Portugal) Winner
Les 3 Lys (Canada) Hobbyist Game Winner
Lucca Games Best of Show (Italy) Side Award Best Game Mechanic
Ludoteca Ideale 2009, Game of the Year
Nederlandse Spellenprijs Winner

2008

81st game to be added to the Austrian Hall of Games
Deutscher Spiele Preis (Germany) Game of the Year Winner
Golden Geek Award Best Gamer's Board Game Winner
Golden Geek Award Board Game of the Year Winner
Hra roku (Czech Republic) Winner
International Gamers Award General Strategy/Multi-player Game
J.U.G. (Portugal) Game of the Year Winner
Jda "Juego del Año en España" (Spain) Winner
Spiel der Spiele (Austria) Spiele Hit für Experten (Hit Games for Professionals)
Spiel des Jahres "Complex Game" Winner
Tric Trac d'or (France) Game of the Year Winner