- Agricola is suitable for 1 to 5 players
- ages 10 and up
- playing time 120 to 180 minutes. Ranked #1 on www.BoardGameGeek.com
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Technical Details
Product Specifications
Main Language(s)English unknown, English published
Model Number7026ZMG
Number of Puzzle Pieces1
Product details
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Product Safety
This product is subject to specific safety warnings
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Product Description
Agricola
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
53 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Durability:
Educational:
Fun:
In this game, each player starts off with a board on which there is a two room wooden hut (represented by flat squares of card) and lots of empty spaces. They also start with two family members (counters) each of which gets to take one action per round. The aim of the game, over 14 rounds, is to develop the board and earn points by doing various things:
- gaining additional family members (which increases the number of turns you get in each round)
- covering as much of the board as possible with fields, pastures and additional rooms
- growing grain, vegetables and breeding various types of animals.
In each round each family member gets to take one action.
There is a harvest after every few rounds (and these become more frequent as the game proceeds) and one of the main catches is that you have to feed all of your family members every harvest, and there are limited ways in which you can generate food (and heavy penalties if you don't have enough). The other catch is that the various actions that are available can only be taken by one player (i.e. by one of their family members) in each round - e.g. if someone else has used the "plow a field" action already, that action is unavailable until the next round.
The end result is a fantastic game in which you have a limited number of moves, and have to balance all sorts of requirements. Having worked in a pressurised business environment, I think this game requires the same sort of multi-tasking and prioritisation that you do in the workplace (please ignore this sentence if it puts you off!!) It promotes mental agility and requires a high degree of concentration. It will get your brain whirring and make you dream about it after you have played it!
There is a family version which is relatively straightforward - the more complex version (introducing various cards that enable you to make better use of resources, take additional actions etc.) introduces infinite variability and ensures that every game will be unique.
I loved Ticket to Ride, and enjoyed Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan - Agricola is more demanding, and there is less of an element of luck, which makes it more rewarding in the end. An excellent, dangerously addictive board game!
8/4/11 Edited to add: I see it says 2-3 hours to play. Once you're completely familiar with it, a game with 2 or 3 players takes about 45 minutes.
- gaining additional family members (which increases the number of turns you get in each round)
- covering as much of the board as possible with fields, pastures and additional rooms
- growing grain, vegetables and breeding various types of animals.
In each round each family member gets to take one action.
There is a harvest after every few rounds (and these become more frequent as the game proceeds) and one of the main catches is that you have to feed all of your family members every harvest, and there are limited ways in which you can generate food (and heavy penalties if you don't have enough). The other catch is that the various actions that are available can only be taken by one player (i.e. by one of their family members) in each round - e.g. if someone else has used the "plow a field" action already, that action is unavailable until the next round.
The end result is a fantastic game in which you have a limited number of moves, and have to balance all sorts of requirements. Having worked in a pressurised business environment, I think this game requires the same sort of multi-tasking and prioritisation that you do in the workplace (please ignore this sentence if it puts you off!!) It promotes mental agility and requires a high degree of concentration. It will get your brain whirring and make you dream about it after you have played it!
There is a family version which is relatively straightforward - the more complex version (introducing various cards that enable you to make better use of resources, take additional actions etc.) introduces infinite variability and ensures that every game will be unique.
I loved Ticket to Ride, and enjoyed Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan - Agricola is more demanding, and there is less of an element of luck, which makes it more rewarding in the end. An excellent, dangerously addictive board game!
8/4/11 Edited to add: I see it says 2-3 hours to play. Once you're completely familiar with it, a game with 2 or 3 players takes about 45 minutes.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Durability:
Educational:
Fun:
Agricola is a game about farming. Indeed, it's a game about subsistence farming in the 1700's, so one may be sceptical as to how much fun it could be.
As soon as you begin playing the family version of the game (for beginners), you realise just how much fun (and how competitive) this game can be.
The trick is to create a balanced, full farm, producing enough to feed one's family while also expanding your stock of animals and crops, while extending/renovating your house and increasing your family. Simple (in theory), but with only a limited number of actions, and a limited number of people to do them with, you quickly have to assess which resources/actions you need to take and which you can leave until later.
Once you've mastered the 'family' game, you can begin to add occupations and minor improvements, increasing the scope, complexity and enjoyment of the game.
Well worth a look for anyone who likes to use their brain and have fun!
As soon as you begin playing the family version of the game (for beginners), you realise just how much fun (and how competitive) this game can be.
The trick is to create a balanced, full farm, producing enough to feed one's family while also expanding your stock of animals and crops, while extending/renovating your house and increasing your family. Simple (in theory), but with only a limited number of actions, and a limited number of people to do them with, you quickly have to assess which resources/actions you need to take and which you can leave until later.
Once you've mastered the 'family' game, you can begin to add occupations and minor improvements, increasing the scope, complexity and enjoyment of the game.
Well worth a look for anyone who likes to use their brain and have fun!
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Durability:
Educational:
Fun:
Well, 5 stars from me and I am clearly a fan, but I shall try to add to what has already be written about Agricola and make it worth reading.
It's a worker placement game with a similar feel to Caylus, Pillars of the Earth and Cuba. The family game is essentially just that and is very comparable to the titles above. Layered on top in the 'full' game each player has a hand of improvement and personality cards that interact with each other and with places on the board. This is importantly distinct from other worker placement games as it gives more chance for player interaction beyond 'he stole my space': you have to think a little harder about whether to sow more fields if you know that another player is going to gain from you doing so.
Whilst this is certainly a fantastic game, it's not one to bring to the table lightly. There are a fearsome number of wooden blocks and cards for a person not used to board games like this to deal with, even the family game might scare some folks off as it looks very daunting. I would argue that it isn't, in fact it plays like clockwork and you soon get into it, but starting the explanation of a first play from:
"We're going to play a game about, um, peasant farming..."
"...it's really not as complicated as it looks, you know..."
might put you on the back foot. One really good way to mitigate this is to buy wooden pieces to replace the blocks, so sheep instead of white cubes, cows instead of brown cubes etc. I can't recommend investing in these sort of pieces strongly enough. In an ideal world they would have come with the game and they certainly make it easier to visualise when explaining it for the first time.
Wonderful game.
It's a worker placement game with a similar feel to Caylus, Pillars of the Earth and Cuba. The family game is essentially just that and is very comparable to the titles above. Layered on top in the 'full' game each player has a hand of improvement and personality cards that interact with each other and with places on the board. This is importantly distinct from other worker placement games as it gives more chance for player interaction beyond 'he stole my space': you have to think a little harder about whether to sow more fields if you know that another player is going to gain from you doing so.
Whilst this is certainly a fantastic game, it's not one to bring to the table lightly. There are a fearsome number of wooden blocks and cards for a person not used to board games like this to deal with, even the family game might scare some folks off as it looks very daunting. I would argue that it isn't, in fact it plays like clockwork and you soon get into it, but starting the explanation of a first play from:
"We're going to play a game about, um, peasant farming..."
"...it's really not as complicated as it looks, you know..."
might put you on the back foot. One really good way to mitigate this is to buy wooden pieces to replace the blocks, so sheep instead of white cubes, cows instead of brown cubes etc. I can't recommend investing in these sort of pieces strongly enough. In an ideal world they would have come with the game and they certainly make it easier to visualise when explaining it for the first time.
Wonderful game.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Love love love this game
My friends and I love this game. The huge variety of cards means that the game never plays the same way twice. Read more
Published 6 months ago by A. Grant
Great game - shame it arrived late
I got this game for my brother and sister in law and ordered it so it had plenty of time to arrive before their birthdays even at the latest arrival date. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mary Warner
A great family game
I bought Agricola without knowing much of it - and I don't regret a bit.
While it took some time to fully learn the rules, Agricola is basically a simple game with lots... Read more
While it took some time to fully learn the rules, Agricola is basically a simple game with lots... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Default
A serious game
I have only played Agricola three or four times in as many months because it is requires more time and concentration than the rest of my games. Read more
Published 16 months ago by S. Coombes
A game for learning the strategy to choose
It is simple enough to learn how to play the game fast. To master the best strategy to win is the challenge. Read more
Published 17 months ago by C. Peng Kärrholm
Loved it!
Played this game first at a friend's, and got hooked! Love the game, you can play it over and over and it's always different. Read more
Published 20 months ago by BEM
Agricola
Only played a couple of times to date: still getting to grips with the rules.
Published on 27 Mar 2010 by Maree Coates
Agricola - Sophisticated Board Game
I would not necessarily describe this as a toy - it is quite a complicated German-style board game mainly intended for adults, with a simplified version of play for the family... Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2010 by Mr. Roger L. Baker
Addicted to a Farming Game?!
If you enjoy destroying things, breaking the law and generally creating mayhem ... you can stop reading now... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2010 by RoJo
An amazing game
Farming in the wake of the great plague. Starting with two persons and great ambition.
This is a very balanced and competitive game without any random factors and... Read more
This is a very balanced and competitive game without any random factors and... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2009 by Gisli Jokull Gislason
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