''Agricola'' is a
Euro-style board game created by
Uwe Rosenberg
Uwe Rosenberg (born 27 March 1970) is a German game designer and the co-founder of Lookout Games. He initially became known for his card game ''Bohnanza'', which was successful both in Germany and internationally. He is known for complex economic ...
. It is a
worker placement
In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-shap ...
game with a focus on
resource management
In organizational studies, resource management is the efficient and effective development of an organization's resources when they are needed. Such resources may include the financial resources, inventory, human skills, production resources, or i ...
. 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.
The game was published by
Lookout Games
Lookout Games is a German board and card game publisher. The company published, among other games, the board game Agricola, which was honored with the ''Complex Game'' award by the German Game of the Year jury in 2008.
History
The company was fo ...
and released at
Spiel
Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called the Essen Game Fair after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day boardgame trade fair which is also open to the public held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen e ...
2007, where it was voted second-best game shown at the convention, according to the ''
Fairplay
FairPlay is a digital rights management (DRM) technology developed by Apple Inc. It is built into the MPEG-4 Part 14, MP4 multimedia file format as an encrypted Advanced Audio Coding, AAC audio layer, and was used until April 2009 by the company ...
'' in-show voting. The game was released in English by Z-Man Games in July 2008.
Playdek
Playdek is an independent video game development company founded in 2011, based in Carlsbad, California. Playdek specializes in developing board games and card games for the iOS platform.
Overview
The core of Playdek's team worked together in c ...
released an
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
conversion of the game in June 2013. A second edition of ''Agricola'' was published by
Mayfair Games
Mayfair Games was an American publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games that also licensed Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language publishing rights to ''The Settlers of Catan'' ser ...
in May 2016.
''Agricola'' won the
Spiel des Jahres
The Spiel des Jahres (, ''Game of the Year'') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence ...
special award for "Best complex game 2008" and the 2008
Deutscher Spiele Preis
__NOTOC__
The Deutscher Spielepreis (, ''German Game Prize'') is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine ''Die Pöppel-Revue'', which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals ...
.
It was also the game that ended ''
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
s run of more than five years as the highest-rated game on the board game website
BoardGameGeek
BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition to ...
, staying at the top of the rankings between September 2008 and March 2010.
, ''Agricola'' is ranked 34th among all board games on
BoardGameGeek
BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition to ...
.
A two-player version called ''Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small'' was released in 2012. There is also a corresponding iOS app.
Gameplay
![Agricola board game](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/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. 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.
The game is played in 14 rounds, divided by 6 harvests. At each harvest, food is grown, people are fed, and animals multiply.
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 not 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. 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.
The game offers a simplified 'family' variation for less involved players, in which occupation and minor improvement cards are not used.
Differences in the revised edition
![Agricola animeeples (cattle and wild boar) (5650295714)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Agricola_animeeples_%28cattle_and_wild_boar%29_%285650295714%29.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.
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
__NOTOC__
The Deutscher Spielepreis (, ''German Game Prize'') is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine ''Die Pöppel-Revue'', which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals ...
(Germany) Game of the Year Winner
*
Golden Geek Award
BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition to ...
Best Gamer's Board Game Winner
*
Golden Geek Award
BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition to ...
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
The Spiel des Jahres (, ''Game of the Year'') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence ...
"Complex Game" Winner
* Tric Trac d'or (France) Game of the Year Winner
2007
* Meeples' Choice Award Winner
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{Deutscher Spiele Preis winners
Board games introduced in 2007
Deutscher Spiele Preis winners
Board games about history
IOS games
Mayfair Games games
Spiel des Jahres winners
Uwe Rosenberg games
Z-Man Games games
Economic simulation board games
Worker placement board games