Agricola (board game)

For other uses, see Agricola (disambiguation).

Agricola
The box cover of Agricola
DesignersUwe Rosenberg
PublishersMayfair Games
Lookout Games (Germany)
Z-Man Games (U.S.)
999 Games (Netherlands)
Homolúdicus (Spain)
Players1 to 5
Setup time5–10 minutes
Playing time30–60 minutes per player
ChanceLow (Cards)
Age range12 and up
SkillsEconomic management, Resource management, Strategic thought
Related games
Civilization, Dominant Species, Le Havre, Caylus, Caverna: The Cave Farmers
[1]

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.[2]

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.[3] The game was released in English by Z-Man Games in July 2008.[4] Playdek released an iOS conversion of the game in June 2013.[5] A second edition of Agricola was published by Mayfair Games in May 2016.[6]

Agricola won the Spiel des Jahres special award for "Best complex game 2008" and the 2008 Deutscher Spiele Preis.[7][8]

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.[9] As of October 2024, Agricola is ranked 54th among all board games on BoardGameGeek, with the revised edition being ranked 78th.[10]

A two-player version called Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small was released in 2012. There is also a corresponding iOS app.[11]

  1. ^ Goodridge, Michelle; Rohweder, Matthew J. (15 November 2021). Librarian's Guide to Games and Gamers: From Collection Development to Advisory Services. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9798216110958.
  2. ^ "Best Eurogame: Agricola, Caverna, Puerto Rico or Terra Mystica?". Netivist. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Boardgame News Convention Report". Boardgamenews.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  4. ^ "Board Game Geek comments". Boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  5. ^ "Playdek's Highly-anticipated Agricola Challenges Players to Build the Most Productive Farm; Plough, Sow and Reap Victory". Gamasutra. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  6. ^ McDuffie, Tina (4 June 2016). "Agricola Revised Edition - How it compares to the original". The Glass Meeple. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  7. ^ Ducksch, Stefan (25 May 2008). "Spiel des Jahres 2008: Best complex game 2008 (German)". Spiel des Jahres. Archived from the original on 12 December 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  8. ^ "Deutscher Spiele Preis 2008 (German)". Deutscher Spiele Preis. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
  9. ^ "BGG Top 50 Statistics". Board Game Geek. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  10. ^ "Browse Board Games". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 12 December 2016.