OBJECTIVE OF AGRICOLA: The objective of Agricola is to be the player with the farmyard that is worth the most victory points.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1 to 5 Players
MATERIALS: 5 Farmyards, 3 Game Action Boards, 1 Major Improvement board, 169 occupation cards, 139 minor improvement cards, 10 major improvement cards, 14 round cards, 16 action cards, 5 begging cards, 5 story cards, 2 deck cards, 5 sets of stables, fences, and member disks, 1 Starting player token, 21 sheep tokens, 18 boar tokens, 15 cow tokens, wooden counters, 33 house tiles, 24 hut tiles, 36 food markers, 9 multiplication markers, 3 claim markers, and 1 scoring pad
TYPE OF GAME: Strategic Board Game
AUDIENCE: Ages 12 and Up
OVERVIEW OF AGRICOLA
Agricola is a turn-based game, occurring over the course of 14 rounds. The players act as farmers, attempting to build their farmyard into something great and boisterous! Will you be able to raise children, or will you be unable to afford them? You’ve made it through the plague, now it is time to prosper.
SETUP
Firstly, place the game boards in the correct orientation. Players will then choose a color to represent them throughout the course of the game. They will each gather the playing pieces in their chosen color. The players will place their pieces in front of them.
On two of the building spaces in the farmyard, the players should place a wooden hut tile, and a family member in each of the room. The rest of the game pieces can be left in the bag until they are needed. Separate the housing tiles and place them beside the game board.
Sort the cards by the color of their backs. Organize the round cards depending on stage of the game and place them in a small pile to the side, with stage 6 on the bottom and stage 1 on top. If there are three to five players, place the action cards on the spaces on the left side of the first board. If there are only two players, then no action cards are used. Sort the occupation cards depending on the number of players as stated on each card.
Shuffle the minor improvement deck and deal seven cards to each player. The rest of the cards can be placed to the side. Place all of the major improvement cards on the major improvements board, facing up. The begging cards can be placed to the side of the playing area. Each player will collect a summary card.
A starter player is chosen, and they will collect the first player marker and two food tokens. The rest of the players will begin with three food tokens. The game is ready to begin.
GAMEPLAY
The game is made up of six stages, which are separated into 14 rounds. Every round has the same pattern which consists of four phases. There is a harvest after the fourth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, and fourteenth rounds.
Flip the Round card that is on top and put it on the board. The action is able to be completed by all players, and it can be used in all rounds. All actions that occur at the beginning of a round, happen now.
Next, goods and Food are placed on the necessary spaces. These are shown by arrows. Going clockwise around the group, beginning with the first player, they take a family member from their farm and place them on an action space. Each action space may only be used by one person at a time. After the actions have been completed, the family members are removed and returned home.
The Harvest
The harvest consists of three phases, the field phase, the feeding phase, and the breeding phase. During the field phase, players move a grain or vegetable piece from a sown field to their supply. They may earn additional food from occupation or improvement cards as well.
During the feeding phase, players must feed their family. This is done by paying two food tokens for each family member. Offspring that were just created only require a single food token. Improvements that have the cooking symbol allow animals to be converted to food. Begging cards must be collected if the player is unable to feed their family.
During the breeding phase, players collect one baby for every two animals that are the same. Baby and parent animals cannot be turned into food immediately. After the harvest at the end of the fourteenth round, the game comes to an end.
END OF GAME
At the end of the 14th round, the game coms to an end. Players will tally up their points on the score pad and the winner is determined. The player with the most victory points wins the game!
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