Agricola
February 8th, 2008Three of us played Agricola for the first time last night. Chris bought an expensive, but really nicely made, set of paste-ups from Andy Merritt. I hope that Z-Man sell the cards separately, so he does not have to buy another set.
Agricola is as good as advertised. I see no reason to play Caylus again. I have been thinking about it ever since.
This is the fourth Uwe Rosenburg game I have played (Bohnanza, Babel, Schnäppchen Jagd) and the only one I have liked. I did not think he had it in him.
The rules are simple enough, but understanding how to play well is tough. Luckily Chris had played the solitaire Flash version and several two player games, so he was able to stop us getting frustrated.
As others have said, the best thing about Agricola is that it manages to be both an intricate “system game”, while being very thematic. Frank Branham’s comments about the game are spot on as usual, although I totally disagree with his comments about the Geek.
Some have criticised it for being multiplayer solitaire, which is a valid point, but the competition for actions stops that being a problem for me. Also, Chris Farrell makes the criticism that this is a fixed-fun game, so better with fewer players, but this just makes me think I should buy it so I can play it with Vanessa.
If you want some more (better written) comments and a nice summary of the mechanics, check out the Spotlightongames review.
9/10 for now.
February 9th, 2008 at 05:22
Fixed fun… well, yes, I do tend to avoid five-player games, particularly with newbies, as those will easily take two hours and the whole game evening. I’m really looking forward playing Agricola today with just three players. Based on discussion on the Finnish Board Game Society forums, I’m not alone in this.
In general Agricola is not a very good “club game”, that is something you’d want to play with plenty of different people. It’s a 10 if played with people who already know it, less with newbies, basically. Explaining the rules is somewhat annoying and the game just doesn’t shine that way with inexperienced players. I haven’t really used the cards yet, either, because I don’t want to suffer ever longer periods of waiting and analysis paralysis with the newbies…
Johanna liked Agricola more than most games; I think it’s a good two-player game and should work well with Vanessa as well.
February 9th, 2008 at 16:57
Hi Mikko. Again it looks as if Agricola should play to my group’s strength as we are three solid regulars who are very keen.
Don’t tempt me any more! I just spent £80 on games that I cannot really afford…
February 10th, 2008 at 01:01
I’m not a big fan of the Rosenberg games you mentioned, but love Mamma Mia and Klunker so you may want to consider those a try (though the latter may be difficult to track down)
Nick
February 10th, 2008 at 09:11
Thanks Nick. I’ll check them out, but I find it hard to get light card games to the table.
It’s interesting that you can play Klunker with a Bohnanza deck.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/131733
February 10th, 2008 at 14:15
In that case you really can’t afford to miss Agricola. Sorry, but you just can’t. I just played two three-player games in just two hours – the same time it took us to play one five-player game last time I was Jyväskylä. Playing the two games was a much better experience than playing one five-player game.
February 10th, 2008 at 14:48
I get the message!
I am playing lots of two player games right now, so it’ll almost certainly be in my next order.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:42
I have to echo Mikko’s comments here. Agricola really shines with a group of repeat players – and you will play it twice in a row sometimes, because it is just that good.
It also seems to hit the “wife game” slot very well and is IMO one of the more heavy games to do that.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:40
Hi Melissa.
Sorry for taking so long to moderate your comment. For some reason I’m not notified of OpenID comments.
Thanks for doing the translations – an impressive effort.
So far it’s my favourite game of the year. A purchase is looking inevitable…