Welcome to the Farm! Your Definitive Guide to Agricola!

Hey there, fellow farmers! Ready to get your hands dirty and build the most prosperous farm in the land? Agricola isn't just a game; it's a journey from humble beginnings to a thriving agricultural empire. Let's dive in and learn how to play this fantastic game!

Objective of the Game

In Agricola, you're not just playing; you're living the life of a 17th-century farmer! Your goal is to develop the most successful and self-sufficient farm by the end of 14 rounds. This means expanding your home, growing your family, plowing fields, sowing crops, and raising animals. Every decision you make, every action you take, contributes to your final score. The player who best balances these aspects and accumulates the most **Victory Points** will be crowned the ultimate farmer!

Preparation (Setup)

Alright, let's get this farm ready! Here’s how to set up your game:

1. Place the 3 **game boards** as shown in the rules.
2. Each player chooses a color and takes all the **game pieces** of that color, plus 1 **farmyard board**.
3. Each player places one **wooden hut room** piece and one **family member disc** on each of the 2 starting building spaces on their farmyard board.
4. Separate the cards into decks:
   • Green **Action cards**
   • Blue **Round cards**
   • Yellow **Occupation cards**
   • Orange **Minor Improvement cards**
   • Red **Major Improvement cards**
   • Grey **Begging cards**
   • **Summary cards**
5. Separate the blue **Round cards** by stage, shuffle each pile, and stack them in order with Stage 6 at the bottom.
6. If playing with 3-5 players, take the corresponding set of green **Action cards** and place them face-up on the spaces to the left of the first board, in any order. For solo and 2-player games, no Action cards are used.
7. The purple symbol on the left of the yellow **Occupation cards** shows how many players the card is used for. Unused cards are removed from the game (the full deck is only used in 4-5 player games). Shuffle the cards and deal 7 to each player.
8. Shuffle the orange **Minor Improvement cards** and deal 7 to each player.
9. Place the 10 red **Major Improvement cards** face-up on the Major Improvements board. Once 9 are bought, the board is flipped to show the scoring overview, and the remaining improvement is placed on it.
10. Place the grey **Begging cards** face-up next to the playing area.
11. Each player takes a **Summary card**.
12. Choose a **starting player** who receives the **starting player marker** and 2 **food**. Other players receive 3 food each.
13. Besides the 5 **family member discs**, 4 **stables**, and 15 **fences** per player, all other components are considered unlimited. Use a **multiplication marker** if needed, placing it under one of the appropriate goods markers.

The Game Turn

Agricola unfolds over 6 **stages**, divided into 14 **rounds**. Each round has 4 exciting phases:

1. Start the Round

   First, draw a **Round card** and place it in the appropriate space on the board. The action on this card is now available to all players for this and all subsequent rounds!

   Next, play any actions that occur at the start of a particular round or all rounds. If there are any pieces, food, or other items on the current round space, they are distributed to the appropriate players.

2. Replenish Goods and Animals

   Time to restock! Place new **goods** and **food** on any action spaces on the board that require them, as indicated by an arrow (printed spaces, as well as Action and Round cards). Add these new items to any existing goods and food already there.

3. Work!

   This is where the magic happens! Starting with the **starting player** and proceeding clockwise, players take turns moving a single **family member** from their farmyard, placing it on an unoccupied action space, and performing that action. This continues until all family members have been placed.

   • Only 1 family member can be placed at a time.
   • Each space can only be occupied by 1 family member in a round.
   • If a space is occupied, its action must be performed.
   • **Animals** must be placed directly into the player's farmyard. If they can't be accommodated, they must be returned to the general supply or converted into food (if possible).
   • Any **cards played** or **Major Improvements purchased** must be read aloud for all players.
   • Players cannot hide their personal supplies or cards they have played. Transparency is key!

4. Return Home

   After a hard day's work, players return their **family members** to their home, ready for the next round.

Harvest Time!

The **Harvest** is a crucial event that occurs at the end of each stage of the game (after rounds 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 14). It consists of 3 vital phases:

1. Harvest Phase 1: The Field

   Players remove 1 **grain** or **vegetable** token from each sown field in their farmyard and place them into their supply. Players may receive additional food from played **Occupation** or **Improvement cards**.

2. Harvest Phase 2: Feeding the Family

   This is critical! At the end of this phase, each player must pay 2 **food** per **family member**. Newborns (babies born during the current round) only consume 1 food this round.

   • Any unprocessed **grain** or **vegetable** can be converted into 1 food at any time.
   • Unprocessed **animals** have no food value.
   • If a player cannot or will not produce the required food, they must take a **Begging card** for each missing food. You can't just give up a family member to avoid feeding them!

3. Harvest Phase 3: Breeding

   Time for new life on the farm! Any player with at least 2 **animals** of the same type (they don't need to be together) receives 1 additional animal (a baby) of that type. But, this only happens if it can be accommodated in the farmyard or an appropriate **Improvement card**. Animals cannot be converted into food immediately after birth (they run away if they can't be accommodated!).

The Actions You Can Take

There are four main types of actions to improve your farm. Some only become available in certain stages, as indicated by the **Round card**.

• A: Expand and Renovate Wooden Huts
  • Build Room(s): Expand your hut by building rooms orthogonally adjacent. New rooms must be made of the same material as the rest of the house. You can also build up to 4 **stables** for 2 wood each.
  • Renovate: Upgrade your hut from a **wooden hut** to a **clay hut** (flip the pieces), or a **clay hut** to a **stone house** (replace pieces with stone house pieces). You can only renovate a complete hut, not individual rooms, and each renovate action only allows a single renovation to the next type of hut or house.
• B: Family Growth
  • Family Growth: Add your newborn **family member** to the action space. In the return home phase, it's placed in the house. The new family member isn't available for use in the round they are born. Families are limited to 5 members; if you have that amount in play, you cannot choose this action.
  • After Family Growth, also 1 Minor Improvement: You must have more rooms in your house than family members to perform this action. The improvement cannot be bought without the family growth.
  • Family Growth even without room in your house: You can increase your family regardless of the number of rooms in your house.
• C: Plow and Sow Fields
  • Plow 1 Field: Take a **field** tile and place it on an empty space in your farmyard. If you already have fields, it must be placed orthogonally adjacent to an existing field. You can use a maximum of 1 plowing improvement each time you select this action.
  • Take 1 Grain: Take 1 **grain** and place it in your supply.
  • Take 1 Vegetable: Take 1 **vegetable** and place it in your supply.
  • Sow (Grain): Plant 1 or more fields by taking 1 **grain** from your supply and 2 **grain** from the general supply and placing them on an empty (fallow) field.
  • Sow (Vegetable): Plant 1 or more fields by taking 1 **vegetable** from your supply and 1 **vegetable** from the general supply and placing them on an empty (fallow) field. A harvested field doesn't need to be plowed again to be resown using the sow action.
  • Sow and/or Bake Bread: You can choose to sow grain, bake it to make bread (convert it into food), or leave it in your supply. Baking bread requires an improvement with the appropriate symbol.
• D: Raising Animals
  • You may raise 1 **animal** as a pet in your home, regardless of the home’s size and type (it does not take away a room from a family member).
  • To hold more animals, you must fence **pastures**. Each pasture may only hold animals of 1 type (sheep, wild boar, or cattle), and up to 2 animals may live on each square of the pasture. Animals may be rearranged or released at any time.
  • Fences: You may immediately fence pastures with this action at a cost of 1 **wood** per fence. Fences are laid between the farmyard spaces (1 fence may border more than one pasture), all fences must be orthogonally adjacent, and they may only be built if they create a fully enclosed pasture. Enclosed farmyard spaces are considered ‘used’. The edge of the board, stables, fields, and rooms do not count as fences. Fields and rooms may not be completely surrounded by a fence. An existing pasture may be subdivided by adding a fence or fences. You may build a maximum of 15 fences and they may not be demolished once built.
  • Build Stables(s): Stables may be built at a cost of 2 **wood** using the build room(s) and/or build stable(s) action. You may place a stable on any farmyard space that does not already contain a stable, a room, or a field, and it may not then be removed. Stables need not be fenced in; each unfenced stable may hold 1 animal. Placing a stable in a fenced pasture doubles the capacity of the entire pasture.

Occupation Cards

Playing an **Occupation card** face-up on the table means its text immediately applies to you. Cards in hand have no effect. If an occupation with a claim symbol (arrow in a green circle) meets its condition, a **claim token** is placed on the action space, pointing to the player with the claim.

Improvement Cards

You can purchase either a **Major** or **Minor Improvement** (Minor Improvements can also be bought with other actions). The upper-right corner shows the cost in goods from your supply (not from a field). A slash means you can choose between two payment options. The upper-left corner might show a prerequisite (required goods, tiles, or cards on the table). The left side shows victory points. The bottom center might have a bonus points symbol, meaning variable points as described on the card. "Traveling cards" are passed to the next player after being played (indicated by brown arrows). "Upgrade cards" cost goods and require returning an existing Improvement; upgraded Major Improvements go back to their board, while Minor Improvements are removed from the game.

End of Game and Scoring

The game concludes after the **harvest** at the end of the 14th round (Stage 6). Now, it's time to tally up those **Victory Points**! Your **Summary cards** and the reverse of the **Major Improvements board** have handy scoring tables. Here's what you'll score:

• Fields: All **field tiles** on your farmyard are scored, whether fallow or sown.
• Pastures: Points are awarded for fenced areas (pastures), not just farmyard spaces that are fenced in. The size of a pasture is irrelevant.
• Grain and Vegetables: All **grain** and **vegetables**, in your supply or in your fields, are scored.
• Animals: You lose a point for having no animals of a particular type.
  • Score -1/1/2/3/4 points for 0/1/4/6/8+ sheep.
  • Score -1/1/2/3/4 points for 0/1/3/5/7+ wild boar.
  • Score -1/1/2/3/4 points for 0/1/2/4/6+ cattle.
• Unused Farmyard Spaces: Lose 1 point for each unused farmyard space (empty and unfenced).
• Fenced Stables: Gain 1 point for each fenced stable.
• Houses, Huts, and Family Members:
  • Gain 1 point for each room in a **clay hut**.
  • Gain 2 points for each room in a **stone house**.
  • Rooms in a **wooden hut** earn no points.
  • Gain 3 points for each **family member**, to a maximum of 5 family members.
• Points for Cards: Some cards are worth points as shown on the left of the card. Lose 3 points for each **Begging card** you hold at the end of the game.
• Bonus Points: As described on the appropriate card.

The player with the most **Victory Points** is the winner! In case of a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Tips for Winning

Agricola can feel like a lot at first, but with a few pointers, you'll be building a thriving farm in no time!

1. Don't Underestimate Food Production: This is the most common pitfall for new players! Your family needs to eat every harvest, and those **Begging cards** are a huge point penalty. Prioritize getting a reliable food engine going early, whether it's through fields, animals, or improvements that convert resources into food. A well-fed family is a happy, productive family!
2. Family Growth is Key (But Plan for It!): More family members mean more actions per round, which is incredibly powerful! However, each new family member needs a room in your house *and* food. Make sure you have the housing and food production to support your growing family before you commit to the "Family Growth" action. An extra action is only good if you can afford to feed the worker!
3. Diversify Your Farm: While specializing can be tempting, a balanced farm often scores better. Try to get a mix of fields, animals, and improvements. Losing points for having zero of a certain animal type can really hurt your score, and unused farmyard spaces are also a penalty. Think about how your actions can synergize to create a well-rounded and efficient farm.

Now you're ready to start your journey in Agricola! Gather your friends, roll up your sleeves, and get ready to cultivate a masterpiece. Happy farming!