http://www.boardgamegeek.

com/thread/332022

Agricola Rules
Subject: Common Mistakes
While Playing Agricola - A
Summary
Please note, this thread is not for
errors in the printing of the game,
just for mistakes that can be made
while playing.
Multiplayer Game
-All players start the game with food.
The starting player receives two food
while all other players receive three.
-When a player places a family
member on an action space, he

immediately takes that action. In

other words, action spaces ARE NOT
resolved at the end of the round but
are resolved immediately.
-In all spaces with red arrows, the
goods accumulate over the rounds,
including the Fishing and the
Traveling Players action (the latter
is only used in games of 4+ players).
When a player takes goods, animals,
or food from these spaces, he takes
all of them. Note that in the Family
Version, the "Starting Player" space
accumulates food each round.
-Using one of the "Occupation" action
spaces in the game allows a player to
only play one Occupation card that
turn (the only time a player can play
more than one Occupation card from

a single space is if he has a Minor

Improvement or Occupation in play
that allows him to break the rule).
-The actions on spaces that include
two actions divided by and/or can
be taken in any order. Both actions
do not have to be taken, but at least
one must be taken or a player cannot
select the space with his family
member. One example is the Sow
and/or Bake Bread space.
-For action spaces that include two
actions using After . . . also . . ., the
first action must be taken and the
second action is optional. One
example is the After Renovation,
also 1 Major or Minor Improvement
space.

-In order to take the Family Growth

action, a player must have more
rooms than he currently has family
members (including other newborns).
If a player expands his family using
the Family Growth even without
space in your home action and later
builds a new room in his house, that
family member must be moved into
the new room.
-The "Build Room(s) and/or Build
Stable(s)" space allows a player to
build as many rooms as he can afford
and, if he has enough wood, all four
of his stables. However, there is a
"Build 1 Room or Traveling Players"
space in a five player game that only
allows a player to build a single
room.

-In the five player game, the action

space 1 Reed, In addition, take 1
Stone and 1 Wood accumulates one
reed every round. The one stone and
one wood that come with the reed
are taken from the general supply
and these two additional resources
are given to each player who takes
the action.
-From the five player family game,
the action space Take 2 different
Building Resources of your choice
requires that a player must take two
different resources.
-The Start Player Marker only moves
to a new player when someone takes
the Starting Player action.
-Fences can only be built if they form

a completely enclosed pasture with

fences on all sides. A fence cannot be
placed unless it is part of such an
enclosure.
-Stables A player can only have
one stable on any farmyard space,
but can have two or more stables in
a pasture - each stable doubles the
capacity again. A fenced stable
doubles the capacity of the entire
pasture (not just the farmyard space
it is on). An unfenced stable can be
fenced later. When scoring, a
farmyard square with just a stable is
considered occupied, which allows a
player to avoid the -1 penalty for an
empty space (an unfenced stable is
not worth any positive points,
however). Also during scoring, one
pasture is a single fenced in area,

regardless of the number of farmyard

squares in the pasture.
-Renovation A player cannot
renovate to clay and then to stone in
the same action. When renovation
occurs, the entire hut must be
renovated at the same time. The
amount of reed required for
renovation is always just one total,
regardless of the number of rooms
being renovated. For example, if a
player is renovating a four-room clay
hut to stone, he must pay four stone
and only one reed.
-When a player takes a Sow action,
he can sow as many fields as he has
plowed, provided these fields are
empty and he has enough grain
and/or vegetables.

-When harvesting grain and

vegetables, one of each good is taken
from each stack in a field and the
remaining goods are left in the field
until the next harvest. This occurs at
the beginning of the harvest phase,
before a player feeds his family
members. Grain and vegetables in a
field are not consumable they must
be harvested and placed in a players
personal supply first. However, grain
and vegetables left in the fields at
the end of the game are counted for
scoring purposes.
-Grain can only be baked into bread
when using a Bake Bread action
(don't forget that one grain, or one
vegetable, can be used as one food
at any point in the game). Ovens

convert a limited amount of grain

into food while Fireplaces and
Cooking Hearths convert unlimited
amounts. A player can own multiple
cooking improvements and use all of
them when he takes the "Bake
Bread" action. A player can only cook
the grain in his personal supply, not
in his fields. Immediately after a
player places an oven as a major or
minor improvement, he gets to
perform the "Bake Bread" action.
-With a Fireplace or Cooking Hearth,
animals and vegetables can be
converted to food at any time, even
immediately after they are taken
from the board. The only limit is that
animals cannot be made into food
during the Breeding phase of the
Harvest. Thus, a player could take

animals for the sole purpose of

cooking them immediately (a player
can even take animals and simply let
them all go if he does not have an
improvement to cook them or room
to place them on his farm).
-A player can keep only one animal is
his house which is known as a pet.
This pet is identical to other animals
in all respects it can breed, it can
be eaten, and it is counted for
scoring at the end of the game. All
animals, including a pet, can be
freely moved (meaning it does not
require an action) during the course
of a game as long as all rules
regarding animal placement are
followed. The general consensus on
BGG is that a player is better off not
naming a pet the animal will likely

meet a tragic end.

-A Begging Card is taken for each
food that a player is short when he
feeds his family, not for each family
member that cannot be completely
fed.
-During the Breeding phase of the
Harvest, a player with at least two of
one type of animal receives only one
baby animal of that type. In other
words, a player with two sheep gets
one lamb and a player with ten sheep
gets one lamb as well. A maximum of
three animals can be bred during this
phase, one each of sheep, boars, and
cows.
-When a player plays a Minor
Improvement or Occupation card

from his hand, he does not draw a

new card to replace it. Unless playing
with any of the variants listed in the
rules, a player is limited to the
fourteen cards he is dealt at the
beginning of the game (the only
exception to this limit if when a
player is required to pass a Minor
Improvement card to his left after
playing it).
-If a player "returns" a Major
Improvement, the card goes back to
the major improvement board where
it can be repurchased, either by a
different player or the same player.
The player returning the Major
Improvement does not forfeit any
goods he received, or will receive,
from the card (this is really dealing
with the well). When a player

"returns" a Minor Improvement or

Occupation, it is removed from the
game. If a player is still to receive
goods in upcoming rounds for these
removed cards, those goods are
removed from the board.
-A card that states something like,
Add 5 and 9 to the current
round . . . means that a player adds
the given numbers on the card to the
current round number and places the
designated goods on the
corresponding round spaces. For
example, if a player is to add 5 and 9
during round 4, he would place the
respective goods on rounds 9 and 13.
If this card was played in round 7,
the player would only place the
goods in round 12 since there is no
round 16.

-Any card (Major or Minor

Improvements) with the word
"Fireplace" in its title is considered a
Fireplace. Any card with the word
"Oven" in its title is considered an
Oven. Though both can bake bread, a
Fireplace and an Oven are considered
different cooking implements in this
game.
-As noted in the rules, resources,
animals, and food are meant to be
unlimited, as are plowed fields and
rooms for the various houses. Only a
players family members, stables,
and fences are limited in number.
-The main decks that come with the
game, the E, I, and K decks, can be
used in any way a player desires.

They can be used separately, two

could be combined, or all three could
be used at once. The Z-deck is a
small expansion deck that can also
be combined with the other decks in
any way a player chooses.
Errors Specific to the Solo Game
-A player who is playing either a
single solo game or the first solo
game in a series of eight begins the
game with no food. It cost three food
to feed each adult family member
during harvest, while children are still
fed only one.
-The 3 Wood space provides only
two wood per round in the solo
game. A player who is playing a
series of eight games begins the

second and subsequent games with

one food for every two points
(rounded down) that he exceeded the
scoring goal in the previous game.
-At the start of a new game in a
series, a player is considered to be in
round 0. This is important if a player
has an Occupation card already in
play from a previous game that
grants goods or animals a certain
number of rounds after the current
round. For example, if a player is to
add 5 and 9 to the current round, he
would simply place goods on rounds
5 and 9.
-From the second game in a series, a
player must pay for the initial
Occupation he plays from his hand
during the game as it is not

technically his first Occupation

(since he has Occupations in play
from previous games).
Last edited on 2008-09-08 19:03:17 CST
(Total Number of Edits: 9)