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Agricola (Revised Edition)
#85BGG8.0RATING
Updated Jun 10
1–4
PLAYERS
30–120
MINUTES
4
BEST WITH
3.5
HEAVY
ERRATA3
Corn Scoop (A067) has no play requirementdesignerpublisher
- RULING
- "Both the German and English version of this card do NOT have a requirement and—to my knowledge—never had. I don't know where the above image of a supposedly German card with restriction comes from."
D075 Wood Field (English): missing "only wood" restrictiondesignerpublisher
- RULING
- "You can plant only wood on this card. This is, apparently, missing on the English card."
Beanfield-type cards: "can only grow X" wording is misleadingdesignerpublisher
- RULING
- "The Bean Field wording needs the following change to lose 'grow': 'This card is a field in which you can only sow vegetables.'" The phrase "can only grow X" on Beanfield-type cards means "can only ever contain X or nothing" — it is a restriction on what is sown there, not a barrier to other card effects interacting with the field.
DESIGNER CLARIFICATIONS10
Official definition of "turn" in Agricoladesignerpublisher
- CONTEXT
- Players debated whether "your turn" or "this turn" on a card means the single moment of worker placement or everything done on that action space (which may include multiple sub-actions).
- RULING
- "Uwe approves of your definition of a turn, Lumin." The definition Uwe confirmed (Appendix, page 4): "The terms 'person's action' and 'turn' cover all the things that a person does on an action space, which may be multiple actions. Many cards provide actions that you can take without placing a person. These actions are not considered a person's actions or turn."
Stone Clearing and Garden Designer apply to Beanfield-type cardsdesignerpublisher
- CONTEXT
- Beanfield and similar single-crop field cards say "can only grow X," which some players interpreted as blocking Stone Clearing (places stone in a field) and Garden Designer from interacting with them.
- RULING
- "Uwe confirms that Stone Clearing and Garden Designer ARE, in fact, applicable to Bean Field and the sorts." Stone Clearing can place stone in a Beanfield even though the Beanfield "can only grow vegetables."
Second Spouse: any "first person" of another player on Family Growth countsdesigner
- CONTEXT
- Second Spouse requires "the first person of at least one other player" to be on the Family Growth action space. Question: if another player's newborn is also on that space alongside their first person, does the trigger still fire?
- RULING
- "As long as the first person of another player is there, you can say YES to the question and use the action space. It does not matter if there are other persons there, like the newborn of that other player."
"Decline an action" mechanics and Field Merchant on MIMIdesignerpublisher
- CONTEXT
- Several cards say "decline action X to do Y instead." Question: must you actually be capable of performing action X? Specific case: Field Merchant (decline Major Improvement to gain food/vegetable) played on the MIMI space even with no improvements in hand.
- RULING
- "'Declining an action (X) to do another action (Y)' is a shorthand for 'if you were allowed to take action X, you can take action Y instead'. So, yeah, if you use the 'Major Improvement' action space (aka MIMI), you can decline the entire action — even with no cards in hand and no way to build a major in the first place — to take the food/veggie with Field Merchant."
Decks A and B are used together as one poolpublisher
- RULING
- "They're used together." Mix deck A and deck B cards into a single pool when setting up the game. The letter and number codes are an internal organizational system used to ensure balanced card distribution across decks — they are not a signal to use the decks separately.
AUTHOR: AlexYeager (Alex Yeager, publisher — Mayfair Games)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.comDATE: 2016-06-13Child Ombudsman, Work Certificate, and Animal Teacher trigger the same turn they are playeddesignerpublisher
- CONTEXT
- These cards have effects that trigger "each time" a condition is met. A prior ruling stated they did not fire immediately on the turn played; Ponton reversed this after consulting Uwe Rosenberg and experienced players.
- RULING
- "After talking with Uwe and some pro players, we've come to the conclusion to allow cards like these to trigger right away. Most people intuitively understand these cards as to trigger right away, anyway. So, Child Ombudsman, Work Certificate, and Animal Teacher can trigger the same turn they are played."
Cards played via Scholar cannot trigger "start of round" effects that same rounddesignerpublisher
- CONTEXT
- Scholar lets you play an occupation at the start of each round for free. Question: if that occupation has a "start of round" effect, does it trigger immediately that same round?
- RULING
- "Uwe and I came to the following conclusion regarding cards played with Scholar: You cannot use them that same phase, even if they provide a 'start of round' effect. Another example: If you play A090* with Scholar, you cannot plow a field that same round." Hanno Girke (Designer+Publisher) further clarified: the "start of round" effect stack has already closed by the time Scholar plays the card — newly added effects cannot be retroactively inserted into a phase that has already begun resolving.
AUTHOR: Ponton (Grzegorz Kobiela, designer and publisher)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(23 replies)DATE: 2021-06-30Meeting Place: taking the starting player token is optionaldesignerpublisher
- CONTEXT
- Ponton had previously stated taking the starting player token at Meeting Place was mandatory; this post rescinds that ruling after re-confirming with Uwe Rosenberg.
- RULING
- "I've consulted with Uwe again to be perfectly sure and he confirms that taking start player on Meeting Place is, in fact, OPTIONAL and, therefore, 'and/or' is correct. Maybe we had some sort of miscommunication back then but I'd like to correct that false statement of mine and apologize."
There is an interim period between rounds for anytime effectsdesignerpublisher
- CONTEXT
- Whether cards with anytime effects (e.g., Salter — convert an animal to food) can be used immediately after the breeding phase closes but before the next round's work phase begins. Ponton's initial ruling was no; he reversed after confirming with Uwe.
- RULING
- "I double-checked with Uwe on this one to be perfectly sure and he confirms that there is an interim period between rounds, sort of 'before the start of a round', in which you can turn animals into food (or use any other anytime effects)."
Grain Depot bonus is determined by the chosen payment option, not how it was paiddesignerpublisher
- CONTEXT
- Grain Depot offers three payment options (e.g., pay 3 grain / 2 wood / 1 clay), each granting a different bonus. If another card (e.g., Wood Expert) reduces the cost of the chosen option, does the bonus change?
- RULING
- "Official answer: Grain Depot provides 3 options to pay for it. Depending on which option you choose, you get a benefit. It does not matter how the chosen option was paid for."
Q&A9
Grain and vegetables can be converted to food at any timelinked official sourcecommunity high-engagement
- QUESTION
- Can you convert grain or vegetables to food at any time, including to pay a card's play cost?
- ANSWER
- Yes. Rulebook page 9 (Feeding Phase) states: "Grain and vegetables can be treated as food at any time." This conversion applies to any food payment — not only during harvest — including paying the cost to play a minor improvement or occupation.
AUTHOR: cicerunner (Stuart Franklin), citing rulebook page 9SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(14 replies)DATE: 2024-06-27Heart of Stone (C021): the offspring stone is available next round at the earliestdesignerpublisher
- QUESTION
- When can you use the stone offspring that Heart of Stone generates each round — immediately, or only from the following round?
- ANSWER
- "Place it on Heart of Stone. You can use it next round at the earliest."
Upgrading Fireplace to Cooking Hearth triggers Scalesdesignerpublisher
- QUESTION
- Scales fires when you acquire a new improvement. If you return a Fireplace to the supply and take a Cooking Hearth (upgrading it via the Major Improvement action space), does this count as acquiring a new improvement and trigger Scales?
- ANSWER
- "Exchanging a Fireplace with a Cooking Hearth DOES trigger Scales."
Craft buildings require spending resources from your personal supplydesignerpublisher
- QUESTION
- Do the Joinery, Pottery, and Building Materials bonus points apply to resources stored on field cards (like D075 Wood Field) or only to resources in your personal supply?
- ANSWER
- "In revised Agricola, you actually spend wood/clay/reed for the craft building bonus points, so they don't count towards a tie-breaker since they're gone when it comes to breaking ties." You must spend resources from your supply — resources on field cards cannot be spent until harvested, so they are not available for craft building scoring.
AUTHOR: Ponton (Grzegorz Kobiela, designer and publisher)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(23 replies)DATE: 2019-11-08Consultant occupation: 5–6 player reward is 2 sheepdesignerpublisher
- QUESTION
- Consultant grants different resources by player count (1p = 2 grain, 2p = 3 clay, 3p = 2 reed, 4p = 2 sheep). What do you receive in a 5- or 6-player game?
- ANSWER
- "With 5 and 6 players, you get 2 sheep." The 4-player reward applies for player counts above 4.
Bottles (B036): a newborn counts as a person for the play costdesignerpublisher
- QUESTION
- Bottles costs 1 clay and 1 food per family member to play. If you play Bottles during a Family Growth action, does the newborn count toward the cost?
- ANSWER
- "OFFICIAL CLARIFICATION: A newborn is a person so it does count for Bottles."
Junk Room + Merchant: the food chain is validdesignerpublisher
- QUESTION
- If building an improvement triggers Junk Room (granting 1 food), can that food immediately be used to pay for Merchant's second Minor/Major Improvement action?
- ANSWER
- Yes. Ponton confirmed the chain is valid. Sequence: spend resources to build an improvement → Junk Room fires and grants 1 food → use that food to activate Merchant's second improvement action.
AUTHOR: Ponton (Grzegorz Kobiela, designer and publisher)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(23 replies)DATE: 2022-01-17Hunting Trophy discount applies to Merchant's second improvement on House Redevelopmentdesignerpublisher
- QUESTION
- Hunting Trophy reduces the cost of improvements built on the House Redevelopment action space by 1 resource. If Merchant triggers a second improvement on that same action, does the Hunting Trophy discount also apply to it?
- ANSWER
- Yes. "On 'House Redevelopment', you also get the HT discount for the second improvement played via [Merchant], because [Merchant] lets you play the action 'a second time' and the action was part of [House Redevelopment]." Confirmed by Uwe Rosenberg.
AUTHOR: Ponton (Grzegorz Kobiela, designer and publisher), confirmed by Uwe RosenbergSOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(23 replies)DATE: 2022-01-18Forest Inn exchange does not count as "gaining" building resources for Claypipedesignerpublisher
- QUESTION
- If you use Forest Inn (exchange wood tiers for wood + food), does this count as "gaining at least 7 building resources" to trigger Claypipe?
- ANSWER
- No. "Forest Inn's text is just a shortcut for: — If you have 9+ wood, spend 1 wood to gain 7 food. — If you have 7+ wood, gain 1 wood and 4 food. — If you have 5+ wood, gain 3 wood and 2 food. So, no, you did not gain 7 wood to activate Claypipe."
AUTHOR: Ponton (Grzegorz Kobiela, designer and publisher)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(25 replies)DATE: 2021-07-02
EDGE CASES3
Shepherd's Crook: subdividing a pasture is not creating a new pasturedesignerpublisher
- SITUATION
- A player uses a fencing action to partition an existing large pasture into two smaller ones. Shepherd's Crook fires "whenever you fence a new pasture that covers at least 4 farmyard spaces." Does subdividing trigger it?
- RULING
- "In the revised edition, subdividing a pasture is not creating a new pasture." Ponton explained: "The key term here is 'new'. It entails that new farmyard spaces must be fenced. If you partition a large pasture, you did not really create something new, you just changed what was already there." This was omitted from the printed rules — it is an official post-publication designer ruling.
Shepherd's Crook: fencing action ends the moment you trigger the carddesignerpublisher
- SITUATION
- A player builds a pasture of ≥4 spaces (triggering Shepherd's Crook and gaining 2 sheep), then wants to continue adding fences within the same action to also subdivide the new pasture.
- RULING
- "Once you (decide to) trigger a card effect your fencing action ends. So you either build a size 4 pasture and end it there or subdivide it but lose out on Shepherd's Crook."
Claypipe: official framework for what counts as "gaining" building resourcesdesignerpublisher
- SITUATION
- Claypipe grants 2 food whenever you "gain at least 7 building resources in a round." Multiple interaction scenarios create ambiguity about what constitutes a "gain."
- RULING
- Ponton ruled on 7 specific cases. Core principle: a "gain" is a net increase in building resources from a single action or exchange — 1-for-1 swaps are not gains, and resources that never reach your supply do not count. Specific rulings: (1) Take 7 wood, then spend some to build later that round → **Yes**, Claypipe triggers. (2) Take 7 wood, but Mushroom Collector returns 1 before it reaches your supply → **No**, only 6 were gained. (3) Take 6 wood, then use Grocer to buy 1 more wood → **Yes**. (4) Take 6 wood, then use Sheep Walker to exchange a sheep for a stone → **Yes**. (5) Take 6 wood, pay 1 wood for Paper Maker, gain 1 reed via Animal Tamer → **No** (1-for-1 exchange is not a net gain). (6) Take 6 clay, pay 2 clay to gain 1 stone via Hard Porcelain → **No** (net loss); but if you had taken 7+ clay first → **Yes**.
AUTHOR: Ponton (Grzegorz Kobiela, designer and publisher)SOURCE: boardgamegeek.com(25 replies)DATE: 2021-08-07
Last researched: 2026-04-28
CATEGORIES
Animals·Economic·Farming
MECHANICS
EnclosureHand ManagementWorker PlacementAdvantage TokenAutomatic Resource GrowthClosed DraftingIncrease Value of Unchosen ResourcesSolo / Solitaire GameTeam-Based Game
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