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viktor_haagThe most anticipated game since perhaps Puerto Rico or Caylus has finally arrived on my doorstep via express post (after waiting almost nine months since I pre-ordered it): the special edition of Agricola with the extra cards and the handsome little deluxe animal shaped meeples. I have now read the rules, and it does, indeed, look like it could be a wonderful game with every bit as much replay value and fun as Puerto Rico, but only playing it will reveal whether it has the balance and long-term interest that's in the best of the german-style games. I suspect that by this time next week, I'll have at least a couple plays under my belt, but I don't anticipate I'll have anything meaningful to say about the game for some time yet.
For now though, it does have the first-glance earmarks of an excellent german-style game: handsome bits, fairly easy basic rules to get into, and a pretty hefty layer of variability that can keep the game rich and interesting for awhile. (In that respect, it reminds me a lot of the venerable Cosmic Encounter, without the nasty, cut-throat, overt interactive elements; in that sense, the game's rules seem a lot more like Puerto Rico: rather than assaulting players with direct confrontation, the game's structure seems to promote more subtle interaction that can also be nasty, but still, with balancing mechanisms to keep players involved and interested.)
Just from reading the rules, I don't think there's anything revolutionary in Agricola; but it does have the feel of something very well engineered from a set of known parts. Only time will tell if that feeling bears out in actual play.
For now though, it does have the first-glance earmarks of an excellent german-style game: handsome bits, fairly easy basic rules to get into, and a pretty hefty layer of variability that can keep the game rich and interesting for awhile. (In that respect, it reminds me a lot of the venerable Cosmic Encounter, without the nasty, cut-throat, overt interactive elements; in that sense, the game's rules seem a lot more like Puerto Rico: rather than assaulting players with direct confrontation, the game's structure seems to promote more subtle interaction that can also be nasty, but still, with balancing mechanisms to keep players involved and interested.)
Just from reading the rules, I don't think there's anything revolutionary in Agricola; but it does have the feel of something very well engineered from a set of known parts. Only time will tell if that feeling bears out in actual play.
