Agricola

Please introduce the Rules Overview of Agricola.

Introduction to the Basic Rules of "Agricola"

I. Game Overview

An Agricola game lasts 14 rounds. In each round, you place one of your workers on exactly one action space and perform the action indicated there. The action spaces are printed on the game board and are contested—only one player can use a given space per round.

Your goal: Provide food for your family and develop your farmyard to earn more prestige points. The player with the highest score at the end of the game wins.

For the number of players, the basic rules cover 2–4 players, with solo rules provided at the end.

II. Resources and Limitations in Your Hand

• Each player has 5 workers (one of the intentionally limited components).
• Other fixed components are also limited: 4 stables and 15 fences per player.
• For all other shared components, if they run out, you may use resource tokens or temporary substitutes (no strict cap).

III. Four Phases of Each Round

Each round proceeds through four phases:

1. Preparation Phase
- At the start of each round, draw an action card and place it on the round-numbered action space.
- If any action spaces have resource tokens due to previous card effects, collect them now.
- Then, place resource tokens on all action spaces marked with ocher arrows (called "accumulation spaces"), even if leftover resources from the previous round remain.

2. Action Phase
- Starting with the starting player and proceeding clockwise, each player places exactly one worker on an action space until all players have placed their workers.
- Once an action space is occupied, no other player can use it during that round.
- After placing your worker, immediately perform the action associated with that space; some spaces offer multiple actions, but you cannot occupy a space without performing at least one action.
- Do not retrieve your workers until all players have placed theirs.
- As the game progresses, some players may run out of workers, and those players simply skip their turn.

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Can animals be placed in rooms?

Conclusion

You cannot keep animals inside rooms. Under the basic rules, animals must be placed on your farmyard board; most animals must be kept in pastures (enclosed areas) and stables. The only exception for housing animals in a house (room) is exactly one pet.

Rules Basis and Specific Conditions

1. Animals must be placed on the farmyard board, not in rooms or the supply area

> "Unlike crops and building resources, you do not simply place your animals in your supply, but you must accommodate them on your farmyard board. Otherwise your animals will wander off."

(Unlike crops and building materials, you cannot simply put animals into your supply; they must be placed on your farmyard board, or else they will wander away.)

2. Most animals are legally required to be kept in pastures and stables

> "Most animals must be kept in pastures and stables."

(Most animals must be housed in pastures and stables.)

3. Rooms are intended for human habitation, not animal dwelling

> "Each room has space for one person."

(Each room can accommodate one person.)

4. Pasture capacity limits

> "Each pasture can only hold a single type of animal and up to 2 animals of that type for each farmyard space it covers."

(Each pasture can house only one type of animal, with a maximum of two animals of that type per farmyard space it occupies.)

5. Stable capacity

> "You can double the capacity of a pasture by building a stable in it."
> "A stable outside of a pasture can hold exactly 1 animal."

(A stable built within a pasture doubles its capacity; a stable outside a pasture can hold exactly one animal.)

Clear Exception

You may keep exactly one pet animal in your house, of any species:

> "You can hold exactly 1 animal of any type in your house as your pet."

(The rule also explicitly states that this limit does not change throughout the game:

> "You can have exactly 1 pet animal—this will not improve towards the end."

(You may only have exactly one pet animal—this restriction does not loosen as the game progresses.)

Restrictions Related to Breeding

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What is the effect of the Papermaker?

Paper Maker

Conclusion: It is an Occupation card, playable with 1 or more players, categorized as a "Food Provider." Its method of exchanging wood for food is tied to "the number of Occupation cards you have played."

Specific Procedure (Trigger Timing and Conditions):
- After playing this "Paper Maker" card, each time you play another Occupation card, you may trigger its effect before paying that card's cost.
- Upon triggering, you can pay a total of 1 wood, then receive food equal to the number of Occupation cards already in front of you—1 food for each Occupation card you've played.
- In other words: the more Occupation cards you've played, the more food you'll gain by spending 1 wood this turn.

Exceptions/Points to Note:
- The trigger applies only to Occupation cards played after this one; playing this card itself does not grant you food.
- You pay a total of 1 wood, not 1 wood per Occupation card.
- The amount of food depends on the total number of Occupation cards you've played, not on the specific card you're currently playing.

Content Not Mentioned in the Original Text: The original rulebook does not specify how many times this ability can be used, whether it must be used, or impose any upper limits or other restrictions—these details are absent from the text.

This information is for reference only; in case of conflict, please refer to the official rulebook and advice from experienced players.

Even without this card, can I still squeeze several players into one room by having babies in rooms with no space?

Conclusion: Yes, you are right about this—in the base rules, without relying on any cards, it is possible to have "more people than rooms." The way to do it is the action space card "Urgent Wish for Children," which appears only in Round 12 or 13 and provides "Family Growth Even without Room." The rules state this effect very directly: the number of rooms in the house has no effect on this effect. When explaining the farm sample diagram, the rulebook also clearly says that in the sample diagram, 5 people live in a house with fewer than 5 rooms because "late in the game, lack of space no longer matters."

So "several people crowded into one room" is an allowed endgame result, and it does not require cards like the Housekeeper.

Conditions and exceptions (these restrictions are crucial)

1. It cannot be used at any time, only in Round 12/13. This action space enters the game only in the final stage, and like other action spaces, it can be occupied by only one person from one player each round.
2. The basic "Wish for Children" is unchanged. The prerequisite for "Basic Wish for Children / Family Growth with Room Only" is still the current number of rooms is greater than the population, regardless of whether your people stay at home or are sent to action spaces; it is counted by total population. It is not relaxed just because the above space exists.
3. Consequences of growing the family without room first, then building rooms later. After using this effect, if you later build new rooms, one person will immediately move into that new room—namely the person who originally did not have their own room. Because of this, you subsequently cannot perform "Basic Wish for Children," because at that point you no longer satisfy "the number of rooms is greater than the population."
4. The population limit is still 5 people. At the start of the game, your 3rd, 4th, and 5th people are still in the supply (that is, "offspring"), so a family can have at most 5 people; "crowding" can at most mean only a few more people than rooms, not unlimited additional people.
5. Placement of newborns: when growing the family normally, the new person is

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Shepherd profession card?

"Shepherd" Occupation Card

Conclusion: In the basic old‑style deck, there is indeed an occupation card named Shepherd, whose effect is: "During the reproduction phase of a harvest, if you have at least 4 sheep and enough space, you gain 2 lambs instead of 1."

Detailed Information

• Card Name: Shepherd
• Type: Occupation Card
• Number of Players: 4+ (i.e., only used in 4‑player games)
• Effect: During each harvest's reproduction phase, if you currently have at least 4 sheep and sufficient space to accommodate them, you receive 2 lambs (instead of the usual 1).
• Suggested Pairings: Works well with reproduction‑boosting effects or upgrade cards that provide bonuses for "raising large flocks of sheep."

Conditions and Exceptions

• There are two prerequisites that must both be met: first, you must have at least 4 sheep on your board during the reproduction phase; second, you must have enough space to place the new lambs. If there isn't enough room, the effect does not apply.
• This card modifies the rule regarding the number of animals added during reproduction: normally, each type of animal can increase by at most 1 per harvest, but under these conditions, it allows you to add 2 instead.
• It does not change the standard requirement that "at least 2 animals are needed to trigger reproduction"; rather, once the reproduction condition is satisfied, it increases the additional count from 1 to 2.

Other Occupation Cards on the Same Theme (Basic Old Version)

If you're looking for another card from the same series, here they are:

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In Agricola, what is the function of the barn?

The Stable's role in the basic rules of Agricola:

Core Function: Increasing Capacity + Scoring

1. Doubling Pasture Capacity (Primary Role)
- A pasture can accommodate at most 2 animals of the same type per farm space (and only one animal species per pasture).
- Building a Stable on a pasture doubles that pasture's capacity. The rulebook provides an example: a pasture originally able to hold 4 animals can now hold up to 16 animals of the same type after adding a Stable.

2. Housing Animals Independently (Outside the Pasture)
- A Stable built outside the pasture can house exactly 1 animal (of any kind).
- You can then build a fence to enclose it within the pasture.

3. Scoring
- During scoring, each Stable on a pasture is worth 1 point.
- Each player has only 4 Stables, so this can yield a maximum of 4 points.
- The rulebook explicitly states "each Stable on a pasture is worth 1 point"; there is no clear mention of whether not building a Stable results in penalties—this is addressed in the appendix, where the original text was somewhat incomplete. Therefore, we confirm here: each Stable on a pasture scores 1 point.

Construction Costs and Methods
- Each Stable costs 2 wood, which you obtain by using the "Build Stables" action in the "Farm Expansion" action space (the same space also allows you to build rooms).

Building Restrictions and Exceptions
- Only one Stable may be placed per farm space, and that space cannot be covered by tiles (rooms or fields).
- Stables are not subject to the "must be adjacent" rule: rooms must adjoin rooms, fields must adjoin fields, and pastures must adjoin pastures—but this restriction does not apply to Stables.
- Stables are not constructed all at once; they are built one by one.
- Certain cards can grant Special Abilities to Stables, with each Stable allowed only one such ability.

Stable's Status Among Game Components
- Stables are among the components with quantity limits (the five family members, four Stables, and 15 fences are the only components deliberately capped in number).

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What is the Papermaker's function?

Conclusion

Paper Maker is a profession card. After playing it, whenever you play your next profession card, you may choose—before playing that card—to pay a total of 1 wood, and then for each profession you've played (including Paper Maker itself and any others played afterward), you gain 1 food. In other words, 1 wood can be exchanged for food equal to the number of professions you currently have.

Resolution Steps

1. Prerequisite: You have successfully played Paper Maker and placed it in front of you.
2. Trigger Timing: From now on, whenever you intend to play another profession card, before officially resolving that card's effect, Paper Maker's effect can be activated.
3. Choice to Activate:
   - Activate: Pay 1 wood from your personal supply pile (regardless of how many professions are already in front of you, you only pay 1 wood).
   - Do not activate: Play the profession as normal, without gaining food.
4. Gain Food: If you activate, you immediately receive food equal to "the total number of profession cards currently in front of you"—that is, including Paper Maker itself and all professions played prior to this one.
5. Continue Resolution: After receiving the food, proceed with the normal resolution of the newly played profession.

Conditions and Exceptions

• The effect must be triggered at the moment "before playing the profession," and cannot be retroactively applied after the profession has been played.
• You may activate it only once per turn when playing subsequent professions, and whether or not to activate is entirely up to you.
• Payment is a total of 1 wood, not 1 wood per profession; however, the reward increases with the number of professions you hold.
• This card is classified as a Food Provider, and it can be used in games with 1 or more players.
• The Rulebook does not specify whether special circumstances such as a profession card being recycled or discarded affect the count; please refer to the actual game state on the board.

No further FAQ regarding this card was found in the rulebook.

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What does it mean to add rooms inside the house?

According to the Rulebook Text, the rule for "Adding Rooms" is as follows:

• At the start of the game, you have a wooden house that can only accommodate two people. If you want to expand your family and increase the number of actions each round, you must first expand your house.
• How to add rooms: Use the "Farm Expansion" action space and perform the "Build Rooms" action, paying the required materials—initially 5 wood and 2 reeds. Take one wooden room tile and place it adjacent to an existing room.
• Multiple rooms can be built in a single action: During one action, as long as you can afford it, you may build as many rooms as possible, one after another.
• If there are no legal spaces left on the farm to place rooms, you can no longer add more rooms.
• The connection between house expansion and decoration: Once you move into a clay house, you can only add clay rooms; when using the "Farm Expansion" action space, you must pay 5 clay and 2 reeds for each new room. After moving into a stone house, you'll need to pay 5 stone and 2 reeds instead.
• The significance of expanding rooms: Only when the number of rooms exceeds the number of players can you perform the "Family Growth (only in empty rooms)" action. When you take this action, draw one person from the supply pile and place them next to the player who performed the action. At the end of the round, family members return home and settle into their own rooms: each person occupies one room. Starting from the next round, you gain one additional action per round.

In short, "Adding Rooms" means placing new room tiles next to your existing home by paying the required materials (wood/reeds, or upgraded clay/stone plus reeds) to enable your house to accommodate more family members, thereby gaining more actions.

This content is for reference only; in case of any conflicts, please refer to the official manual and consult experienced players.

House expansion rules?

The rulebook contains explicit provisions: Use the "Farm Expansion" action space to perform the "Build Rooms" action.

• Cost: Each new house requires 5 wood + 2 reeds (for a wooden house). After renovation into a brick house, it costs 5 clay + 2 reeds, while a stone house requires 5 stones + 2 reeds.
• One action can be used to build multiple rooms consecutively, as long as the cost is covered.
• New houses must be placed adjacent to existing rooms.
• The prerequisite for having children remains unchanged: the number of rooms must exceed the family's population before "Family Growth" can be performed.

Tell me what effect the Mayor Candidate card has?

Conclusion: In the current base rules of "Agricola" and its accompanying card materials, no card named "Mayor Candidate" was found.

I've searched using several possible spellings, but none matched:

• Chinese: "Mayor Candidate," "Mayor," "Election"
• English: Mayor / mayor / Candidate / candidate / election
• Related concepts: magistrate, Governor, Senator, Burgomaster

Additionally, this is not an action or mechanism listed in the base rules—neither the Occupation nor Minor Improvement cards include this card, and the "campaign" mode mentioned in the FAQ is merely a variant for playing multiple consecutive rounds, unrelated to "Mayor Candidate."

Possible reasons and solutions:

1. Inconsistent translation. The same card may have different names across various Chinese editions or informal translations. Please provide the card's English name, and I'll help you pinpoint its exact effect.
2. Part of an expansion set. Your current rule set covers only the base game; if this card belongs to an expansion, it falls outside this scope. You'll need to switch to the corresponding expansion first to check its effects.
3. Not part of this game at all. If you're actually asking about another board game, please switch to that game first, and I'll be happy to assist.

Please send me the card's English name (or a screenshot of its text), and I'll explain its precise function.

This information is for reference only; in case of any discrepancies, please refer to the official rulebook and consult experienced players.