Agricola (revised Edition, 2016)

• Publisher: Lookout/Mayfair
• Players: 1-4
• Ages: 12+
• Time: 30-150 minutes
• Times played: 3 with new version, conservatively 300+ in all forms

Agricola is one of my favorite games – and as I mentioned yesterday, it’s the game that truly started my boardgaming “career”.  In this review, I won’t go over the mechanics of the game – I think the 18,000 words in the previous piece should cover it.  What this review will focus on are the changes between the original and the revised edition.

In some ways, I wish that there had been at least some sort of subtitle on the new version.  As the two games share the same name, this will almost certainly lead to confusion when people are referring to one or the other version of the game.  However, the new game is very similar to the old version, and the bulk of the rules are the same.

What’s different with in the revised Edition? (and what do I think about it?)

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So… Agricola has been hailed as one of the more influential releases of the past 10 years… the other being Dominion. (“infallible” Source here).  I have been lucky enough to be involved in some way with both of those games.  My review of Agricola back in 2007 ended up spawning two “careers”.  First, it helped me latch on as a regular reviewer/commentator for Boardgamenews.  Second, my review got me in touch with the folks at Lookout Games, which then led to a volunteer job revising the solo game, which in turn started me on the path to being a game developer…

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This review was originally posted to Boardgamenews.com in my weekly column back in 2007.  That site has now gone to the electronic dumpster in the sky (the Wayback Machine).  It was later revisited on BGG:  https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/255808/agricola-long-review-family-game-full-game-solo-ga/page/1

Some edits have been made from that original review.

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Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters

• Designer: Brian Yu
• Publisher: Mattel
• Players: 2-4
• Ages: 8+
• Time: ~30 minutes

Times played: at least 20, most with the original German version (Geister, Geister, Schatzsuchemeister) but a couple with a preview copy of the American version provided by Mattel USA

Disclaimer – Brian Yu is my brother, and I’m somewhat biased towards him.  However, this familial bias should be balanced out by the fact that I’m still a bit sore that his game won the Kinderspiel des Jahres in 2014 over Flizz&Miez, a game which I helped design myself.

Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters (GFTH) is a great game that is finally making its way to the English-speaking world.  It has been around since 2013, and was released by Mattel Germany to critical acclaim at that year’s SPIEL fair.  It was a well deserved Kinderspiel des Jahres winner in 2014, and while there was a fair amount in interest in bringing it over to the US, it did not get signed by Mattel USA until just this year, nearly three years after its initial release in Europe. Continue reading →

Smugglers

• Designers: Klaus and Benjamin Teuber
• Publisher: KOSMOS
• Players: 2-4
• Ages: 8+
• Time: ~30 minutes
• Times played: 4, with review copy provided by Thames&Kosmos

Smugglers is the second game from the familial design pair of Klaus and Benjamin Teuber.  I very much liked their first game, Tumult Royale, and the father/son team has come up with a completely different sort of game for their followup.  In Smugglers, players are vying to be the newest member of “Potato Charley’s infamous smuggling gang” by competing in a smuggling contest.

Each player is given a hunk of “intelligent modeling putty” – which is odorless, non-greasy, and as the rules warn, extremely difficult to get out of textiles (i.e. your clothing).  Each player starts with a scoring chit – there are two different types: sweet (red) and sour (yellow) – and these are alternately given to the players.  Each player also gets three plastic gems – one red sweet, one yellow sour, and one purple stink bomb. Continue reading →