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old McDonald had a ...
In Agricola, you're a farmer in a wooden shack with
your spouse and little else. On a turn, you get to take only
two actions, one for you and one for the spouse, from all the
possibilities you'll find on a farm: collecting clay, wood or
stone; building fences; and so on. You might think about having
kids in order to get more work accomplished, but first you need
to expand your house. And what are you going to feed all the
little rugrats?
The rules include a beginner's version and an advanced version.
Agricola is a turn-based game. There are 14 game turns
plus 6 harvest phases (after turn 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 14). Each
player starts with two playing tokens (farmer and wife) and thus
can take two actions per turn. There are multiple options, and
while the game progresses, you'll have more and more: first thing
in a turn, a new action card is flipped over. Problem: Each action
can be taken just once per turn, so it's important to do some
things with high preference. Each player also starts with a hand
of 7 job cards (of more than 160 total) and 7 item cards (of
more than 140 total) that he may use during the game if they
fit in his/her strategy. Speaking of: there are countless strategies,
some depending on your card hand. Sometimes it's a good choice
to stay on course, sometimes you better react on what your opponents
do.
ADVANCEMENT TIE-BREAKERS: In Multiple Entry, Single
Elimination events for multi-player games, players possibly qualify
for Single Elimination play in the second round by winning any
of up to four preliminary Heats. Occasionally, players may advance
wihout winning a heat. Players can enter one or more Heats without
limit. All events for most multi-player games consist of three
rounds; an opening Round consisting of two to four Preliminary
Heats, a semi-final and a Final. The sem-ifinal round will advance
a predesignated optimum number of players to fill the second
round; i.e., 25 players for a five-player game, 16 players for
a four-player game, etc. but in all cases will advance no more
than half of all players which participated in the Preliminaries.
If insufficient players advance to warrant a semi-final round,
the scheduled semi-final will instead become the Final.
Up to 16 winners will advance to the semis. If less than 16
winners appear for the semis, enough alternates will advance
to fill the next multiple of four.
Heats: Single Win (HSW) Tiebreakers -
Standard tiebreakers used to trim the field or identify alternates
to complete the field, as listed below in the following order:
1. Win in first Heat entered;
2. Most Wins (e.g., total in all heats entered);
3. Win in second Heat entered;
4. Average finish in all heats entered (e.g., a 2nd and two 3rds
= 2.67 and beats two 2nds and two 4ths = 3); and
5. High dice roll.
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