Agricola
156 questions players ask about Agricola. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-02.
Setup and Components
- How much food does each player start with?
- Which occupation cards do I use at each player count?
- Should I add the 3+ and 4+ occupations to a two-player game?
- Can I mix the different letter decks or expansion decks?
- Which components are limited, and what if I run out of something else?
- How do I use the x4 and x5 multiplier tokens?
- How are the round action cards set up?
- What is the Traveling Players space and where is it?
Course of Play and Actions
- Can I place a family member on an action space I can't actually use, just to block another player?
- What if I have no legal action left to take, for example every open space costs food I lack?
- What is the difference between 'and/or' and 'After X, also Y' on an action space?
- On a 'Sow and/or Bake Bread' space, can I use a card between the two halves?
- On the 'Take 2 different building resources' space, can I take two of the same resource?
- On the 5-player space giving Reed plus 1 Stone and 1 Wood, do the Stone and Wood accumulate?
- Which action spaces accumulate goods each round, and do the goods pile up if nobody takes them?
- Once a family member is on an action space, can anyone use it again that round?
- Do players place all their family members in one turn, or one at a time?
House Building and Family Planning
- Can I build more than one room with a single Build Rooms action?
- Does renovation cost 1 reed per room or 1 reed in total?
- Can I renovate a wooden house straight to stone in one action?
- Can I renovate twice in one round, once with each of two family members?
- After Renovation, do I have to take the 'also' improvement or fences?
- What do I need before I can take the regular Family Growth action?
- Can one Family Growth action add two babies?
- Can a newborn family member take an action in the round it is born?
- If I take Family Growth without room, can I also use regular Family Growth in the same round?
- Can I take Family Growth Even without Room more than once per game?
Cultivation
- Do I have to sow every empty field, and can I mix grain and vegetables in one Sow action?
- How many goods go on a field when I sow it?
- Can I remove sown grain or vegetables from a field before harvest, or turn a field back into pasture?
- Does a new plowed field have to be next to my existing fields?
- Can I plow and sow in the same round?
Animals and Fencing
- Do fences I build have to fully enclose a pasture?
- Can fences, stables, fields or rooms be moved or removed once placed?
- Can I split an existing pasture into two with more fences?
- Can I enclose a room or a plowed field inside a pasture?
- Does my first pasture (or field) have to be next to my house?
- How many animals can a pasture hold?
- Can I put two stables in one pasture, and does that double capacity twice?
- Does a fenced stable hold one extra animal on top of the doubled capacity?
- Where can I build a stable?
- Can I take animals from an action space if I have no room for them?
Harvest and Feeding
- Can I cook parents or newborns during the breeding phase?
- What happens if I have no room for a newborn animal?
- How many newborns do I get per animal type at harvest?
- Can I turn animals into food after the final breeding phase?
- When are the harvests and what are the steps?
- How many crops do I take from each field at harvest, and can I skip a field?
- How much food does a newborn family member eat at harvest?
- How many begging cards do I take when I can't feed my family?
- Can I take begging cards on purpose instead of converting grain or vegetables, or while holding enough food?
- Can I take begging cards to pay a food cost outside the harvest?
Major Improvements
- Do I get a Bake Bread action when I build an oven?
- Can I bake with several baking improvements in one Bake Bread action, and how much grain can I bake?
- Can I swap a Fireplace for a Cooking Hearth, and does a Simple Fireplace count?
- Can one player own more than one Fireplace or Cooking Hearth?
- Is there a limit to how many times I can use a Fireplace or Cooking Hearth?
- Does a Cooking Hearth count as an oven for cards that mention ovens?
- How often can Joinery, Pottery and Basketmaker's Workshop convert goods?
- How does the Well work?
Starting Player
- If I use the Meeting Place, do I have to take the starting player token?
- When I take the Starting Player action, do I go first right away?
- Who starts the next round if nobody uses the Starting Player space?
- Can the current starting player use the Starting Player space again?
- Who gets the food on the Starting Player space?
Hand Cards
- Is the first occupation free for every player, or just on one action space?
- Can I play more than one occupation in a single turn?
- Do I draw replacement cards or get more occupations and minor improvements during the game?
- Are the prerequisites at the top left of a minor improvement paid, and must they stay true afterwards?
- Do traveling (pass-to-the-left) minor improvements keep circulating?
- Do occupations and minor improvements stay in play after I use them?
- Can I use a card right after playing it?
Card Rulings
- Does the Academic count as two occupations?
- Should I use the errata versions of Taster and Horse?
- How often can the Wood Buyer be used?
- Does Hedge Keeper give exactly three free fences, or up to three?
- Do the Wooden Path, Clay Path and Paved Road bonuses stack?
- Can Perpetual Student give a second occupation in the same turn?
- If I play the Chief myself, is the Daughter free?
- What happens to a card's pending benefits if the Madonna Statue removes it?
- Does sowing a vegetable count as receiving it for Market Woman?
- Does the Grocer's 'any time' let me buy more than once per round?
- Does the Guest need to be fed at harvest?
Scoring and Game End
- How are ties broken at the end of the game?
- Do grain and vegetables still in my fields or supply count at game end?
- Does an unfenced stable or other built space count as used when scoring?
- How is a pasture counted for scoring when it covers several squares?
- Do animals in my house or in an unfenced stable score?
- Do cards still in my hand score points at game end?
- At final scoring, do I count all major improvements I own?
Solo and Family Variants
Agricola: Farmers of the MoorExpansion
- Can I buy a Major Improvement that is still covered by another card in Farmers of the Moor?
- Can I use a special action after all my family members are placed?
- Do Farmers of the Moor special actions need a family member and when do they resolve?
- Must I heat every room, and can I skip heating?
- Does Heating Stove combine with Clay Hut or Stone House discounts to reduce fuel below 1?
- Do Moor and Forest tiles count as used farm spaces at game end, and can fences enclose them?
- Do horses breed like other animals?
- Can Winter Storehouse food be used between two separate actions?
- Does Taps let me take a special action card beyond the normal limits?
Agricola: Through the SeasonsExpansion
- Can the Net Fisherman take Fishing food in winter in Through the Seasons?
- In winter, does plowing cost 1 food per field or per action?
- Does the Autumn 'one less resource' discount reduce each type or one resource?
- Does the Autumn Immediate Harvest action run a full harvest?
- Can I use an action space that has no goods left to take?