How to Play

Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small

2-2 players 30-30 min 7.3 Board Game Geek Rating

This two-player farming game focuses exclusively on raising horses, cows, sheep, and pigs. Players start with small boards that expand throughout eight rounds, taking three actions each turn from sixteen available options. Victory comes from strategically balancing infrastructure development—building fences, pastures, and special structures—with animal acquisition. Success requires optimizing the tension between constructing facilities and collecting diverse livestock for maximum points.

Published 2012

Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Place the main board
Position the game board in the center of the table
2
Distribute farm boards
Give each player one farm board, oriented with the forest at the top and path at the bottom
3
Lay out special buildings
Place the 4 special buildings (Wooden House, Open Stables, Shelter, and Storage) next to each other
4
Set aside components
Place the 4 farm extensions, 10 feeding troughs, and 4 stall tiles to the side
5
Organize supplies
Separate building materials and animals to form the general supply
6
Distribute fences
Give each player 9 fences; place the remaining 8 fences beside the board near the "Expand" action space
7
Assign workers
Each player receives 3 workers in their color (blue or red)
8
Determine first player
Choose who will play first

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Complete replenishment phase
At the start of each round, add resources to action spaces marked with replenishment arrows according to their icons
2
Note resource accumulation
If a space already has resources, add the secondary resource shown (e.g., add sheep to an empty reed space, or reed if sheep remain)
3
Track rounds
Count yellow fences placed on the Expand space to track the 8 game rounds
4
Place workers alternately
Starting with the first player, take turns placing one worker at a time on action spaces
5
Execute actions immediately
Perform the action of the chosen space right away
6
Respect blocking
Occupied spaces cannot be used by other workers until the work phase ends
7
Collect all resources
When choosing a resource space, take all accumulated resources there
8
First Player and 1 Wood
Take the first player marker and all wood from this space
9
3 Wood
Take all wood from this space
10
1 Stone
Take all stones from this space
11
2 Stones
Take all stones from this space
12
Fences
Add any number of fences from your supply, paying 1 wood per fence
13
Walls
Place 2 fences for free, then pay 2 stones for each additional fence
14
Building Resources
Take 1 wood, 1 stone, and 1 reed from the general supply
15
Expand
Take a farm extension, attach it to your farm's left or right side, and collect all yellow fences from this space (cannot place these fences this turn)
16
Stalls
Build a stall for 3 stones and 1 reed on any empty farm space
17
Feeding Trough
Build 1 trough for free, plus additional troughs for 3 wood each
18
Millpond
Take all reeds and sheep from this space
19
Pigs and Sheep
Take all animals from this space
20
Cows and Pigs
Take all animals from this space
21
Horses and Sheep
Take all animals from this space
22
Stables
Pay 5 wood OR 5 stones (not mixed) to upgrade a stall to a stable by flipping the tile
23
Special Building
Build one available special building, paying its cost
24
Keep animals in pastures
Enclose areas with fences; each pasture holds 2 animals per space of one type only
25
Use buildings for animals
Place animals inside buildings; stalls hold 3 animals, stables hold 5 animals of one type
26
Apply building walls as fences
Building edges function as fence boundaries for pastures
27
Double capacity with troughs
Feeding troughs double the animal capacity of any pasture or building
28
House single pets
Keep 1 animal in your cottage (or 2 in the Wooden House)
29
Use open troughs
A trough not in a closed pasture holds exactly 1 animal
30
Allow one trough per space
Only one feeding trough may be built on each farm space
31
Relocate animals freely
Move animals between locations at any time during your turn
32
Release excess animals
Animals that cannot be housed escape and return to the supply
33
Return workers
At the end of the work phase, all workers return to their farms
34
Breed animals
At the end of each round, gain 1 offspring for each animal type where you have at least 2 (maximum 1 new animal per type per round)
35
House newborns
Newborn animals that cannot be housed immediately escape to the supply

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Complete eight rounds
The game ends after 8 rounds, tracked by yellow fences placed each round
2
Count all animals
Each animal is worth 1 point
3
Suffer penalties
Lose 3 points for each animal type where you have 3 or fewer animals
4
Earn bonuses
Gain 1 extra point for each animal beyond: 13 sheep, 11 pigs, 10 cows, or 9 horses
5
Score buildings
Earn points shown on each building tile (stalls, stables, and special buildings)
6
Score full extensions
Each farm extension with all 3 spaces used earns 4 points
7
Score Storage Building
Earn ½ point per building material in your personal supply (do not round)
8
Wooden House
Costs 3 wood, 2 stones, 1 reed; worth 5 points; holds 2 animals of one type; must be built over the cottage
9
Storage
Costs 2 wood, 1 reed; worth ½ point per building material; cannot hold animals
10
Shelter
Costs 2 wood, 1 stone; worth 0 points; immediately take 1 animal of your choice; holds 1 animal
11
Open Stables
Costs 3 wood OR 3 stones; worth 2 points; replaces a stall (return stall tile); immediately take 1 horse or cow; holds 5 animals of one type
12
Calculate total score
Add animal points, bonus/penalty points, building points, and extension points
13
Resolve ties
The player who did NOT play first in round 1 wins in case of a tie

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FULL rules

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