Agricola

Comment: My ten year old daughter was first introduced to Agricola at her Waldorf School. She was a huge fan and wanted it for her birthday. We bought it for her and it has provided ALL of us with hours of entertainment. It is well designed, well constructed and teaches a lot of important life skills that will benefit all of us now and in the future. I can not recommend this game more highly.

Comment: After playing Agricola for several times now, I start to understand the strategies. The depth and possibilities are endless. The occupation and minor improvement cards change the way each of your games is going to be. It's not an easy game to learn (it really helps if you have an experienced player around the first couple times) but will provide lots of fun hours for years to come.
The quality of the game pieces is outstanding and the love to detail is great.
Awesome game!

Comment: I can't believe how pricy this game is, but it sure is enjoyable. There are many ways to play this game, which makes it pretty versatile.

I wish it comes with a tray for all the different pieces. Also, if the scoring isn't so tedious (non-linear) it'd be better. Perhaps it needs to come with a simple software for the computer to score easily.

Comment: All you hard core gamers out there already know about this game. (It is in a struggle for number 1 on the [..] ranking.)
You should already know if its your thing!

For the rest of us:
When I say "board game", most American's think: Monopoly, Sorry, Clue, Candy-Land, Yahtzee...etc. What is the greatest factor in these games? Luck. Dice become the heartless dictators which decide who wins and who loses.

There is a world of boardgames that shrink the luck involved in success and pump up what the greatest factors in ANY contest should be: STRATEGY! SKILL! SAVVY!

In this game, you and your friends compete for resources to build up your house, build your family, raise some crops, and raise some livestock. You will need to balance your improvements because neglecting one aspect of your farm for another could cost you points in the end! You will need to be efficient because there isn't enough wood for EVERYONE to expand there house (at least, not this turn!) A wasteful farmer might have to beg from his more forward thinking neighbors! How embarassing!

This game comes with a honking boatload of cards each representing differnt advantages you must skillfully exploit. Using different cards each time you play means changing your strategy.

Whether you win or lose, you will look down at your farm at the end of each game and you'll think:

"(contented) Ahhh...look what I did!"
or
"Next time, I'm upgrading my wood hut into a clay hut earlier in the game!"
or
"I only managed to get 1 cow!! Next time, I will build a whole DAIRY!"
or
"Dang! I played the begging card 4 times! I should invest in a Fireplace to feed my hungry children!" ("Please, sir, could I have some more?")

CAUTION, PREACHY BIT: Turn off the TV, get your family around the table, and play this game together!

Comment: I bought this game so that my boyfriend and I could play more games together. It is amazing! With all of the occupation and minor improvement card options, I don't think it's possible to even play the same game twice. There's variety and it's a lot of fun.
The game does take time to learn, however. If you haven't played the game before, it will take a few hours to play your first game. But after that, it should be about 45 minutes per (#players -1). (45 min for 2 people, 90 for 3, etc).
I've played this game with both 2 and 4 players and my boyfriend has played it alone and loves it. There's so many options and different strategies that it never gets old.