Agropolis

I am a country girl at heart. I have lived in cities. I have worked in cities. I have spent decades commuting in and out of cities (shudder!). But every time have I moved house, I’ve gone closer to the green fields than the greenbacks made in those high rise glass palaces. So when the designers and publishers of Sprawlopolis brought out Agropolis , it was like all my micro game birthdays had come at once!

Agropolis is essentially a re-theme and standalone expansion to Sprawlopolis that offers the same brilliant patching, placement optimisation enjoyment. But instead of spreading out the sprawl, this time you’re cultivating the countryside!

Friendly Farms

For those who have also played Sprawlopolis before, you’ll quickly recognise this as another co-operative game for 1-4 players. In co-operative mode, you are working together to develop the countryside in ways that will score as many points as possible. For those who haven’t played Sprawlopolis, vineyards, farms, fields, and orchards are vying for space amongst muddy tracks that will again score you negative points for carving up the rural idyll!

At the beginning of the game, 3 of the 18 cards are randomly flipped to their scoring objective sides. These set the specific goals for the game. As well as that, majority territories in the largest adjacently connected zone types will also score when the agro-industries are fully formed!

Cards can be placed fully or partially over, or adjacent to, existing cards. But they must always be horizontal and can never be tucked underneath. Each one also has a track section on it, but farmers hate paying to maintain them when their tractors can just off-road over or around the potholes!. So points are deducted for every section of track that ends up connected to another. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!

And whilst this game is co-operative in terms of winning or losing, you can’t just show everyone your orchards! By all means plan your rural enterprise together in general terms, but you must not show the other players the cards in your hand.

Fields Far & Wide

Just like Sprawlopolis, Agropolis has always and will always pack the biggest punch as a quick-fire solo game. I am a greedy gamer when it comes to these little portable, solo-able games, and I have huge fun puzzling them out. 18 cards, one table (tray/any available surface), and I’m playing. I’m probably playing before my brain has even registered that the game has actually started! Maybe that’s why I do so badly! Haha

The solo winning condition is brilliant because it is always different. The multi-use cards that have the countryside blocks on one side and scoring objectives on the other also have a third use.

In the top corner of each one is a number. When you flip over the three scoring conditions in play for that game, you add up the three visible numbers. And that, my friends, becomes the figure you have to beat via achieving the goals themselves and points for zone majorities. And it is not easy! I have gnashed my teeth, furrowed my brow, and balled my fists more times than I care to admit when I miss the mark. Sometimes it’s by one point, other times a lot more. But every time I play, the frustration is of the fun kind. 10 minutes of rotating, hesitating, and finally committing elevates my lunchbreak to something enjoyable and more than just 15 minutes to inhale a sandwich and hide from my work laptop!

Final Thoughts

I love Agropolis. And I think I actually love it more than Sprawlopolis. Which is crazy really because they are essentially the same game! But I prefer the countryside setting, and somehow the goals seem even more challenging to achieve. I don’t know whether the combinations of field types and goals have been reworked, but it definitely feels harder to do well. And I love that!

Once again,, the replayability factor is huge. With a random combination of goals each time, and the luck of the draw in play, you can never predict or pre-plan. I hesitate to offer any strategies because in truth it all depends on what is coming off the deck at the time. Every placement becomes a crunchy trade-off between gaining point and losing points for the same feature. Contradictions within the scoring objectives can and does happen. But that’s part of the fun – deciding which goal is going to give you the most points by the time the farmland is finished. And with only 15 cards in play, you’d think that once you commit to a course of action, you’d be stuck. But the way the cards are composed can give flexibility to flip reserve your tactics.

The price v enjoyment ratio is also extremely favourable, and its value is therefore sky high for me. I can of course play Agropolis with others, and so it is often in my pocket when we go out. But I will always prefer to play it by myself. And that’s just because I’m greedy and like the illusion of being in control!

For me, Agropolis is a micro beast of a brain burner that feels like much more game than its diminutive size, mini budget, and short play time should ever be able to achieve!