Scott -

The good news is that you don’t have to do most of the paste-ups to play Agricola.  If you play the ‘family’ version of the game, which I recommend doing first, you don’t use the minor improvement or the occupation cards which together total more than 90% of the cards.  The rest shouldn’t take long to paste up.

After you’ve played the family version, you can paste up the minor improvement and the occupation cards.  You don’t need to do them all, though.  You can start with the E cards (the easy ones) and leave aside the others - the I and K cards (the intermediate and complex ones, if I remember correctly).  You can get at least few games just using the E cards before you need to move onto the others.

One more thing… You may be tempted to paste-up the board but it my experience it’s quite unnecessary.  After a round or two it’s pretty clear what the spaces on the board do.

- Rick

I just printed out all the cards and preprinted boards for the different numbers of players from the geek.  It took some time to cut them, but not that bad really.

Hmmmmmm...maybe it won’t be so long before it hits the table now.  Thanks, Rick!

Scott, Brian (BGG user pwn3d) has a really nice version done with even the board pasted up.  Come out to the burbs (he plays at Games Plus) and you can play his copy.

IMHO the secret to getting to play many different games is to not have to read them all yourself!

Agricola? That game is so last week’s news. I’m surprised anyone still playing it. :-)

We’ve played/play it a lot around here. We love it, it’s a great game. We’ve never felt a reason to discount a game because it was hyped. We “play” it and determine for ourselves what it merits. Non-conformism for the sake of non-conformism is just another form of conformism.

Don’t feel so bad, Scott--I’ve only been able to play a single solo game since I got my copy of Agricola, and I don’t even have to do all the paste-ups.  My main gaming group is just too involved in playing prototypes to get many finished games to the table lately, and then usually only a couple of times before we’re ready to discover the next thing (I’ve still only ever played Caylus three times!)

I haven’t played mine yet either - I found a copy online, bought it, printed out all of the paste-ups...and it languishes in the Race for the Galaxy void. I’ll bring both to Randycon though.

I think the “hype” issue arises most often when the game itself is very limited.  The few who have access to the game and can play it may discuss it a standard amount, but those without access might have their interest peaked.  While they’re waiting for it to become available, they then look around the Net for whatever information can be found… contributing to the “buzz” about the game.

I think that might have something to do with it, Matt, but only looking won’t really contribute to “buzz”.  People have to start making a conscious effort to communicate about the game.

Scott, if and when you get around to playing, please try the Family Game first.... 1) You can do it only needing translations for the 10 Major Improvement cards, and 2) it’ll help you understand how the Agricola engine works without getting you confused with all the cards…

The game is much better with the minor improvement and occupation cards IMHO, but it can be an extremely frustrating experience to try to jump right in.  One or two games spent on the Family Game is well worth it in my book so that you can learn the basic rules and interactions of the game mechanics before you start changing everything with the cards…

So… since you have a spare bedroom, I’ve got somewhere to crash the next time I’m in the Windy City?

Dale

Scott -

On the subject of the word of mouth and hype…

It wasn’t long after my positive review of Caylus was posted that people started moaning that the game was getting too much hype - and I was the one responsible.  As I recall, I wrote about the game all of twice before it was released at Essen.  I never hyped the game - I never created excessive publicity or made any exaggerated or misleading claims about the game.  I simply gave it a review and concluded that I thought it was an excellent game (and by the game’s current rank as #5 on BGG, it seems that some others agree with me).

The negative reaction amused me greatly as, near as I could figure out, most if not all of the naysayers had never played the game.  They just didn’t like the fact that a game could get so much positive press. 

I just thought this to be silly.  There’s a problem because lots of people like the game and are writing about it?  I’m not sure what people are supposed to do if they come across a great game - not talk about it?  Would it have been better if I had just said nothing about the game in the first place, even though I knew it to be very good?

My favorite bit about the Caylus story was about one particular chap who was quite vocal about his annoyance with the Caylus ‘hype’.  After he finally played the game he grudgingly admitted that he thought it was a pretty good game.  I just smiled.

- Rick

"Hype” has an interesting arc. It usually begins because someone genuinely is exciting by something—a game, movie, book, new restaurant, etc.—and wants to share his or her enthusiasm. More people become interested, perhaps excited, and want to share their enthusiasm as well. As the buzz generates, observers start complaining about flurry of positive posts, while others begin complaining about the complainers. Soon everyone grows weary of the whole conversation and wishes it would just go away.

What is clear to me is that the phenomenon of hype becomes less and less about the thing originally hyped and more about the hype itself. Hype can distort, confuse and sometimes blind one to the qualities that merited the hype in the first place. That is why I wish I had a hype-proof suit (prefeably one that matches my x-ray goggles and hyperspeed boots).

Because I don’t own such a suit, I pre-ordered Agricola even though I didn’t enjoy it that much when I played it a few months ago. Hype convinced me that I must have been wrong in my initial judgment (we were, after all, playing with a hastily pasted-up version on a long table that made viewing all the cards difficult).

I managed not to get caught up in the Caylus backlash and still enjoy the game. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to see clearly through the Agricola hype and be able to determine whether or not its the year’s greatest game.

I love the Great American Hype Machine! It’s the best game of all :)

I think Caylus well well deserving of the “hype” it got.

I think Agricola is even more so.

Then again, play it for yourself and see. :)

Implied in my comment (but not clearly stated - sorry) was that people looking into a fancy new game on the horizon will tend to also post their thoughts about it (even if they haven’t played it… they can comment on the rules, etc… discuss if they’re looking forward to it...)

Also, since the demand is high for information, any commentary on the limited supply of games is highly read.  So any specific article on a hyped game will tend to have a larger readership than a lesser “hyped” game.

This may even mean a “hyped” game has about as many articles (containing real information) posted about it as a less “hyped” game, but because more people read it, more (of the same) information is being transmitted around the net than would be for a less “hyped” game.