| Overview |
Agros (from Old Greek: ἀγρός, meaning “field”) is a two-player territorial game
invented by Saïd Galdseid and played on a square board.
Its sowing mechanism is inspired by the sowing found in games of the Mancala family.
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| Board and Pieces | ||||||
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Agros is played on an initially empty square board. The recommended size is 10x10 cells. An 8x8 board can be used for a faster game, while a 12x12 board can be used for a deeper game.
There are two players: Light Brown and Dark Brown. Each player must have access to two kinds of stackable pieces of their own color called farmers and seeds. Agros may be played with three, five or seven farmers per player.
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| Definitions |
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A farmer is a stack of one or more pieces, where the top piece is a farmer and the lower pieces are seeds of the same color. The harvest of a farmer is the total number of pieces in its stack (including the farmer itself). A field is a maximal set of orthogonally connected empty cells. A single empty cell may also be a field if it is surrounded by seeds and farmers. A farmer controls a field if it is orthogonally adjacent to the field and has a higher harvest than any other farmer adjacent to the same field. In case of a tie, the harvests of the next adjacent farmers are compared until the tie is resolved. If no comparison resolves the tie, neither player controls the field. The value of a field is the number of cells it contains multiplied by the harvest of the farmer that controls it. An uncontrolled field has no value. |
| Objective |
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The goal of Agros is to score more points than the opponent by controlling fields. A game may theoretically end in a draw but this is a rare situation. |
| Play | ||||||||||
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The game begins with an opening phase, followed by a movement phase. Players alternate turns throughout the game. Light Brown plays first.
Opening During the opening, players alternate placing farmers of their color on empty cells. Every placed farmer begins without any seeds beneath it. One farmer is placed on the first turn by the Light Brown player and one on the final opening turn by the Dark Brown player. In between, each player places two farmers on every turn. Players may not pass during the opening. When all farmers have been placed, the movement phase begins. Movement During the movement phase, players alternate performing one of the following actions: Harvest: choose one of your farmers and move its entire stack in a straight line, orthogonally or diagonally, through exactly as many cells as its harvest. The farmer may pass over friendly seeds and farmers, but it may not pass over opposing seeds or farmers. It must land on an empty cell. After moving, add one seed of the farmer's color beneath it, increasing its harvest by one.
Sow: choose one of your farmers and move it in a straight line, orthogonally or diagonally. Leave the farmer's lowest seed on its starting cell, then leave one seed on each consecutive cell in the chosen direction, with the farmer alone landing on the cell after the last sown seed. Every cell after the starting cell, including the landing cell, must be empty. Sowing is legal only if the entire move fits on the board. A farmer without seeds cannot sow.
Pass: pass voluntarily. Passing is allowed only after the opening. Fields and scoring The game ends when both players pass on consecutive turns. Each player then sums the values of the fields they control. A half-point tie-breaker is used at the end of the game. Each player's farmers are compared by harvest, from greatest to smallest. The player with the greater harvest at the first difference receives half a point. If every comparison is tied, neither player receives the half point.
The player with the higher total score wins. If the totals are equal, the game is a draw. |
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