Ora et Labora Is a Step Beyond Agricola
Ora et Labora – roughly, Time and Labor – is another cool game from one of my favorite designers, Uwe Rosenberg. I’ve really enjoyed his other board games: Bohnanza, At the Gates of Loyang, Le Havre, and especially Agricola (Latin for Farmer) which is one of my 3 favorites of all time.
Ora et Labora has a religious theme (Keep in mind that themes rarely matter in these games.) in which you play the prior in a monastery. Your task is to acquire land and build buildings for fun and profit.
You need to construct a system that will produce books, ceramics, ornaments, and relics that will reward you with…wait for it…victory points at the end of the game.
Ora et Labora borrows mechanics from Uwe’s other games, notably Le Havre, but also introduces the nifty rondel for tracking the number of resources available at any given time.
If you’ve tried any of the board games mentioned here (and you should try several of them), I’m almost certain you’ll have a grand time playing Ora et Labora. Just in case you can’t find anyone to play it with, know that you can play it solo as well. It plays well with 1 to 4 players, arguably a little better with 3, and takes about 2 hours to finish. I wouldn’t be surprised if you wanted to spend another 2 hours giving it another go right after your first play.
Check the price of Ora et Labora on Amazon.
Fun Meters (out of 5)
Party: 1
Strategy: 5
Family: 5
Photo credit: MokuJin @ BGG