Agricola—The Game You Love, or Maybe You Don't, But You Just Keep Playing It Again and Again. . .

If you haven't played Agricola, I'll give you a quick review. 

It's a game about managing your Resources and your Family on a farm. The Board is somewhat modular and there are multiple decks you choose from to play with (which gives it a lot of variety—and probably expansion potential). The decks are designed so that the play experience never quite goes the same way twice. After playing your first game, you think to yourself:

"Well, I didn't do great, but I didn't do too bad, I learned some things and next time I play, I'll have to pay more attention to X"

Then you play again, and the game is completely different, the strategies you thought you had worked out aren't working. Item X doesn't even come up. Item Y seems like it could have won the game for you, if you had thought about it earlier in the game. The Game finishes, and you think:

"Well, I didn't do great, but I didn't do too bad, I learned some things and next time I play, I'll have to pay more attention to X or Y"

Then you play again, and X and Y literally don't even come into play. Z ends up being what could have helped anyone playing completely crush the competition and declare themselves the clear winner, but no one even thinks about it until far too late in the game. So you finish, and think to yourself.

"Well, I didn't do great, but I didn't do too bad, I learned some things and next time I play, I'll have to pay more attention to X or Y or Z . . . 
or MAYBE W"

So you play again and again, and no matter how many times you play this game, there's no way to figure it out, or to beat the system. We keep playing it trying to beat the game itself, not necessarily each other. It's fun, but a little frustrating, and then you say—"Let's play again."—it's weird.

We got this game for Christmas from a friend. I put it in my trunk as we were going to be at family gatherings and there was some potential that we may have a chance to play at said gatherings. We never did end up playing it with family (Guitar Hero was too much of a draw) and as a result of it being in the trunk, the box got Gouged pretty severely—which is weird, no other game has gotten harmed in the trunk before, and Emily made sure to move it to the back of the trunk when she was loading things.

It got pierced by one of the tension bars that spring the trunk open, which is nearer the front of the trunk. Thankfully the game components are completely intact.and undamaged.