Carcassonne
Players place tiles and followers in a strategic fashion in order to obtain the most points.
Players:	2–5 (6 with expansion)
Age range:	10 +
Setup time:	10 minutes
Playing time:	> 30 minutes
Rules complexity:	Low
Strategy depth:	Medium
Random chance:	Medium
Skills required:	Strategic thought

Carcassonne is a tile-based German-style board game for two to five players, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and published in 2000 by Hans im Glück in German and Rio Grande Games in English. It received the Spiel des Jahres award in 2001. It is named after the medieval fortified town of Carcassonne in southern France, famed for its city walls. A scan of the front of the Carcassonne game box, taken by me. ... A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. ... Physical games Tile-based games use small tiles as playing pieces for gambling or entertainment game. ... German-style board games, also known as designer games, family strategy games, or Euro games, are family games designed to appeal simultaneously to older children and adults. ... A board game is any game played with a premarked surface, with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Hans im Glück is a German board and card game publisher. ... Rio Grande Games is a publisher of German-style board games in English. ... The Spiel des Jahres (German for Game of the Year) is arguably the most prestigious board game award for German-style board games. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... The defensive wall of Braşov, Romania. ... The walled city of Carcassonne Location within France Carcassonne (Carcassona in Occitan) is a fortified French city, in the Aude département, of which it is the préfecture, in the former province of Languedoc. ...

Game Play

The game board is a medieval landscape built by the players as the game progresses. The game starts with a single terrain tile face up and 71 others shuffled face down for the players to draw from. On each turn a player draws a new terrain tile and places it adjacent to tiles that are already face up. The new tile must be placed in a way that matches, i.e. roads must connect to roads, fields to fields, and city walls to city walls.

A follower, or "meeple", on a tile.

After placing the new tile, the placing player may opt to station a follower (sometimes colloquially called a meeple) on that tile. The follower can only be placed on the player's last played tile. A follower claims ownership of one terrain feature - road, field, city, or cloister - and may not be placed on a feature already claimed by another player's follower. However, it is possible for terrain features to become shared after the further placement of tiles. For example, two field tiles which each have a follower can become connected into a single field by another terrain tile. A picture of a meeple from the Carcassonne boardgame. ... A picture of a meeple from the Carcassonne boardgame. ...

When a terrain feature is completed, the followers placed on that feature earn points for their owning players and are returned to the players to be stationed again later. For example, when a city wall forms a closed loop (with no empty spaces inside of the walls), the city is completed and the player with the most followers in the city scores points based on the size of the city. If two or more players tie for the most followers, all tied players score points.

The game ends when the last tile has been placed. At that time all uncompleted terrain features score points for the players who have followers stationed on them. The player with the most points wins the game.

Game Interest

Carcassonne is considered to be an excellent family game since the rules are simple, no one is eliminated, and the play is fast. A typical game takes only 45 minutes to play. Even so, it is not a game characterized by shallow strategies and lots of luck. Strategic points include:

• Judiciously conserving followers, particularly in games with fewer players. Each player has only seven followers; once they are all stationed he can't claim any more features until one is returned. Thus it is sometimes better not to station a follower at all, or to station one that scores only a couple of points but will be returned quickly.
• Attempting to share lucrative features. For example, a player may place a tile which creates a new short road, station a follower on that new road, and then place later tiles to connect his road to another player's long and valuable road.
• Preventing the sharing of one's features. Sometimes it pays to close off one's own features for a smaller number of points than to allow another player to join the fun. However, one should not be unthinkingly selfish: if another player is sharing your city then he will essentially be working with you to score more points.
• Playing farmers at the right time. Farmers (i.e. followers in fields) have the potential to score more points than any other type of follower. The disadvantage of farmers is that they are never returned to a player during a game. They only score points at the end. One must judge whether the potentially large payoff at the end of the game is worth having one follower fewer to work with in the middle of the game.
• Being aware of who is helped and hurt by each play. Most tile placements will directly or indirectly add points to the scores of other players. Advanced players don't simply play to maximize their own score, they also look to hinder the other players at the same time.

BrettspielWelt, as well as hosting online games of Carcassonne, organises a "Mega-Carcassonne" competition for the game played with the largest number of Carcassonne tiles. The current record, held by the Spielzentrum in Herne, Germany, is 5517 tiles. BrettSpielWelt (short BSW) is a large and popular and entirely free German online gaming portal. ... Map of Germany showing Herne Herne is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ...

Expansions

• The River Expansion (2001) - This was originally a free expansion distributed by Rio Grande Games through hobby shops in the U.S.A. Instead of starting with a fixed tile, a river is formed before the regular tiles can be used. The latest 'basic' version of Carcassonne now includes the River Expansion (you can just see it written on picture of the box above right).
• Carcassonne: Inns and Cathedrals (2002) - Originally known simply as Carcassonne: the Expansion, this adds pieces for a sixth player, some new tiles, and a leader pawn (colloquially big meeple) that counts as two followers. The Inns and Cathedrals for which it is named can be placed as part of roads and cities to double their value - provided they are completed by the end of the game. But if such a road is left uncompleted, no points are scored.
• Carcassonne: Traders and Builders (2003) - An expansion to the base game with additional tile types and strategic possibilities. The most significant additions are trade goods, which appear in cities and are collected by the player who completes the city, even if they are not the one who scores it (thus encouraging the completion of other people's cities). This expansion also adds a pig meeple (which increases the value of a farm it's placed in) and a builder meeple (which, if placed on a structure already controlled by the placing player, grants an extra turn to that player whenever the structer is extended).
• Carcassonne: King and Scout (2003) - A few additional tiles and special rules for both the original Carcassonne and "Hunters and Gatherers" (see Spinoffs). The player who builds the biggest city becomes King of Carcassonne, and at the end of the game receives extra points for every completed city; likewise, the player who builds the biggest road becomes Robber Baron and receives points for every completed road.
• Carcassonne: The Cathars (2004) - Four new tiles which show Cathars breaking the city walls, and are used to reduce the point value of cities. This expansion was published in the German board game magazine Spielbox and is only available, in german, in back issues of that publication. Tile images and english rules are available from Board Game Geek
• Carcassonne: The Count (2004) - Twelve new tiles depicting the city of Carcassonne itself together with a large meeple representing the Count. Like the River Expansion, the new tiles are placed before play begins. The city of Carcassonne is divided into quarters, each one representing one of the types of structure available - cities, roads, churches and farms. Whenever a player completes a structure that earns points for a player other than themselves, they may place a meeple in one of the quarters, and also move the Count to one of the four quarters. When any structure is scored, meeples placed on the quarters of Carcassonne can "jump" onto that structure at the last moment (unofficially known as "paratrooping"), possibly claiming the points for a player other than the one who had previously owned it. However, the presence of the Count in any quarter prevents the meeples there from being moved in this way.
• Carcassonne: The Princess and the Dragon (2005) - Thirty new tiles with Magical Portals, volcanos, and dragon icons, together with a dragon meeple and a Fairy meeple. When a volcano is drawn, the dragon is placed on the board - If a volcano already exists, the dragon immediately moves to that tile. When a tile with a Dragon icon is drawn, the game is briefly halted, while each player (starting with the placing player) moves the dragon one space each, until the dragon is moved 6 tiles, eating meeples, until it hits a dead end (the dragon may not return to a tile that it has already visited during one movement). The dragon cannot move onto a tile containing a Fairy meeple. Instead of placing a meeple, any player may move the fairy onto a tile where one of their existing meeples resides; they earn 1 point at the end of the turn if the fairy remains there, and 3 points if a structure is completed while the fairy is with one of their meeples on the structure. When a tile with a magical portal is played, the player may then place a follower on any tile already played, so long as it follows all other placement rules (i.e. no other followers on the target feature).

2001: A Space Odyssey. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cathars being expelled from Carcassone in 1209. ... A collection of magazines A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A count is a nobleman in most European countries, equivalent in rank to a British earl, whose wife is still a countess (for lack of an Anglo-Saxon term). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A volcano is a geological landform (usually a mountain) where magma (rock of the Earths interior made molten or liquid by extremely high temperatures along with a reduction in pressure and/or the introduction of water or other volatiles) erupts through the surface of the planet. ... Chinese dragon, colour engraving on wood, Japanese Chinese school, 19th Century A dragon is a mythological creature, typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent or other reptile, with magical or spiritual qualities. ... by Sophie Anderson A fey or fairy is a spirit (supernatural being) found in the stories, folklore, and mythology of many (some sources say most or all) human cultures. ...

Spinoffs

• Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers (2002) - A stand-alone game that involves the building of forests, rivers and wildlife rather than cities and roads. This game attempted to rectify some percieved faults in the original by eliminating churches, introducing a "special tile" system to encourage players to complete cities (now forests) owned by other players, and making the value of fields vary both up and down (based on wildlife appearing on the tiles).
• The Ark of the Covenant (2003) - A biblical-themed version of Carcassonne set in the time period of the Old Testament, with three major rules changes:
  1. A "prophet" (slightly larger meeple) may be placed in a city (and only a city), doubling the value of that city for that player.
  2. The Ark of the Covenant is placed in the first city completed; and if a player doesn't place a meeple, that player may move the ark up to five tile-spaces and score one point for the owner of each meeple whose tile-space it is moved into or through.
  3. Followers in fields score two points for each sheep in the same field. But each wolf in the same field will eat a sheep. (This is similar to Hunters and Gatherers.)
• Carcassonne: The Castle (2003) - A stand-alone 2-player Carcassonne game designed by Reiner Knizia where building is constrained within the walls of a castle. Rules are quite similar to the those of the original game, though the tile edge-matching rules are less strict. The border of the game is also the score board with the nice feature that players can gain extras by scoring an exact number of points.
• Carcassonne: The City (2004) - A deluxe stand-alone game for 2-4 players similar to Carcassonne: The Castle. The tile matching rules are relaxed, allowing any tiles to be placed next to each other provided roads are contiguous. A further significant change is that a meeple may no longer be placed on the final tile that completes a structure, requiring that players plan ahead. Once slightly over one third of the pieces have been placed, the players begin adding walls around the edge of the city, each player adding a wall every time a structure is scored.
• Carcassonne: The Discovery (2005) - A nautical-themed stand-alone game that involves mountains, seas and meadows. In this game, players may choose to score for terrain features before they are completed, albeit for fewer points.

2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures (also called the Hebrew Bible) constitutes the first major part of the Bible according to Christianity. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Reiner Knizia is a prolific board game designer. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Hans im Glück's home page for the game.
• Rio Grande Games' home page for the game.
• Inspiration Games' biblical version of the base game.
• BoardGameGeek reviews and pictures of the game.
• Carcassonne Online, a PC version of the game.
• java Carcassonne, a java implementation of Carcassonne