Carcassonne

What is Carcassonne?

Carcassonne is a tile-placement board game inspired by the medieval fortified town of Carcassonne in France. The game, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and first published in 2000, revolves around creating a landscape by placing tiles that feature parts of cities, roads, cloisters, grasslands, and more. Players then deploy their followers, known as meeples, to claim these features and score points.

The objective is to have the most points when the tiles have all been placed. Points are scored based on the size and completeness of the features players claim. The game combines strategy, planning, and a bit of luck, making it engaging for a wide range of players.

Setup

To begin, shuffle all the tiles and place them face down in several stacks. The starting tile, usually marked differently, is placed in the center of the table. Each player chooses a color and takes 7 meeples of that color, placing one on the scoring track. Determine who will go first.

Rules

The game proceeds with each player taking turns in the following sequence:

1. Draw a Tile: The current player draws a tile from one of the face-down stacks.
2. Place the Tile: The drawn tile must be placed adjacent to already placed tiles on the board. The edges of the tile must match the adjacent tiles (city to city, road to road, field to field).
3. Deploy a Meeple (Optional): After placing the tile, the player can choose to place one of their meeples on a feature on that tile. This feature must not be claimed by another meeple already.
4. Score Completed Features: If the placement of the tile completes a feature (such as a city, road, or cloister), the feature is scored immediately:
   • Cities: Score 2 points per tile in the completed city
   • Roads: Score 1 point per tile in the completed road
   • Monasteries: Score 9 points if the cloister is surrounded by 8 tiles (1 point per tile around)
5. Return Meeples: After scoring, any meeples on the completed features are returned to the player's supply.
6. Next Player: The next player draws a tile and continues the process.

Lobby System

Games are started from lobbies. A player has 2 options: to view a list of open lobbies or create a lobby himself. Created lobbies are automatically added to the list of lobbies and instantly view- and clickable by other players. A max. number of 5 players can be in a lobby. Only the lobby admin (crown-icon)  can start the game from the lobby once there are at least 2 players in the lobby. When a player joins the lobby, all other players in the lobby automatically receive an updated list of players.

Gameplay

When it is their turn, the player can rotate the drawn tile and the valid tile placements are highlighted. Only the highlighted tiles on the gameboard are clickable. 

Once a tile has been placed, a meeple may be placed on one of the highlighted positions on the tile. 

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Presentation

Game

Carcasonne is a tile-based board game where players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tiles feature, castles, roads and monasteries.

Goal

Players must strategically place the tiles to build roads or other features. As the terrain expands, players place their 'meeples,' small figures, on these features to stake their claim.

Points are scored by completing features like roads. The game ends when all tiles are placed. Carcassonne is simple to learn but offers deep strategic play, making it enjoyable for both new and experienced players. Its blend of luck and tactics ensures that no two games are the same.