A game that is named after the medieval town of Carcassonne in southern France which famed for its city walls. The game has many expansions and spin-offs along with several PC and mobile versions. The latest edition, with updated artwork was released in 2014.
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 to eventually create a full landscape.
Each tile must match the one next to it, roads join to roads and fields to fields etc.
After placing each new tile, the player can choose to place station a follower or “meeple as a feature of that newly placed tile.
The game ends when the last tile has been placed. At that time, all features score points for the players with the most followers on them. The player with the most points wins the game.
During the players’ turns, cities, cloisters, and roads are scored when they are complete. At the end of the game, any incomplete features are scored. Points are awarded to the players with the most followers in a feature.
To be totally honest, this game was not my cup of tea at all. I found the rules and game play very confusing and hard to understand. It does seem to be a very popular game on reading other reviews online but it’s just not for me. It’s a fairly long play game too that can last over an hour and that’s without the additional optional game expansions.
