How to Play the Carcassonne Game

Carcassonne is a game that involves strategically placing tiles. The name of the game comes from an ancient French city that was famous for its fortified walls. The aim of the Carcassonne Game is to build a medieval landscape from the tiles; the effectiveness by which players create this landscape will determine their overall success in the game. Carcassonne can be played two to six players and it normally takes less than an hour to play a game to its conclusion. The game ends when all the tiles are placed.

To start the game you place any random tile down on the surface. The rest of the tiles are then mixed up and placed face down. The players themselves will need to decide the order of play; most people decide to go clockwise and you can decide who goes first be seeing who scores highest or lowest on a dice roll- there is no rule about this so it is left to your discretion.

The first player begins the game by turning over a tile. This tile will then need to be placed next to the first tile that was laid down at the start of the game, and after this all tiles will need to be placed adjacent to a tile that is already turned over. It is also necessary that any feature tile be placed beside a feature tile of the same type; for example, a river tile needs to be next to a river tile and a road tile needs to be next to a road tile.

When you have constructed a feature it is up to you to decide if you want to place a follower or meeple there; this is important for your final score at the end of the game.

When a feature is complete the scores are divided among the players. So if a road, city, or cloister is complete during the game then the players will receive points dependent on the number of meeples they have on that feature and the overall size of the feature. The score from the fields will be given at the end of the game.

When the final tile has been placed then the rest of the scores can be awarded. As well as the fields there will also be points for unfinished features where a meeple is situated. A field that has a city bordering it will be given extra points. After all the scores have been added up the player with the most points will be proclaimed as the winner.

Carcassonne is a game that people can learn to play in a relatively short time. Despite the fact that it is really easy to get into the game, it still involves quite a bit of strategy and this makes it all the more engaging. It can provide hours and hours of entertainment, but if your interest ever does wane there are plenty of expansion packs to liven things up a bit. This is a game suitable for many different types of people from the beginners to experienced players.