Carcassonne (board game)

Carcassonne is a tile-based, German-style board game designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede.

It is played by two to five people who work together to build a medieval landscape. The game is named after the famous fortified town of Carcassonne in southern France. This real-world location is well known for its massive city walls. Players compete to earn the most points by claiming features on the map. The game has become a global success with many expansions and digital versions.

It even won the prestigious Spiel des Jahres award in 2001.

The game begins with one specific terrain tile placed face up. There are 71 other tiles shuffled and placed face down for players to draw. A player's turn follows a strict three-phase sequence. First, the player draws a new terrain tile. Second, they may choose to station a follower on the newly placed tile. Third, they score any completed features if the rules allow. The tile must be placed so that terrain features connect logically. Roads must meet roads, cities must meet cities, and fields must meet fields. Connections only occur across shared edges, not at corners.

Players use small markers called followers, or "meeple," to claim territory. The role of a meeple changes based on where it is placed. A meeple on a road is a thief or highwayman. A meeple in a city is a knight. A meeple in a cloister or monastery is a monk. A meeple placed in a field is a farmer.

Unlike other markers, farmers are laid down flat on the tile. This visual cue shows that fields are not scored until the game ends. Players must be strategic because they only have eight followers total. One follower is always used to track the player's current score. This means only seven followers can be on the board at once.

Scoring occurs when a feature becomes "complete." A city is complete when it has no more unfinished edges. A road is complete when it forms a loop or ends at villages. A cloister is complete when it is entirely surrounded by eight tiles.

When a feature is finished, the player with the most followers earns points. If there is a tie, all tied players receive the full points. Once scoring is finished, the followers are returned to the players' stocks. This allows players to redeploy them in future turns. However, if a player stations a meeple on a feature they just completed, they cannot use it again that same turn.

Point values vary depending on the type of feature completed. A completed road earns one point for every tile it covers. A completed city earns two points per tile plus two points for every pennant.

A completed cloister earns nine points for the tile plus one point for each of its eight neighbors. Fields are unique because they are only scored at the very end of the game. A field earns three points for every completed city that borders it. If a field does not touch any completed cities, it scores zero points. This makes the placement of farmers a long-term strategy.

The rules for Carcassonne have evolved through several editions. The first and second editions had different ways of scoring cities and fields. In the first edition, players earned points based on how many farmers were near a city. The second edition treated each field as a separate entity for scoring. The current third edition, which is used in all modern versions, simplified these rules. These updated rules bring field scoring in line with other features. This version is also used in the Xbox 360 and various mobile versions.

Carcassonne connects the simple joy of tile-laying with complex spatial reasoning. Players must manage a limited resource of seven active followers. They must also watch how tiles connect previously separate features. For example, two separate fields can become one large field if a new tile connects them. This can change who has the most followers in that area. This interaction between players creates a shifting landscape of risks and rewards. The game remains a staple of modern board gaming due to this deep strategy.