Carcassonne, one of the best family board games ever!?
OK, maybe you know all about Carcassonne (pronounced car-ca-zone, or car-ca-zahn depending on who you ask); you know how great it is for 2 players or 5 players, maybe you played it at a friends house, and you don't need to know any more, you just want to buy it for a great price from a great store (not to toot our own horn), then:
(but don't forget to check out these great expansions:
Inns & Cathedrals,
Traders & Builders).
But if you don't know anything about Carcassonne, except you've heard it is fun, then keep reading.
First off, here are the facts:
Designer |
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Artist |
Doris Matthäus |
Publisher |
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# of Players |
2 − 5 |
Suggested Ages |
8 and up |
Playing Time |
45 minutes |
Learning Time |
15 minutes |
Setup Time |
2 minutes (really!) |
Contents |
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72 Land Tiles
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40 Followers (wooden people) in 5 colors
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1 Scoring Track
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1 Rule Booklet and Summary Sheet
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Safety |
Not suitable for children under 3 due to small parts that may be inhaled or swallowed |
Now I have to admit, I've known about Carcassonne for a while, but hadn't played it before I decided to feature it as our first weekly special--what a big mistake. My biggest fear in a new game is that it will be too complicated to explain to my wife (and lovely co-owner, Jennifer). Nothing could be further from the truth, Carcassonne has easy, clear, concise rules. It takes about 15 minutes to read through and understand them, and only about 5 minutes to explain to your friends or loved ones as you are setting out the pieces.
Here is how the US importer, Rio Grande Games, describes Carcassonne:
"A clever tile-laying game. The southern French city of Carcassonne is famous for its unique Roman and Medieval fortifications. The players develop the area around Carcassonne and deploy their followers on the roads, in the cities, in the cloisters, and in the fields. The skill of the players to develop the area will determine who is victorious."
Play is Fast and Fun!
The turns go quickly in Carcassonne--there isn't any sitting around, waiting hours (seemingly) for a player to make a move. On each turn a player takes a face down tile, looks at it, shows it to the other players and then finds a place that it fits on the ever-changing board (the roads have to line up with roads, town with town, farm with farm). After it is placed, the player has a chance to play one of their people on it. If the tile has a road on it, the player can place a person on it and make it a thief, in a city to make it a soldier, on a cloister to make it a monk, or on the grass to make it a farmer. The people stay in their place until the road, city or cloister is completed (a road has two end points, a city is surrounded by walls and a cloister is surrounded on all 4 sides). Farmers score at the end of the of the game and get points for every completed city touching their fields.
Easy to Learn!
It takes about 15 minutes for the "instructor" (the person in the family/group who's job is to read the rules the first time) to learn the basics, another 5 minutes or so to explain to the other players. The strategy can be deep, but it is easy to learn as you go along.
My Proven 5-step Method for Teaching Carcassonne:
- Show the different tiles: city, road, farm, monasteries
- Show how they connect: cities have to connect to cities, roads to roads, farm to farm
- Show how to place a meeple (the wooden people) to be a thief, soldier, or farmer
- Show how you complete a city, road and how farms score
- Show the points for each and how they score
Easy to Setup!
Setup of Carcassonne is extremely easy, takes just a minute (really). All you have to do is take the tiles out and stack them up, face down in the middle of a table or floor. Each player then chooses a color and away you go.
Check out these pieces!
Carcassonne is perfect for your "non-gaming" friends!
Do you have a couple that you really like hanging out with, but they really aren't in to your type of games (you know, the ones that take two hours to explain), well Carcassonne is the answer. With its easy-to-learn rules and quick play, it is a sure-fire hit with your friends. And I've found the more people you play with the more "co-operative" it becomes--your friends just can't help but to give you advice on where to place your tile (usually to their advantage)!
Awards, Awards, Awards!
- 2004 Vuoden Perhepeli Winner.
- 2002 Årets Spel Winner, Best Family Game.
- 2001 Spiel des Jahres Winner, Game of the Year.
- 2001 Deutscher Spiele Preis Winner, Game of the Year.
- 2001 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee, Game of the Year.
- 2001 Spiel der Spiele Hit Games with Friends Winner.
- 2000 Meeples' Choice Award Winner.
Carcassonne is a Great for Two Players!
One of the biggest challenges standing in the way of couples playing great board games is the perception that you need a lot of people. And sometime you just can't round them up. Well, that is one of many benefits of Carcassonne, it can be played with just two people (or up to 5 with the basic set).
The interesting thing is, I've found that with just two people, the game becomes much more cut-throat! Watch out!
From a review by boardgamegeek.com user kapnkrunch: "Perhaps the most appealing quality of this game is that it plays extremely well with two players. Of course, the dynamics of a two-player game are substantially different from a game with four or five players but the game is, in my opinion, just as fun."
Watch out! Carcassonne is a "Gateway" Game!
A lot of people like to draw a line between the old school games like Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble, and the new games designed in the US and Europe over the last 20 years. A good deal of these games are heavily theme driven (trains, battles, mysteries, etc) and more complex than the games of yore. These games can be a great past time, board games for the whole family to enjoy. But they take a little bit more work (although, I really think they just are different, not the games we grew up with--that is why there is more resistance to learn them). But there some great new games, like Carcassonne, that are great GATEWAY games. Games that are easy to learn, easy to setup, fun to play, and they open up a whole new vista of gaming possibilities.
Here is a great comment from boardgamegeek.com user rstruve:
"I stumbled across Carcassonne at a Games by James store at the Mall of America in Minnesota. I had no clue what all those unfamiliar games were on one wall, but felt a little adventurous. Guy suggested Carcassonne and gave a brief description - and I thought, "Really? That's it? And this is fun why?". But I was wanting to try a little something different, so I bought the game."
That night at the hotel, we decided to punch out out all the tiles and give the game a shot. Wow! We both instantly loved it. Went and got the expansions (Trader & Builders, Inns and Cathedrals) and really had a blast with the game.
That was about 3 years ago - and now I have an excellent collection of games that at one time looked totally unfamiliar to me. It all started with Carcassonne, which I still enjoy playing to this day. Say what you want, it's a great game and excellent to show newbies to gaming."
Carcassonne is a Great for Younger Players!
I might be the ultimate geeky dad and I'm always trying to geek out my daughter, too (I'm sure she'll thank me for it when she grows up). So far she likes sci-fi, so now my next challenge is board games! Carcassonne is a great introduction for her--she didn't have a problem picking it up and she actually beat me on our first game together. The next time we played with mom and we all had a blast. My 4 year old son even helped out--he was my "official" tile placer. With its simples rules, but fun strategy (and the open nature of the game, you aren't trying to conceal anything), Carcassonne ranks as one of my favorite family games.
A review from boardgamegeek user uberslack: "The rules were the next thing I noticed. Actually, they surprised me. 4 pages? That's it? Simple and elegant. It took me 5 minutes to explain to Jacelyn (his 9 year old daughter) how to play the game and not once did she confuse a rule or even ask for clarification."
A game that is always new!
One of my favorite aspects of Carcassonne is the way the board is always different. It is integral to the game. Outside of any of the rules or gameplay, it is fun to see a countryside full of roads and cities evolve. I could almost image myself there, peacefully tilling away at the soil...until the plague comes.
Meet the Designer: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede is a game designer, music and theology teacher in Germany.
Quote from an interview at brettspillguiden.no on how he had the idea for Carcassonne: "So the idea came on this journey, to develop a game, which imitates the growing of the cities and castles. The game was a little bit more complex in its first versions, but I was interested in making a game with simple rules, but a little strategic touch. So I worked to make it more intuitive and came to the existing form of the game. Then I tuned a little bit with the tiles: the balance of the quantity of city-parts, ways, crossings, so that an interesting gameplay could work."
Carcassonne is a Real Place!
I haven't been there yet, but I'd love to go. Located in the south of France, the city of Carcassonne is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, renowned as one of the best surviving examples of a medieval fortified city. Its grand walls and towers inspired the design and play of Carcassonne the game.
Lots of Expansions!
One of the great things about Carcassonne is that if you really love it (like I know that you will), there are lots of additional sets that build upon it (although none of them are necessary to enjoy the heck out of the original game). We are featuring two of the expansions at a special price it you'd like to add them to your cart today:
Carcassonne: Inns & Cathedrals
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Type: Map building
Number of players: 2 - 6
Age of players: 8+ |
From Rio Grande's website:
"The expansion offers all fans of Carcassonne new challenges: The Cathedral triples the value of a city, and the Inn doubles the value of a road - but only when they are completed. Players may use the new large follower to double their chances of controlling a city, road, or field. Also included is all necessary material to allow a sixth player to join in the fun. Finally, there are 6 point tiles to make scoring easier when players score more than 50 points."
Carcassonne: Traders & Builders
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Type:
Number of players: 2 - 6
Age of players: 10+ |
From Rio Grande's website:
"This 2nd expansion takes Carcassonne to new dimensions of fun and excitement. Traders can earn players extra points and builders enable players to place extra tiles, allowing the cities and roads to grow faster. A pig, properly placed, can enrich the value of a farm. Also included is a small cloth bag for the tiles, making it easier to shuffle and draw them during the game. Traders & Builders is not a complete game, but must be played with Carcassonne."
Even other game designers think Carcassonne is a great game, below is an excerpt of an interview with German game designer Uwe Rosenberg by Boardgamegeek.com user kerning.
"Carcassonne is one of the best games of all time. For me it decreases some over time, yet I appreciate the quality. You can play Carcassonne simply as a two-person game on four levels. As you learn it, you have fun with the puzzles and look forward to the second level (this anticipation is very important). On level 2 you "attach" yourself to others and attempt to take something away. On level 3 you proceed in such a way that others cannot retrieve their game figures, and somewhere along the way have no more game figures available to them (to achieve this, one needs to know all the tiles and their frequency). On level 4 you learn to watch over your game figures and not move as aggressively (rather toward paths instead of against castles).
On the highest level of gaming, a game of Carcassonne is played by two players as if the contenders did not want to win at all. In my personal best I plateaued somewhere between level 2 and 3."
Some people learn better by watching, so for you (you know who you are), here is a great youtube video explaining Carcassonne:
All the Rules that are Fit to Print!
A board game is an investment, sure, you'll spend more on going out to a movie for a family of 4, but if you are going to spend your hard earned dollars on a new game, you want it to be something you can play over and over again, you don't want it to become too stale or boring. So if you want to get a better in-depth look at Carcassonne, check out the link to the rules on Rio Grande's website.
Don't want to take my word for it? Check out Carcassonne on boardgamegeek.com, I won't hold it against you.
And are you like me, do you mispell, misspel, misspell words all the time? Here are some of the ways I've spelled Carcassonne incorrectly: Carcasone, Carcassone, Carcasonne.
