Introduction

Carcassonne is a tile/strategy games that plays at a fairly quick pace is easy to learn but difficult to master. The tutorial teaches you the basics of the game, and some simple strategies that will help you jump right in but this game is much deeper. One game of Carcassonne consists of players taking turns placing tiles adjacent to tiles that have already been laid down on the board until all 72 pieces have been played. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins, simple enough.

Game Board

The game itself consists of 72 distinct tiles and each player has control of 7 followers; up to 5 people can play online. The goal is to place your followers in strategic locations as to earn as many points as possible, but this is made difficult as other players are trying to earn points as well while trying to stop their opponents from doing the same.

Earning Points

A player can earn points in many different ways such as: completing a road, building a city, building a monastery, and building a farm. There is not much more to it but since each player rotates placing a different piece on the board it makes it difficult to earn points while doing what you can to make sure your opponent doesn’t outscore you. Points are awarded as such: each road earns you 1 point per tile of road, each monastery earns you 1 point for each tile touching that plot, while completed cities each you 2 points per each tile within the city.

Strategy

You can develop some simple strategies for playing this game, but to master it you must anticipate what move your opponent(s) are likely to make. The strategy comes into play because you can only play a follower during your turn and when you complete a city or a road points are given out based on who has the most followers on the road or in the city. Yet you only have 7 followers to place on the board so you must be careful where you place them. Although, anytime a city, monastery, or road is completed you get your follower(s) back if they were on that structure regardless of whether you or your opponent was awarded the points.

Once all 72 tiles are played additional points are awarded to players who have followers on unfinished cities, roads, or monasteries but you are also awarded points from your farms as well. Farms are created simply by placing a follower on a plot of grass and as more tiles are placed next to that one your follower becomes connected to more cities, as long as you can trace a line back to that follower without crossing any obstructions. Each city that touches that plot will earn you an additional 3 points at the end of the game. The person with the most points as the end of the game wins, simple!

Online / Multiplayer

The online aspect of the game is no different then playing the computer except that there are thinking people on the other end. Making your opponent that much harder to anticipate and predict. The only drawback to this game is that there is no online leaderboard. The game will keep track of all players single player record but your online games will not count toward it. Therefore, if you simply play online games your record will show 0 wins and 0 losses. There are online leaderboards but you must scroll right and left to view them which is not specified. This is not much of a hassle but if you don’t know to do so you may never find them yourself. This game is pretty solid but the gameplay lacks a bit in replay value considering there are a limited number of people who bought the game and many of those who did are not quick to make conversation. If you have friends I encourage you to have them buy the game because it will make it a much more enjoyable experience. The achievements are fairly easy to get and most can be done within an hour or two of playing the game as well.

Overall Verdict

I would recommend this game for the more casual player. It can be intimidating at first but once you understand the basic concepts in can be a very enjoyable experience. It provides a nice challenge, and each game will be different even though the same 72 pieces are played each time. I find it challenging to try and visualize what pieces might be left based on the pieces that have already been played and trying to anticipate what move my opponent will make next and how I can earn points from pieces they place. This game is not for everyone and for $10 it may be a little overpriced but if you play the trial version a couple times it might grow on you.

6 out of 10 (entertaining, but overpriced) 7 out of 10 (Entertaining gameplay, but there is only a small online community of fans to play with)