Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a board game with many resemblances to other German tile games. The game is available in English and German but is played all around the world. If you are looking for a quick game to introduce children to board games, then Carcassonne is a good option. It's just easy enough for kids and has enough luck and stategy associated with it to make it enjoyable for adults.

The game takes place in medieval times and is based around the town of Carcassonne. The town is situated in the southern part of France. What made it an interesting basis for a game is that the town is surrounded by walls, which leads to self-sufficient farming, schooling and general interactions. Incidentally, the game pieces, which are made to resemble people are called meeples and are a common icon in Europe.

Players start with a plain board representing the landscape. One terrain tile is facing up. The rest of the 71 tiles are shuffled and placed face down, which becomes the draw pile. When it's a player's turn, he or she will take a tile from the draw pile and place it next to other tiles already existing on the board.

Each tile contains different terrain features like roads, fields and cities. When a player lays a tile down, it must connect similar features. For example, a road tile must match the adjacent road tile in terms of expanding the road.

After a tile has been laid, the player then has a choice of setting a "follower" on that tile. If a player chooses to do so, this follower claims that tile feature, or owns it. Features can be shared if two followers sit on tiles next to each other. After the last tile has been set on the gameboard, Carcassonne ends, and scores are tallied.

Almost everything in Carcassonne elicits you points determined by how the followers are set. The only feature that doesn't get you points are fields. Roads that cannot be expanded also give you points whether they end or not. Players get the points of a feature if they have the most followers on that features. If there is a tie, then both players get the full amount of points. Cloisters, which are groups of the same features that have followers, also score any adjacent tiles.

Points are given out as follows:

• Cities are one point per tile and one point per pennant if there are just two tiles. For each tile in addition to the original two, you get two points per tile and two points per pennant.
• Each road is worth one point for each tile.
• Cloisters get you one point for the original tile and one point for each tiles around it (max eight).
• Fields are worth nothing during the game. However, when the game ends, fields get a player three points for each finished city adjacent to the field. So with a field and city, it's possible to rack up points in one little section of the gameboard.

In the beginning of the game, a player gets seven followers. Saving them for the right time in placement is the most strategy this game offers. Most players wait until a nice cluster of possible points clusters on the board before setting down a meeple. It's hard to say how the gameboard will play out early in the game, so that is why many players wait a few turns before placing their follower.

Another good strategy is to join cloisters or features that contain one of your followers. If the board stays that way when the scoring occurs, then you will get your points and also any tile points placed from the connection. The less players you have, the easier it is to share.

This is frowned upon, but players often memorize the number of types of tiles that exist. That way, when they get a particular feature that isn't useful for them, they can stop other players from finishing a high-point getting section.

Carcassonne is a fun, quick game that anyone can pick up in a matter of minutes. With the number of expansions that are available that add new tiles and figures and the ability to add additional players, you are sure to play this game for years to come.

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