Carcassonne is almost 25 years old! That's not a long time, but it is an achievement for a game to last that long in terms of print runs, keeping Johnny Gamer coming back for more, and staying available on the shelf. There are a multitude of printings including three big box versions, anniversary editions - currently on the 20th (pic below), and so many, err, too many expansions. Well, maybe not too many expansions as that's what helps keep a game going sometimes is the new additions or fresh take.

Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which players blindly grab a tile, and then have to figure out where they want to place it on the board. There are some placement restrictions as well as some future thinking when it comes to how many of "x" tiles are left in order for this move to pay off. This strategy takes many plays to master unless you play the digital version since it offers a way to tell how many tiles are left, what tiles are left, and if a tile is laid - what could be dead around it therefore, kind of a bad move. Sure, these are handicaps, but I would say they are much needed crutches for the absent-minded, and the newbies just getting into the game. Not everyone is a professional tile counter.

The tiles may feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination allowing more possible connections. Tiles must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, and with expansions like rivers - rivers to rivers. Carc is really straight forward in terms of gameplay - pick a tile place a tile. The complexity however, lays within those tile plunging moments as players are left with tough choices on whether to place a meeple down in a field as a farmer, therefore locking it up for the whole game or in a city as a knight, hoping to grab early points and allowing the meeple to return to its owners hand for future point grabbing opportunities.

Carcassonne is very much a "gateway" game with its simplistic rule set and limited choices, lending itself as a great game to teach to newcomers. Lay the tile, place the meeple, and score the points - that’s all there is to it. This is why I do usually play this with friends that are new to the hobby or for quick games when time is a crunch. Once newcomers understand the basics of meeple placements and behaviors - knights in cities, robbers on roads, farmers in fields and monks in cloisters, and when they can or can not return to your hand, the game is much more approachable. You can as a newcomer or veteran just simply lay tiles in your own area and not worry about what your opponents are doing or you can turn to buddy fuckery with vengeful tile placement - blocking opponents from maxing out points, piggy-backing on those almost completed cities or placing a tile in such a way that they may not finish a project.
Points are made when meeples are returned to your hand either during the game in which they are available for immediate redeployment or at games end when scoring the stragglers that remain commences. There are some little nuances to worry about with scoring as to who gets the lions share of points (the majority rule), when you share (tied majority), and when you get goose egg (no meeples present). With the addition of the many expansions comes new maps, tiles, meeples and rules variations so there is an endless combonation on how to play Carc. Here is just a snippet of what comes in one of the Big Boxes in terms of expansions: Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders, The Abbot, The River, The Flying Machines, The Ferries, The Messengers, The Gold Mines, Mage & Witch, The Robbers, and The Crop Circles. This is just a small sample of how big the game can be, but with the basic rules never changing the world of Carcassonne is forever easy to step into.

You can pick up Carcassonne to play digitally on a multitude of platforms: iOS/Google for your phone, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, also on Steam: Carcassonne. I can't speak on all the versions, but I do know that the Steam version has numerous expansions available for purchase. Carc also has the title of first digital board game I owned, as I purchased a copy on Xbox 360 long time ago. Remember, there are sales often enough, you can pick it up and the expansions fairly cheap. Don't forget to sign up with Asmodee Games to grab The Bishop expansions for free. Enjoy!

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