 If you loved Settler�s of Catan this a �must�! |
| Review Date: December 4, 2003 |
| Reviewer: K. Sampanthar, Boston, MA |
| Most people come to this game after they have already been introduced to the European Designer Games by Settlers of Catan. This is a different kind of game than Settlers but in some senses it shares a lot of commonalities. The game is easy to learn for a wide audience, it is reasonably quick to play (30 - 40 minutes) and is a very "immersive" game i.e. there aren't long periods of boredom. There are elements of strategy and luck, which makes for a "fun" game experience. This game is fun for children and adults. For children the "farmers" are a little too complex, but the game works very well without that element. The game consists of laying tiles to build cities, roads and monasteries in the South of France. Points are gained by creating long roads, building large cities or farming multiple farms. It draws elements of building jigsaw puzzles together with a strategy game of competing for territory.
I have played this game with family members who aren't really into board games and they enjoyed it just as much as gamers. There are many expansions to this game which add a few more dimensions as you get more advanced. There is a very high replay-ability. I would high recommend this game to people who are bored with standard Monopoly or Cranium type board games that are popular in the US. If you loved Settler's of Catan this a "must"! Summary:
General
o 2 - 5 Players
o 30 - 40 minutes Playing time
Audience -
o Children & Adults
o Serious and Casual Gamers
Format
o Tile Laying
o Combines Strategy & Luck
Longevity
o High Replay-ability
o Quality Components |
Where has this game been?
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| Review Date: January 12, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Jadecat, Lake Orion, MI United States |
Okay, so the game has been around for awhile, I was just looking in the wrong places. I don't remember how I was led to this game, I was looking at a game site on the Web and they said how this game is consistently rated #1. So I clicked on it, and in a carefree mood I purchased it. I LOVE IT. Even my husband who usually rolls his eyes when a game is pulled out , has said he enjoys this game. We often play it with a 9 and 11 year old, and they are easily able to grasp the concepts, although their strategies could use some work.
What is so nice about this game is that there are no dice, no money to count and no constantly moving a piece around a board. Instead each player on his turn picks a cardboard tile(nice thick quality) and places it on the table, which acts as your board. You basically create your own puzzle each game, so it is never the same. Rivers match up to rivers, or city to city, road to road. You have to decide the best place to put the piece you just picked.
Sometimes the games are lopsided, with one person building a huge city and getting tons of points, but that is often due to the other players error and not a game fault. We have only been playing it 2 weeks, but so far I have learned/figured out something new after each game to help with future strategies. It's a quick game, and high quality. I have been so impressed with this one, that I have already purchased some expansions and Rio Grandes new game of Ark of the Covenant and Hunters and Gatherers, both using the same concept of Carcassonne but with variations.
This game definitely beats out the common store favorites of Clue, Monopoly, Life, Stratego and blah blah blah. There is a reason why it has been a #1 game, try it out! |
Deceptively Addictive
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| Review Date: February 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Ronnie O., North Smithfield, RI United States |
When I first read the description of Carcassonne, I dismissed it as something that I wouldn't really enjoy (I've never really liked how luck is the dominant element of tile-laying games). But there were so many fantastic reviews that mentioned how `strategic' it was, we decided to dig into our game fund and buy it! It was an instant hit with family and friends including my wife and daughter, who are not avid game players.
I won't waste time explaining the rules or details of gameplay, but I will say that learning the game is very easy. The game plays in about a half hour (a bit more with expansions), which is great because people can come and go as they please - no long term commitments here. Even adding `The River' (included in the basic game edition that we bought) and the `Inns and Cathedrals' expansion rules isn't a burden. The only area that can be a bit confusing is scoring for farmlands. We did it incorrectly the first night, but as I was re-reading the rules to clarify it, it became clear on how they should be scored.
The mechanics of gameplay can be tinkered with to produce variations that you may like. For instance, we don't use the standard rules for placing the river tiles at the beginning of the game. We shuffle all 12 tiles, picking and laying tiles to build the river only until the two ends (the spring and the lake) have been placed. This way, the length of the river (2 to 12 tiles) varies from one game to the next.
The tile laying aspect of this game is, of course, mostly luck. There's no strategy that can give you the tile you need - you'll either be lucky or not. On one game, my son and I were both waiting to finish cities near the end of the game, needing identical pieces. He drew the tile and scored, I ended up with a zero for that city and lost the game. Had I drawn the tile, I'd have won. Of course, the more players you have, the less chance you have of getting that tile that you really need.
Placing tiles carefully is the key to strategizing. Should you build a bunch of small cities, or a lesser amount of large ones? Should you finish that road or try to build it as long as possible? Should you expand your own farms, roads, and cities, or `steal' points from another player? There is no one strategy that is fail-safe (at least none that I've found).
Strategy comes in not only in where the tiles are places, but also in the placement of your followers (`meeples') to score points for roads (as thieves), farms (farmers), cloisters (monks) and cities (knights). Since you have only a small amount of meeples, so managing them wisely is of the utmost importance. .
When it's all put together, these elements combine to make a fun and unpredictable game that is different every time you play it.
We purchased the "Inns and Cathedrals" expansion, in which Inns can double the value of roads and Cathedrals score you additional points in cities. But if those cities and roads remain unfinished at the end of the game, the whole city (or road) is worthless! This set also comes with a large follower (worth 2 regular followers) for each color, a complete set of followers for a sixth color (gray), and `50/100' tiles to make keeping score easier.
There are several other expansions for Carcassone, each adding a twist here or there, as well as increasing the number of tiles. We hope to add some of those to our collection over time, but we don't really find the game lacking anything the way it is, either. While these expansions aren't necessary to enjoy the game, the additional tiles, rules, and strategies really modify the game up nicely. There is also a `big box' available which includes the base game plus five expansions.
I recommend this game highly. While I can't say that it will replace game nights of taking out a large board game for a 2-3 hour showdown, this game stands on its' own merits, being a fine game for 2 to 5 players (six with the I & C expansion). But more importantly, it's the kind of game that can entice non-gamers into the fold, and every person that I have introduced the game to (both gamers and non-gamers alike) loves it. Carcassonne is proof that a game doesn't have to be massive or have highly technical rules to be challenging and fun.
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Carcassonne - the best game in years
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| Review Date: July 19, 2003 |
| Reviewer: PhatPat, Lebanon, OH USA |
| Carcassonne is the best strategy-based board game I've ever played. It's actually composed of about a hundred square tiles featuring roads, cities, farmland, and cloisters. Deploy your small number of settlers to take over each of these features, scoring points for their completion. Score points for your farmers and all your incomplete roads, cities, and cloisters in the end. The game works great for two players as well as the maximum 5 players (six with the first expansion) or anywhere in between. The games are varied every time I've played (about 30-40 times so far). This game is the most addicting game I've played since Magic: the Gathering was released 10 years ago. Try it and soon you will be scrambling to purchase the two available expansions - one with Big Settlers and new tiles and one with Builders & Traders. The average rating for the durability is a result of the cardboard tiles. If you play a game enough times you'll likely wear out anything made of cardboard over time. |
a really fun, easy game
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| Review Date: July 4, 2003 |
| Reviewer: , |
| i first played this game a few months ago. 10 minutes into the game, i was hooked! the concept is simple -- earn points by completing cities, roads, and cloisters, and deploying farmers. figuring out the best tile placement is tricky, but fun. the competition is fun, but not too intense. even my 10-year old daughter plays this, and likes it. if we want a "quick" game, we leave out the "farmer" aspect -- makes for a quicker, easier, but still very fun game. the tiles themselves are just beautiful -- the artwork is gorgeous. the player pieces are great -- wooden man figures that are a nice size -- substantial, and the fact that they are person-shaped and not just a block square, adds to the fun. i'd play this game several times a day if i could-- it really is that much fun. :) |
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