Carcassonne Big Box cover
2006

Carcassonne Big Box

by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede

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Players2–6
Time35–45m
ComplexityMedium-Light
Age7+

About the game

What is Carcassonne Big Box?

Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which the players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, etcetera. Having placed a tile, the player can then decide to place one of his meeples on one of the areas on it: on the city as a knight, on the road as a robber, on a cloister as a monk, or on the grass as a farmer. When that area is complete, that meeple scores points for its owner. During a game of Carcassonne, players are faced with decisions like: "Is it really worth putting my last meeple there?" or "Should I use this tile to expand my city, or should I place it near my opponent instead, giving him a hard time to complete his project and score points?" Since players place only one tile and have the option to place one meeple on it, turns proceed quickly even if it is a game full of options and possibilities. This big box includes the basic game, Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders, Princess & Dragon and The Tower. The English version also has The River.

How it plays

Mechanics

Area Majority / InfluenceTile Placement

On the shelf

Categories

City BuildingMedieval

Questions players ask

Questions to bring to BoardGameBrain

  • How do setup and the first turn work in Carcassonne Big Box?
  • When does scoring happen and what ends the game?
  • How should the table resolve an unusual timing or rules interaction?