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Carcassonne | 
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| Brand: Rio Grande Games
Category: Toy
Buy New: £11.10
New (13) from £11.10
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 55
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 2.8 x 7.5
MPN: 4098395
Model: 4098395
UPC: 655132001700
EAN: 0655132001700
ASIN: B00005UNAX
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new goods! We have a huge selection of games at Infinity Games UK
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Product Description
A clever tile laying game. The southern French city of Carcassonne is famous for its unique Roman and Medieval fortifications. The players develop the area around Carcassonne and deploy their followers on the roads, in the cities, in the cloisters, and in the fields. The skill of the players to develop the area will determine who is victorious.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
One of the most enjoyable games I have ever played. March 25, 2008
T. Lewcock (England, UK)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I've been playing this game now for several years, since it first came out. The game won the German Game Of The Year award, in 2001. I should point out at this point that German board games are considered to be some of the best in the world, as such this is a very high accolade, which the game very much deserves.
I believe that there are two main reasons why this game is so deserving of its Game Of The Year Award: The first of these being that the basic rules of the game are very easy to learn. The second is that despite being easy to learn the rules, mastering the game will take a bit longer, and the randomness prevents a single tactic from becoming a guaranteed win, thus maintaining a more level playing field for games consisting of both experienced and inexperienced players.
Despite being similar, every game that I have played has had a different feel to it. This, I expect, is due to the random nature of the drawing of the tiles. This randomness does not, however, impart a feeling of lack of control; each tile drawn generally has multiple options where it may be placed, a decision that rests firmly with the player.
The choice of location is part of the educational aspect of the game, that of strategy. The player must weigh up the pro's and con's of short-term or long-term gain. This requires a level of mathematical calculation, and needs to be coupled with an element of risk-taking (gambling on the tile(s) needed both being available in the future and actually being the choice of that player). Even then, it may be necessary for a player to recalculate where they wish to play the tile if it does come to them; the situation may have changed through the tactics used by the other players.
Having owned the game for a good half-dozen years, and having used it often I can say that the tiles are wearing well. Despite being made of card the tiles are proving to be quite resilient, even though my tiles are regularly jumbled up in the bag which came with the second expansion. The only word of caution that I feel it is necessary to give is that although the bag is exceedingly useful for running the game it does start to get a bit full with all of the expansion tiles!
There are many expansions available for this game. The rules for each of them are relatively simple, although they will add a great deal to think about. A word of caution here, some some confusion could result the first time all of the expansions are used together. This is because there are increasing options available to a player once they take and place a tile, and the Dragon Flies tiles actually interrupt the game play; so the players have to remember where to carry on from.
If you like the game but think that it is over too quickly or does not provide sufficient tactical thought, then the way ahead is definitely to get one or more of the expansions. Each expansion will add about 30-45 minutes of time to the overall time required to play the game. Playing with the first four expansions, two copies of the Rivers II expansion, the Count of Carcasssonne, and two copies of the King and Bandit results in games that can take up to five hours to play.
One final comment, the game play changes depending on the number of players. This is not a critism, a two-player game is just as enjoyable as a six player game, it is just a different experience; this actually makes the game more appealing, because if you play it with a different number of players each time you have more variety. That said, there would be nothing wrong with playing the game with the same two people every time. Note, you must have the first expansion to be able to play a six-player game.
One Of The Most Relaxing Games I've Seen For The XBox Live Arcade March 22, 2008
Mrs. Dawnc Alexandre (Jersey (CI))
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Please note that I am reviewing the XBox Live Arcade Version of Carcassone for the XBox 360!
In November 2007 XBox Live celebrated it's 5th Anniversary since it's debut in 2002, and as a treat anyone who owned a XBox 360 and XBox Live was allowed to download and play Carcassone free of charge for a short period of time. So I thought, I take this offer and download and play the game. You can't complain at free-bee's these days can you?
At first I didn't have much interest in Carcassone cause I found it a little tough, but after I played it a couple of times, getting used to it was a piece of cake and normally you toughen yourself up and get yourself prepared for a game, but with Carcassone it was a game where I can sit back, relax and just take my time!
Carcasonne is a board game in which your goal is to use tiles to build cities, roads, and farms. The players take turns to place the tiles they get given and then using special coloured stars, you can claim certain parts of the land. If you successfully claim a certain piece of land or a piece of ground to build a castle you earn points. These points are then counted. Obviously, the person with the highest points is the winner. In total a game can take a total of 72 Tiles but you can have 2, 3 or 4 players!
The XBox 360 Arcade Version of the game has no difference whatsoever. It follows the same rules as the board game but also contains a Leader-Board score chart, which places your score worldwide once you obtain Game Over and 12 Achievements which give you a total score of 200 Points with Online Play as well!
My Personal Game Score: 9.2/10: Beauty-Baby-Bonza
My Wish: Sometimes when your playing online, you may have to wait a while before you can proceed with your turn, so I do wish that online play was slightly more quicker than it is!
Final Comments: Overall, Carcassone is a fairly quiet, relaxing, and easy game which you can put your teeth into no time. The achivements are fairly easy to get, but be warned that you could get addicted to this game!
Review By Captain Chris Kipper
 Showing that family boardgames need not be random March 11, 2008
M. Green
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a fantastic game, truly a classic. I can play this with my family and have an hourof fun building roads, completing cities and watching a landscape unfold. I can also play it with more serious game playing adults and its a tense game of strategic tile manipulation to sabotage cities and steal points from other players' fields.
Wonderful to play, easy to explain and customisable to your taste with the array of availabe expansion sets. This is perhaps it's only weakness: it almost needs expansions after a while to keep it lively. Playing with people who can memorise the tile manifest is deeply, deeply, painful. The expansions keep the game fresh.
A great board game for adults and children. December 30, 2007
Andy1001 (Hampshire, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A simple map building board game that has turned out to be a good favourite of our kids aged 12 and 14. The scoring can become a little complex at times, but the simple basis of picking terrain cards and placing them to gain most points is an easy and always different game each time. We have not yet delved into the expansion packs, but expect that these will add additional spice to the possible game strategies and permatations. Highly recommended for young and teenage familys.
Top Notch November 22, 2007
Mr. Barnaby Alsop
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the best board games (if we can call it that- it's more of a funky jig-saw puzzle!) that you can find. Tactical and played out completely differently every single time, Carcassonne is definately worth the cash - as are the add-ons for this great game!
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