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Thematic illustration for Carcassonne
StrategyTile-Placement

Carcassonne

Place landscape tiles and claim roads, cities and monasteries with your meeples.

Players2–5 best with 2
Play time35–45 min
Complexity2/5 · Easy
Learn & set up10 min

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At the table

Build a shared landscape of roads, cities and monasteries. Your limited supply of followers makes choosing where to claim points as important as placing the next tile.

Play style
Competitive
Suggested age
7+
Time to teach
About 8 min
Time to set up
About 2 min
Player elimination
No

How it plays

Tile placementArea control

Rules at a glance

Base game. Farmers and the included mini-expansions add rules beyond this introduction.

Your goal

Score the most points from completed features during play and unfinished features in final scoring.

The flow of play

  1. Draw and place one land tile so that all touching edges match

  2. Optionally place a meeple on an unclaimed feature of the tile you just placed

  3. Score any completed roads, cities or monasteries and return their meeples

A quick introduction to the base game. Use your edition’s rulebook for full setup, card effects and exceptions.

Official rules ↗

A feel for the game

chillbeginner friendlycouplesscalable
Suggested age
7+
Interaction
Medium
Reading
None
Conflict
Light
Luck or skill
Mixed
Table space
Large
Downtime
Low

Playing times and difficulty are catalog estimates and may vary by group and edition. Consult the official rulebook for complete rules.

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Reading
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Reading
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Player elimination
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Splendor

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More game facts
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Reading
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Conflict
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Luck or skill
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Table space
Medium
Downtime
Low
Player elimination
No

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