Board game guide
Carcassonne
Build the map. Claim the right places.
Carcassonne grows one tile at a time. Roads, cities, monasteries and fields become a shared landscape, while every limited meeple asks whether points now are worth fewer options later.
- Players
- 2–5
- Time
- 30–45 min
- Experience
- Beginner-friendly
- Track
- Final points
How to play
Give the table a clear rhythm.
Use this as a quick first-game guide, then keep the official rules close for edge cases and exact details.
Draw one land tile
Take the top face-down tile and show it to the table. The start tile remains at the centre of the growing map.
Connect the landscape
Place the tile beside at least one existing tile. Every touching edge must match: city to city, road to road and field to field.
Choose whether to place a meeple
You may place one meeple from your supply on an unclaimed city, road, monastery or field shown on the tile you just placed.
Score completed features
After placement, score any completed road, city or monastery. Return those meeples to their owners so they can be used again.
Finish and score the map
When the final tile is placed, score incomplete features and fields. The player with the most points wins.
Before the first turn
Set up for a smooth start.
- Place the start tile in the centre and shuffle the remaining land tiles face down.
- Give each player seven meeples and place their eighth meeple on the scoreboard.
- Leave enough open table space for the landscape to grow in every direction.
- Use the base-game rules only for a first session; add River and Abbot later.
Make it a season
Let every map reshape the season.
Save each final score and placement. Because the map changes every game, a short series quickly reveals who adapts best when tiles and opportunities arrive differently.
Create your season- Result
- Final score + placement
- Season points
- 5 / 3 / 2 / 1
- Format
- Four-game series
- Tiebreak
- Highest single score