A clever tile laying game where players develop the area around Carcassonne by placing their followers on the farms, cities, roads and cloisters found on the tiles.

• Players: 2-5
• Play Time: 60 mins
• Ages: 8+

The players develop the area around Carcassonne by drawing and playing tiles – with each new tile having to match the landscape features on those it is played next to (roads connecting, cities joining up, and so on). With each new tile placed, a player has the option of placing one of their limited number of followers on a given feature of the tile – becoming a Knight if placed in a city, a Highway Robber on a road, a Monk in a Cloister and a humble Farmer in a field. These followers then scores points and returns to the player once the area is 'finished' (closed off by tiles), except for the Farmers who remain in their fields and are only scored at the end. The player who best balances placing followers on new areas, expanding areas their followers are in (to score more points), and finishing areas so they get their followers back, will be victorious. Simple to learn but rewards both luck and forward thinking, Carcassonne was awarded the Spiel des Jahres prize (German family game of the year) in 2001.