Intro/First Impressions

This was one of the first games we bought, and it played completely different than any others we had played before, so we thought it was amazing. It was a simple game to learn and very quick to get started playing. The options you had each turn were huge, allowing for a quick realization that this game would have high replayability.

It was also my introduction/meeting of the Meeples for the first time. They don’t say much, but with practice you can teach them to stand on their heads or even build Meeple pyramids!

Thoughts

As mentioned, this game was the second one we bought (Kaitlyn and I). We bought it with Dominion, but played it before Dominion (which I ended up liking more, review coming soon). We had played a couple of other strategy board games before, but this one was totally different. If you aren’t familiar with the rules, it involves flipping over tiles one at a time (once per turn), and then placing them where they fit on an expanding/growing board. We had never played a game where you flip a tile and then somewhat react/place it right then. There was a lot less planning and a lot more crossing your fingers and hoping for good luck.

We played it as a 2 player game the first time we tried it, which was a good starting point. I found that as you add more players, it takes more time to get back to you as expected… However, because there is no planning required, you more or less just sit and wait doing nothing. This can get boring, and can be really frustrating if you play with people who take a long time to make decisions. On that same note, if you are someone with attention span problems, you may find yourself wandering off and looking for some chips to eat.

A bit of a solution we found when you are waiting for your turn is to help one another find places that they can play their tile. In fact the first few times we played (and a great way to play with children) is to help each other out… maybe sneakily trying to help yourself out too.

Almost every time while playing Carcassonne, you will find that you are left with Meeples still on the board as the game finishes. This ending makes for one thing I like and one thing I dislike. The thing that I like is that you don’t know who is going to win because the points still count as if you finished what you were going for (only half for castles), so it’s nice to be surprised/have suspense at the end of the game.

The dislike about the way the game ends is that there is no incentive to finish your goals (eg. completing a road). You can throw your Meeples down however you want and still get the points. In my opinion an alternative game play for Carcassonne would be to make any incomplete goals worth no points, or better yet worth negative points so that you still don’t know who is going to win when you run out of tiles at the end of the game.

As mentioned, this was one of the first games we bought, not know much about games at the time I took the recommendation for a game we could replay lots. This game does have that. It would be nearly impossible to build the same French countryside twice. While this is something I like about the game and my technical replayability score is high; however, I don’t itch to play this game more than once in a row.

This game does have another positive to it. It comes with a couple mini-game expansions with it. They add different aspects to the game to further change the game play every time you try it. That adds to the value vs cost of the game.

Conclusion

I did enjoy this game a lot when we first got it. It was different, simple, and fun. However, after playing some other games with more strategy, this game quickly moved down on my list of favourites to play. If you want a good starter or a less intense game this is great. Maybe you are looking for a game you can play with your kids, well this one is a good choice for that too. If, however, you are looking for something that really makes you think and/or plan ahead you might need to find something else.