Carcassonne

A Great Game Unheard of

Carcassonne is a great game that is out for the Xbox right now. If you have never heard of it I totally understand. Until my friend showed me it, I had never heard of such a game. At first it is a little difficult to get used to, but after you know how the game works it is amazing!

Carcassonne is a strategy type game. It is apparently a really old-school board game that is played in Europe. At least that's what my friend has told me. Anyways, the game is straight forward. The point to the game is to play with little square pieces of land that you and your opponents take turns putting down on a board. The goal is to earn the most points based on what pieces you get, where you place them on the board, and what areas of land you own.

There are a few different types of properties or territories that you can own on the potential pieces. One property that is on almost every piece is the farm land. It is any empty plot of grass that is on your piece and any plot of grass that touches your grass area. You earn points with this territory by having a lot of farmland connected and touching other types of property, such as cities. The second type of property is a city. It looks like dirt when the city is incomplete, but it eventually creates a small village looking thing once the property is bounded. You score points when your city is very large, It must be completed when all edges (indicated with a boarder) are connected. A third territory that is on the pieces is the roads. The roads you own add up as they are connected to other pieces. The roads end with little bush/forest markers. The last and most rare type of property is the monastery. It is the best territory to own because after 8 pieces surround the monastery you get a a butt load of points, the most the game offers. But they don't come up that much, so use them wisely.

On your turn, you will have options of where the piece you are given can be added to the board. The pieces must be fit in a certain fashion, so you can't just add anywhere. You have to pay attention how you play the pieces because you may restriction future placements that you desire. Some of these invalid moves are connecting road pieces to a non road, a city piece with no boarder to one with a boarder, etc.

You try and find ways to better yourself or even screw over the other opponents when it comes around to your turn. Sometimes you get a piece that you can't use to your advantage, so you can use it to cut off opponents territories or prevent them from playing a piece of their choice to help themselves.

The game ends when you run out of pieces to lay down on the board. After adding up the points, the one with the most wins. Again is very simple and easy to learn. But the game gets very addicting and competitive the more you play it. If you ever come across the game, don't let it out of your sights. You won't be disappointed with Carcassonne.

Sources: GameSpot