But first I should start from the beginning: My very first board game. I remember receiving Monopoly for my 8th birthday, opening the box, and getting excited about the play money, property deeds, and metal tokens. In a way it felt like a toy chest, but one that you had to share with others to truly enjoy. And in a way, board games like Monopoly ended up being like a shared slot machine experience, where we didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but it was fun to see it all play out.
Off and on I wanted to play Monopoly with my parents and friends, but I kept on getting rejected because no one wanted to commit - the game often took 3-4 hours while staying relatively monotonous, particularly because my parents never wanted to trade properties and were content with rolling the dice - over, and over and over again. Eventually my interest in board games faded away, especially when I got my first video game console a few years later.
Many years later as a Fordham freshman, I joined the Contemporary Science Fiction Club on campus, where I first played a board game called Settlers of Catan. In many ways it reminded me of Monopoly: Dice rolling, trading cards, and building cities. Somehow, Settlers captured the essence of Monopoly, but the game encouraged social interaction and making tough decisions, something I never experienced within Monopoly.
After my first game I did some research, and discovered Settlers of Catan was made in Germany, yet surged in popularity over the past decade. Moreover, it's been deemed a Monopoly Killer. And it was through my searches where I found boardgamegeek.com, a comprehensive database for almost every board game in existence, and a community of thousands from all over the world who enjoy the hobby. Per their recommendation, I went out to my local Barnes and Noble, and bought my first European board game: Carcassonne.
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Carcassonne is a tile-laying board game for 2-5 players. Designed by Klaus-Jurgen Wrede, another German designer, the game takes place in medieval Carcassonne, a medieval city in Southern France. A person looking at the contents for the first time may be slightly concerned to see a lack of a huge board, as the game consists of over 50 square tiles.
Players take turns building the board (you read that right) drawing these tiles and placing them next to each other on the table like a puzzle. However, there's a lot of freedom and common sense involved in how you can place tiles, and no two games will ever look the same.
When a tile is placed, a player has to decide whether or not to place one of their meeples on a tile feature. There are four different options: Cities, Roads, Cloisters, and Farms.
Cloisters and Farms have their own special rules, but for the most part the game focuses on gaining influence in the cities and roads. For example, when you've placed a meeple down on a city, the next player to add onto that city cannot put one of their own meeples down, because you already own it!
However, there are situations where players clash, and eventually end up in a situation where their two cities come together to form one big city. When this happens, they share control over the city.
Unless you can find a way to get it back...
Points are scored when features on the continually expanding board are completed. For example, once a tile has been placed completely surrounding a city with walls (see below), players take off any meeples they have in that city, and whoever has the most meeples in that city scores 2 points for every tile. In this example, the red player and yellow player each have a meeple in the city, so they would share 12 points and take their meeples back.
Roads have the same function, but they end when they run into a city or an intersection on both sides. A completed road is worth a point for each tile that's used to build it.
Note that players only have 7 meeples to start out, and meeples cannot be taken off the board until features are completed! It's important to find a balance between expanding cities and roads you already have, and starting new ones!
Cloisters and Farms have special rules. When a cloister is controlled and surrounded by 8 other tiles, the owner gets 9 points! Farmers are placed on the green fields and can never be taken off, but at the end of the game, bestow a player 3 points for all completed cities in the field.
The game ends once there are no more tiles, and players tally up points for features they failed to complete.
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MY THOUGHTS: Carcassonne holds a sentimental value in my heart as the first modern board game I ever purchased and introduced to my friends, and to this day it's still one of the best $25 purchases I ever made.
Value: No two games are the same, and a 2-player game plays just as well as the full complement of 5 players.
Portability: Carcassonne comes in a very small (11"x 8") box compared to 2'x1' Monopoly boxes, and it's not heavy at all. However, you will need a medium-sized space like a table or floor to fit all the played tiles.
Expandability: If you've played the game a lot and feel like it's getting old, expansions to the game add different kinds of tiles & meeples, while introducing alternative rules and strategies. AND each can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of base Carcassonne! See Inns and Cathedrals & Traders and Builders for two of my favorite expansions.
Durability: I've had my copy of Carcassonne for four years, and the playing tiles look and feel just as good as the day I bought them. Like any little bits, you'll want to be careful letting a baby or dog bite on the meeples, but as long as you keep the included plastic baggies you should be fine.
You can read stellar reviews for the game on Amazon, and there's even a PLAYMOBIL review! It's one of the most flexible games I've ever seen. If you've got a group of gamers around the table, the game can be incredibly competitive and cutthroat. Conversely, if you've got the family over for a game night, it could instead be a very pleasant multi-player solitaire. Either way, I like the fact that I don't feel pressured to play one way or another, and it's possible to win no matter what style you play.
In jest, I always ask people this: When was the last time you finished a game of Monopoly? I use Monopoly as a foil not because I hate the game, but because it's a relic. Though I appreciate Monopoly as a fun diversion, games like Carcassonne have taught me that board games have so much more to offer in terms of depth, while retaining the social aspect of gaming that makes us sit down at the gaming table in the first place.
Carcassonne is considered by the gaming community as a "gateway" game, meant to introduce and entice new people to the hobby. The game itself is not complex, but it's generally a fresh experience for someone unfamiliar with the hobby. I've successfully introduced the game to many of my friends and family, including some who have never played board games before! It's easy to teach, and a plus: It's a game that's language independent since the tiles have no text, so I can easily teach the game to my Spanish-speaking relatives.
You can finish a game of Carcassonne in an hour, and once you've won there's a huge sense of accomplishment because you feel like you won because of the decisions you made, not because of the die result you rolled.
I want to hear your feedback. Particularly if you're a Monopoly fan, or have memories of playing Monopoly in the past. Maybe you've heard of Settlers or Carcassonne. If not, I'd like to hear your impressions. And as always, if you're a Fordham student and would like to play the game yourself, I'd be happy to teach you in person.
I'll be back next week with another game, and hopefully a new cooking experience from my kitchen!
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