Based on the traditional German board game of the same name, the turn-based strategy game Carcassonne may support anywhere from two to five players. The players construct a landscape of cities, roads, farms, and monasteries by playing individual terrain tiles one at a time. Participants battle against one another to win control of the features they construct using a limited number of follower pieces. The procedure of deciding where to play the tiles and whether or not to use a follower at a given time is deceptively straightforward; nevertheless, the game’s challenge lies in determining when and where to use the followers to accumulate the most points.
Because the land tiles in each game are chosen randomly, the game can be played unlimited times. Knowing which tiles are still available in the “deck” is analogous to counting cards in the blackjack game; an intelligent player will always come out on top against the random element of the game. Therefore, games played between two people one-on-one differ significantly from those played between four and five people.
In around 15 minutes, the game may be played with four people using the same console on the same television, and it can also be played with five people using Xbox Live. In addition to the main game, it comes with “The River” expansion already pre-installed by default. Before each game, it constructs a river out of 12 more tiles, dividing the land into two halves.
