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A clever tile-laying game by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede
for 2 to 5 players aged 7 and up
Carcassonne, the world-famous French city, known for its imposing fortifications erected during the Antiquity
and the Middle Ages. This fortress, surrounded by magnificent walls, still stands today as one of the most
unique French cities. In this game, players must develop the area around Carcassonne. They will place their
followers onto roads and into cities, monasteries, and fields. Only those who make the most judicious
placements will gain the points required to win the game.
COMPONENTS AND SETUP
Welcome to the Carcassonne universe! This rule book was conceived to allow you to learn to play the game as fast
as possible. After reading it, you will be able to explain and play the game. You are going to take your first step into
the universe of the modern classic that is Carcassonne.
To begin, we need to set up the game, something that only takes a few brief moments. We will also take this
opportunity to present the components:
Finally, we have the meeples. You will find in the box 40 regular
meeples, including 8 meeples in each of these colors:
yellow, red,
green
, blue, and black. In addition, there are also 5 abbots, including
1 in each of the same colors.
Start by distributing 7 meeples of the color of their choice to each
player (don’t forget to give yourself some as well). These meeples
constitute each player’s personal supply.
Then, each of you takes the remaining meeple in their color and sets it
on space 0 of the scoreboard. Return to the box any unused meeples
and, for your first game, the abbots.
Determine a first player (for example, the youngest).
Then comes the scoreboard, which you set to the side of your playing surface (table, floor, etc.).
Meeples
Abbots
Twelve (12) of these tiles show a river.
These are explained in the supplementary
rules. Other graphical elements such as
houses, people, or animals have no impact
on the game.
Every tile shares the same back, with the exception of the
start tile and the twelve River tiles. The back of those
tiles is darker, making them easy to set them aside.
Dark backRegular back
The first and most important pieces of
Carcassonne are the Land tiles: there are 84 tiles
which depict roads, cities, and monasteries, all
of which are generally surrounded by fields.
Tile showing
a city
Tile showing
a road
Tile showing
a monastery
Place the start tile (the one with a dark
back) in the middle of the table. Shuffle
the remaining tiles and set them as
different facedown stacks that are easily
accessible to all players.
A couple of facedown stacks
Start tile
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GAMEPLAY
OVERVIEW AND GOAL OF THE GAME
A game of Carcassonne is played in clockwise order. Starting with the first player, the current player does the
following actions in the order listed below, after which it is the next player’s turn, and so on and so forth.
First, we’ll give you a brief description of the actions you have to do during one of your turns. These actions will be
detailed as we present the roads, the cities, and finally the monasteries. So what are these actions?
Before diving into the explanation of this game, you should know what the goal is in Carcassonne.
One after the other, players will place tiles. This is how, one tile at a time, a landscape of roads, cities, monasteries,
and fields will be created and expanded. You may place your meeples on these tiles, where they will become
highwaymen, knights, monks, and farmers and hopefully allow you to score as many points as possible. Points are
not only earned during the game, but also at the very end. After the final scoring the player with the highest score
is proclaimed the winner. And now, we are ready to begin!
Placing a meeple:
The player may place a meeple
from her supply onto the tile
she has just placed.
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The roads
Placing a tile:
The player must draw exactly
1 Land tile from a stack
and place it faceup
to continue the
landscape.
1
Scoring a feature:
The player must score
any feature completed
by her tile placement.
3
You draw the depicted tile with three road segments
starting from a village. You must place it in such a way that
it continues the existing landscape (the tiles already in play).
1. Placing a tile
You place the tile here. The road
and fields continue the existing
landscape. Excellent!
After placing the tile, you may place a meeple
as a highwayman on one of that tile’s road
segments, but only if the road is unoccupied by
another highwayman.
In our example, since the road is not yet completed,
no scoring occurs (see action 3) and play moves on
to the next player.
The other player draws a tile that he places to continue
the landscape. He may not place a meeple on the road
to the right since your highwayman is already present
on that road. Instead, he chooses to place his meeple
as a knight in the city segment of that tile.
2. Placing a meeple as a highwayman
You use your meeple as a
highwayman on this road.
This is possible because no
other meeple is present on it.
Since the road to the right is occupied, the blue player decides
to put his meeple in the city.
When both ends of a road are closed, that road is completed and
scored. The end of a road is closed when it meets a village, a city, a
monastery, or it loops onto itself by meeting the other end.
So let’s see if there is a scoring here... Huzzah! There is one because
both ends of the road are closed.
Even though it is your opponent that placed the tile, this still completes
your road. How many points do you score? When scoring a road, each tile of that road grants you 1 point. Here, since
you scored a road that is made out of 3 tiles, you score 3 points. Well done!
3. Scoring a road
1 2 3
4
That’s it! We’ve already seen the most important parts of the game. Now, we will further expand on those actions
by showing you how they apply to the other features, namely the cities and the monasteries:
The cities
The monasteries
It is now time to note your score. You
keep track of your score with the meeple
you placed on the scoreboard before
starting the game. Continuing our
example, you move it forward 3 spaces to
show that you’ve scored 3 points. Note: if
your score passes 50 points, lay down your
scoring meeple to show your 50+ points.
After each scoring, return to your
supply the meeple that was just scored.
You return to your supply the highwayman
that earned you 3 points.
The blue meeple stays in place since it was
not part of a scored feature.
As usual, you
draw a tile that
you use to
continue the
landscape. Of
course, the illustration
must be continued as well. For
example, a city segment must be
connected to an open city.
1. Placing a tile
Then, you see if there is
already a meeple as a knight
in the city. Here, there isn’t,
so you can place one
of your meeples
as a knight in
this city.
2. Placing a meeple as a knight
You placed this tile and
it expands the city by
one tile. Since the city is
unoccupied, you place a
meeple there.
Let’s continue our example and assume that a few turns have passed. You now
draw this tile that you place to continue your city. Since the tile you’ve placed
completes a feature (here, the city), it must now be scored. A city is completed
when it is surrounded by walls and there are no gaps inside the city.
Since you have a meeple in the completed city, you are the player
to score it.
Each tile in a completed city is worth 2 points.
In addition, each coat of arms is worth 2 more points.
For this city, you score 8 points! As usual, the meeple that was in the
scored feature returns to your supply.
3. Scoring a city
2 4
8
6
Once more, you draw
a tile to continue
the landscape.
Monasteries are
always depicted in
the center of a tile. When placing
such a tile, you must, as usual, make
sure that it continues the illustration.
1. Placing a tile
You can place
a meeple on a
monastery as a
monk. Of course, that
meeple must come
from your supply.
2. Placing a meeple as a monk
A monastery is always in the middle of a
tile. You may place this tile here because the
monastery on it is surrounded by fields.
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Summary
Many meeples in the same feature
And voilà! We have already seen most of the rules for Carcassonne. There are only a few points left to see, but first,
here is a summary of what we’ve seen so far:
A monastery is completed when it is surrounded by tiles. During scoring,
the monastery is worth 1 point per tile that completes it (including the
monastery itself).
Perfect! By placing this tile, you complete your monastery. It earns
you 9 points and allows you to take your meeple back.
3. Scoring a monastery
You must place your drawn tile in such a way that it continues the landscape and the illustration.
In some very rare cases, it may be impossible to place the tile. In those cases, simply return the tile to the box
and draw a new one.
1. Placing a tile
1
8
7
2
9
6
3
4
5
You may place a meeple on the tile you’ve just placed.
You may not place a meeple in a feature where there already is at least one other meeple.
2. Placing a meeple
A road is completed when both ends lead to a village, a city, a monastery, or the road forms a loop.
Each tile in a completed road is worth 1 point.
A city is completed when it is surrounded by walls and there are no holes inside the city. Each tile in the
completed city is worth 2 points. Each coat of arms in the completed city is worth an extra 2 points.
A monastery is completed when it is surrounded by 8 tiles. Each of the monastery’s tiles (the 8 surrounding
tiles and the one with the monastery itself) is worth 1 point.
Scoring always occurs at the end of a player’s turn. At that moment, each player with a meeple in a scored
feature earns points.
After each scoring, return to your supply the scored meeples.
If there are multiple meeples in a single scored feature, the player with the most meeples is awarded full points and
all other players receive nothing. When more than one player have the most meeples in a scored feature, the tied
players all score full points.
(Note: How can there be more than one meeple in the same feature? More on that right below...)
3. Scoring a feature
The tile you’ve just drawn could
continue the road. However, there
already is a highwayman on that
road, which means that you may
not place yours. You decide to
place your tile, and
a highwayman,
so that it is not
connected.
During a following turn, you
draw this tile and decide to
continue the road with it. Both
roads, each with a highwayman,
are now connected. Since this
completes the road, it is now
scored and both you and the other
player score 4 points. Then, you
both take your meeple back.
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GAME END AND FINAL SCORING
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and the same goes for a game of Carcassonne. You may wish that it were
otherwise, but there must be a winner! Thus, the game ends immediately after the turn of the player who placed the
last tile. Then, players proceed to a final scoring, after which the winner will be known to all!
Once the game is over, all meeples still in play are scored:
Each incomplete road is worth 1 point per tile, just like during the game.
Each incomplete city is worth 1 point per tile and 1 point per coat of arms, which is only half the points
.
Each incomplete monastery is worth 1 point plus 1 point per adjacent tile, just like during the game.
Each field is worth 3 points per adjacent completed city.
This is how farmers are scored, which is only shown here to present all the aspect of the final scoring. Farmers are
presented in the supplementary rules. We recommend playing a few games before introducing farmers and fields.
Once the final score is known, the winner is the player with the most points. Congratulations on winning your first
game of Carcassonne!
After a few games, start playing with the fields and the farmers in order to increase your strategic possibilities.
Farmers and fields are but the first step into this brave new world of Carcassonne.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank you for playing Carcassonne and we hope that you will find
many hours of enjoyment with this game. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at the address
listed below.
Designer: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede
Illustrator - tiles:
Anne Pätzke
Illustrator - cover: Chris Quilliams
Graphic design: Christof Tisch and Andreas Resch
English text: Jean-François Gagné
Special thanks to Michael Young for that very
important last-tile placement.
Z-Man Games
1995 West County Road B2
Roseville MN 55113
USA
(651)-639-1905
info@zmangames.com
www.zmangames.com
Final scoring - road: Red scores 3 points for this incomplete roads
(3 tiles).
Final scoring - city:
Blue scores 3 points for this
incomplete city (2 tiles and
1 coat of arms).
Final scoring - city:
Green is the only one to
score 8 points (5 tiles and
3 coat of arms). Black does
not score any points since
Green has the most meeples
in this city.
Final scoring - monastery:
Yellow scores 4 points for this
incomplete monastery (3 points
for the adjacent tiles and 1 point
for the monastery itself).
You wish to take control
of the city away from
yellow and place your
tile as pictured with
a knight on it. You
are allowed to place a
knight there because
the city segment is not
connected to another
city segment with a knight on it. If you succeed in linking
your two city segments, your two knights will allow you to
take the city from
yellow.
Lucky you! That
is exactly the tile
you needed to
connect the city
segments. Since
you now have the
most knights in
the city, only you
get to score the
10 points awarded for completing that city. Then, both
you and the other player take back your meeples.
© 2001, 2016 Hans im Glück Verlags-GmbH. © 2016 Z-Man Games, all rights reserved. Z-Man Games, and the Z-Man logo
are TM of Z-Man Games. Z-Man Games is a division of Asmodee North America, Inc. Actual components may vary from
those shown. Warning! Choking Hazard. Not suitable for children under 36 months. Contains small parts that could be
swallowed or inhaled. Content subject to change without notice. Please keep this information for further reference.
Made in Germany.
