Best instructional video I've found on this game. I just got the Big Box 3, but never actually played the game before. I purchased it because of all the hype, but when I tried to teach myself, I was a little intimidated (I'm a slow learner). With your review, however, I was able to play a game, understand everything, and now I can't wait to play again! Thanks!
Best Carcassonne guide ever! I had tried to start playing Carcassonne three times on my iPad last year until I found that tutorial. I understood the idea using the built-in tutorial, but just could not figure "the big picture", why the game was such a fun to play. Then I watched both parts of this review, played a couple of times and realized how great Carcassonne is. Now I am a big fan :) Thanks a lot, I wish there were more people like you making really excellent video tutorials.
Just purchased this game after playing it with family and friends over the years. This video helps tremendously when trying to explain the game. Thank you.
This was an excellent tutorial. After trying to decipher the manual with the game for 15 minutes, I watched parts 1 and 2 of this video instead and walked away with a working knowledge of how this game works. Thank you very much indeed!
Thank you so much for this instructional video. I have been emailing my husband overseas to consider our purchase of this game, and directing him to view your video is an excellent way to introduce Carcassonne rather than rely on my own attempts to describe it.
Very enjoyable to watch and learn. You have taken the time to prepick your tiles to show your examples! So frustrating to watch people bumble around to try and show you what they mean.This was well done and needs to be expressed! Thank you for your professional job!
A+ Explanation. I had a hard time understanding the original game directions, so my wife and I found this video and it really helped in showing HOW TO play the game. Thank you very much. Just from this video, we now love to play the game
This is a great tutorial on playing. Before I have friends come over to play for the first time I tell them to watch these 2 videos. This gives us much more playing time and a lot less time on explaining the game.
My kids just got the game and your tutorial really helped me to explain to them how to play. I encourage you to continu to make other tutorial on other games. If by chance you have some time ahead. Catane (basic game) would be a great choice since it is very strategic game and your way to explain is perfect to understaind the rules. THANKS!
GREAT great great great work man. I have only been through 10 mins of this video and I have decided to order the game from amazon. I am usualy so bad at reading game tutorial but this video makes it soooo easy. you should be a teacher. every aspect about your video is perfect to simply make me understand carcassone
Thanks for this great tutorial. You have a calm and thoughtful approach which has helped me tremendously in starting to explain the game to my grandson. Much appreciated.
What a beautifully done and patiently explained tutorial! Thank you so much! I have been fascinated by this game after hearing about the iPad version if the game, but wasn't sure if I would understand it. This is a great video! Thanks!!
Thanks for such a clear tutorial, the boyfriend and I just played this last night for the first time (bought it 6 years ago lol), and it was a blast! Keep up the great work!
Thank you for this. I watched a celebrity "How To" play Carcassonne, and it annoyed the crap out of me - too much banter and carry on, and I didn't learn a thing. This presentation is excellent - laid-back, and informative. Cheers.
Thank you for the great and very understandable explanation. You are very systematic and you speak clear and simple, that is very suitable for those like me, that are not familiar with English. Nice work! And it stands on the first place when you google Carcassonne gameplay.
This video is excellent, thank you for making it! My friends are getting me into this game, and I understood most of it, but your tutorial helped to solidify the concepts for me. By the way, it's a fantastic game and I would recommend it to anyone interested and on the fence!
The river tiles are supposed to replace the starter tile. They are placed, one at a time, by each player, making sure that the river does not curve back on itself. It is just an alternate way of starting the game.
Thanks for the kind words. I've only played Catan a handful of times, and, though clearly a well-designed, much-beloved game, I am not a big fan of the trading mechanic (i.e. I am bad at it and get fleeced!). So I haven't played it much. I'd love to do a Race for the Galaxy tutorial sometime, though. Cheers.
@Darumender This is a difference between 1st edition and 3rd edition rules. Current rules are 2 points per tile for all cities, including a 2-tile city. See page 3 in the pdf instructions available at Rio Grande Games website (link in description).
@thescreamingcube Every turn you get to place a follower if you have one available in your pool. The turn order is one person at a time in (typically) clockwise order. You can't place anything until your turn comes around again.
Whenever I play Carcassonne with someone new, I just have them watch this video. Neither the instructions or my own explanation can illustrate the game better than you in as short a period of time. My only wish is that you could combine the two parts into one.
I'm new with Carcasonne and this is a Great Tutorial! Thanks! Also, at 7:00, isn't supposed to be a total of 5 points because the top right tile has 2 small roads (you count it as a 1 point)?
You might have the "River" expansion (version I or II) alongside the main game. With The River each player takes turns placing these 12 tiles first. Only thing I can think of.
Hi and thanks for your great video. I d like to ask you pls if the expansions of the game can be played all together with the main game or you must play each expansion separately with the main game. Thank you.
upon closer inspection I notice that you only have 7 meeples for blue, so using the track board deprives blue of a meeple that they need for the main game.
Supplementary question: If you place a follower on a completed road/city and get it back, can't your opponents and yourself just keep putting them in the road/city and score points in the same place turn after turn?
Hi Bob! Thanks for the wonderful tutorial. I looked through the comments to try to find my answer, but did not see this question asked. Is it a requirement to place a follower on a tile if you have them available or can you opt to not play a follower on a tile just played?
+Andrew Courtney No extra points, but placing Meeples and then completing the features they are on are the only way to get points during the game. At the end, if you have any Meeples on uncompleted features you will get some points for them. This is why you never want to end the game with any unused Meeples if you can help it. Maybe those end-game points are the "extra" points you are referring to?
Ok. I have more complicated/complex question. if you have a farmer on one tile and a shepherd on another tile, and the dragon eats your farmer......do you also have to remove your shephard? I though maybe you do because you can only have shephard if you already have farm.
This is an excellent how-to-play video. But why don't you call them "Meeples"? I've never thought of the pieces as "units" or "followers"....every gaming fan understands the term "Meeple"!
Actually when you close a basic city of only 2 tiles (the simplest one) you only score 2 points for it, you said 4. I have the actual board game and it does specify that exception in the "2 points per tile" rule explicitly.
Newer editions (the last 5+ years?) of the game have the updated, 4-point rule. This came up in these comments awhile ago. The iOS version also follows this updated rule. Maybe they wanted to make it uniform to avoid confusion.
Bob Mills That's weird because mine says 2013 on the case and yet the instructions must be the old ones. But thanks a lot for clarifying this to me. I also have the game on Android and it lets you choose that rule and I didn't know why, now it makes sense. I have another doubt, is the central tile of a cloister also a new rule? I'm used to count only the adjacent tiles for an unfinished cloister, like you only count the central if you finish it (9 points) but unfinished get 7 points max. (That's what my "old" rulebook says). Thanks again for replying Bob! :D
No problem. Thanks for watching and commenting. I've never heard the 7-point unfinished cloister rule--I'd make a lot more of those if that were the case! My rules say 9 for completed and 1 each for partials, including the center.
I think you didn't understand what I wrote. I meant unfinished cloisters don't count the center, meaning you get 7 points *AT MAX*. You can get from 1 to 7 points for an unfinished cloister if you follow the instruction booklet which states you get 1 point per *adjacent* tile (doesn't say anything about the center). Again, this could be old rule and the way you explain it a newer, maybe more clear, ruleset.
Understood. I got curious and pulled my instructions out. The date printed on them is 2000. For cloisters it says the player "...earns 1 point for the cloister and 1 point for each land tile surrounding it." The PDF download for rules at the publisher's website has a date stamp of 12/13/08 and says the same. The PDF is almost like mine, but interestingly they reference the "12 river tiles" which an earlier commenter said was included with their copy of the game. The bottom of page 4 of the PDF talks about River rules. See also the middle of page 3 for a 2-tile city example. PDF can be found at riograndegames.com/games.html?id=48
The best thing about this game is that you can make it yourself with some time and square pieces of paper (i suggest gridlined index cards)... you know... if 🎶you're just a poor boy🎶
Thank you! So if you complete a road, but DO NOT have a meeple set, you don't score anything for completing a road or a city? That's the one thing that still confuses me. Do you always have to place a meeple to score a point?
mrausterellis if you complete the road, and don’t have a meeple on the road, you don’t get points for the road. That same road piece might complete some other claimed feature (like a cloister or city) but those need meeples too. The only mild exception to this is when you complete un-claimed cities that may score you farmer points at the end of the game. Hope this helps!
As long as the feature isn't claimed by someone else you can put them where you want. You cannot move them, but only retrieve them once they are scored.
Today my son received this game as a birthday present and after seeing your tutorial we are willing to play it on the weekend. Thanks for sharing it!
Best instructional video I've found on this game. I just got the Big Box 3, but never actually played the game before. I purchased it because of all the hype, but when I tried to teach myself, I was a little intimidated (I'm a slow learner).
With your review, however, I was able to play a game, understand everything, and now I can't wait to play again!
Thanks!
Best Carcassonne guide ever! I had tried to start playing Carcassonne three times on my iPad last year until I found that tutorial. I understood the idea using the built-in tutorial, but just could not figure "the big picture", why the game was such a fun to play. Then I watched both parts of this review, played a couple of times and realized how great Carcassonne is. Now I am a big fan :) Thanks a lot, I wish there were more people like you making really excellent video tutorials.
Just purchased this game after playing it with family and friends over the years. This video helps tremendously when trying to explain the game. Thank you.
This was an excellent tutorial. After trying to decipher the manual with the game for 15 minutes, I watched parts 1 and 2 of this video instead and walked away with a working knowledge of how this game works. Thank you very much indeed!
Thank you so much for this instructional video. I have been emailing my husband overseas to consider our purchase of this game, and directing him to view your video is an excellent way to introduce Carcassonne rather than rely on my own attempts to describe it.
Very enjoyable to watch and learn. You have taken the time to prepick your tiles to show your examples! So frustrating to watch people bumble around to try and show you what they mean.This was well done and needs to be expressed! Thank you for your professional job!
A+ Explanation. I had a hard time understanding the original game directions, so my wife and I found this video and it really helped in showing HOW TO play the game. Thank you very much. Just from this video, we now love to play the game
This is a great tutorial on playing. Before I have friends come over to play for the first time I tell them to watch these 2 videos. This gives us much more playing time and a lot less time on explaining the game.
My kids just got the game and your tutorial really helped me to explain to them how to play. I encourage you to continu to make other tutorial on other games. If by chance you have some time ahead. Catane (basic game) would be a great choice since it is very strategic game and your way to explain is perfect to understaind the rules. THANKS!
The best tutorial video for Carcassonne on UA-cam. :)
GREAT great great great work man. I have only been through 10 mins of this video and I have decided to order the game from amazon. I am usualy so bad at reading game tutorial but this video makes it soooo easy. you should be a teacher. every aspect about your video is perfect to simply make me understand carcassone
Thanks for this great tutorial. You have a calm and thoughtful approach which has helped me tremendously in starting to explain the game to my grandson. Much appreciated.
one of the best tutorials I've seen.A great game which I hope to play more of.
What a beautifully done and patiently explained tutorial! Thank you so much!
I have been fascinated by this game after hearing about the iPad version if the game, but wasn't sure if I would understand it.
This is a great video! Thanks!!
Excellent explanation! Very clear and complete!
Thanks for such a clear tutorial, the boyfriend and I just played this last night for the first time (bought it 6 years ago lol), and it was a blast! Keep up the great work!
Good question. The score is calculated as 1 point per TILE, not by segment. This can happen with certain city pieces as well.
Thank you for this. I watched a celebrity "How To" play Carcassonne, and it annoyed the crap out of me - too much banter and carry on, and I didn't learn a thing. This presentation is excellent - laid-back, and informative. Cheers.
Thank you for the great and very understandable explanation. You are very systematic and you speak clear and simple, that is very suitable for those like me, that are not familiar with English. Nice work! And it stands on the first place when you google Carcassonne gameplay.
This video is excellent, thank you for making it! My friends are getting me into this game, and I understood most of it, but your tutorial helped to solidify the concepts for me. By the way, it's a fantastic game and I would recommend it to anyone interested and on the fence!
The river tiles are supposed to replace the starter tile. They are placed, one at a time, by each player, making sure that the river does not curve back on itself. It is just an alternate way of starting the game.
Thanks for the kind words. I've only played Catan a handful of times, and, though clearly a well-designed, much-beloved game, I am not a big fan of the trading mechanic (i.e. I am bad at it and get fleeced!). So I haven't played it much.
I'd love to do a Race for the Galaxy tutorial sometime, though. Cheers.
Brilliant video, very clear and full of examples! Great job
Great tutorial, watched some in German which can't reach out to yours! Wasn't sure wether to buy the game but you convinced me! Thanks a lot!
@mmillss It is 2 points for two tile cities, if you have 3 or more then it is 2 points per tile
Excellent tutorial, nicely put together and explained. Thanks.
@Darumender This is a difference between 1st edition and 3rd edition rules. Current rules are 2 points per tile for all cities, including a 2-tile city. See page 3 in the pdf instructions available at Rio Grande Games website (link in description).
@romevi Glad to hear it! I find that other people take to it quickly and enjoy it too. Teaching it to others can be just as fun as playing.
@thescreamingcube Every turn you get to place a follower if you have one available in your pool. The turn order is one person at a time in (typically) clockwise order. You can't place anything until your turn comes around again.
Whenever I play Carcassonne with someone new, I just have them watch this video. Neither the instructions or my own explanation can illustrate the game better than you in as short a period of time. My only wish is that you could combine the two parts into one.
Extremely helpful for a newcomer like me. Thank you very much and I'd love to see other games to!
I just got this game from my friend, but the rules were in German. Thanks to this great tutorial, im able to play it.
I'm new with Carcasonne and this is a Great Tutorial! Thanks! Also, at 7:00, isn't supposed to be a total of 5 points because the top right tile has 2 small roads (you count it as a 1 point)?
Thank you for this! Best tutorial online yet to trade! Please add the rest of the expansions as you did on cathedrals exp. Thanks for your efforts! :)
@Gonec Completed 2-tile cities are 2 points per tile, hence 4 points.
@astralis99 You can only put a follower on a tile you just placed in this turn. The old, completed feature is off limits.
You might have the "River" expansion (version I or II) alongside the main game. With The River each player takes turns placing these 12 tiles first. Only thing I can think of.
Thanks for posting this. Your video is very well made. I hope you do "how to play" videos for other board/card games too.
Well done tutorial. Really easy to follow along. Thanks
Hi and thanks for your great video. I d like to ask you pls if the expansions of the game can be played all together with the main game or you must play each expansion separately with the main game. Thank you.
Thanks for doing this, it helped a lot! Very clear and easy to follow.
upon closer inspection I notice that you only have 7 meeples for blue, so using the track board deprives blue of a meeple that they need for the main game.
Thanks for this. Other videos I saw didn't really explain how the scoring works.
Your video helped me to understand how to play the game. Thank you.
Supplementary question: If you place a follower on a completed road/city and get it back, can't your opponents and yourself just keep putting them in the road/city and score points in the same place turn after turn?
I just have a last question about Carcassone. Into the box, i also have extra tiles with a river. Should i use them just like the other tiles?
@bashira345 Only on the tile you just placed, and only if the feature isn't claimed somewhere else on the board.
Hi Bob! Thanks for the wonderful tutorial. I looked through the comments to try to find my answer, but did not see this question asked. Is it a requirement to place a follower on a tile if you have them available or can you opt to not play a follower on a tile just played?
Placing a follower is optional. Thanks for watching!
+Bob Mills from watching other videos don't you get extra points potentially for placing Meeples?
+Andrew Courtney No extra points, but placing Meeples and then completing the features they are on are the only way to get points during the game. At the end, if you have any Meeples on uncompleted features you will get some points for them. This is why you never want to end the game with any unused Meeples if you can help it. Maybe those end-game points are the "extra" points you are referring to?
Can you put down a tile that completes a city, place a follower on that tile....and then take the follower back immediately?
Ok. I have more complicated/complex question. if you have a farmer on one tile and a shepherd on another tile, and the dragon eats your farmer......do you also have to remove your shephard? I though maybe you do because you can only have shephard if you already have farm.
Amazing tutorial, no need to read the instructions after!
Yes. Just make sure you had an available follower before you placed that tile.
This is an excellent how-to-play video. But why don't you call them "Meeples"? I've never thought of the pieces as "units" or "followers"....every gaming fan understands the term "Meeple"!
+Joy Lederman it's a combination of "my" and "people"
Dont you take the river pieces first and then the roads and those
can you put a follower on a peice during or after your turn, or does putting one on count as 1 turn
Question; does the game come with multiple starting tiles? my game has 13 starting tiles and when i watched this video i was a little confused.
Actually when you close a basic city of only 2 tiles (the simplest one) you only score 2 points for it, you said 4. I have the actual board game and it does specify that exception in the "2 points per tile" rule explicitly.
Newer editions (the last 5+ years?) of the game have the updated, 4-point rule. This came up in these comments awhile ago. The iOS version also follows this updated rule. Maybe they wanted to make it uniform to avoid confusion.
Bob Mills That's weird because mine says 2013 on the case and yet the instructions must be the old ones. But thanks a lot for clarifying this to me. I also have the game on Android and it lets you choose that rule and I didn't know why, now it makes sense.
I have another doubt, is the central tile of a cloister also a new rule? I'm used to count only the adjacent tiles for an unfinished cloister, like you only count the central if you finish it (9 points) but unfinished get 7 points max. (That's what my "old" rulebook says).
Thanks again for replying Bob! :D
No problem. Thanks for watching and commenting. I've never heard the 7-point unfinished cloister rule--I'd make a lot more of those if that were the case! My rules say 9 for completed and 1 each for partials, including the center.
I think you didn't understand what I wrote. I meant unfinished cloisters don't count the center, meaning you get 7 points *AT MAX*. You can get from 1 to 7 points for an unfinished cloister if you follow the instruction booklet which states you get 1 point per *adjacent* tile (doesn't say anything about the center).
Again, this could be old rule and the way you explain it a newer, maybe more clear, ruleset.
Understood. I got curious and pulled my instructions out. The date printed on them is 2000. For cloisters it says the player "...earns 1 point for the cloister and 1 point for each land tile surrounding it." The PDF download for rules at the publisher's website has a date stamp of 12/13/08 and says the same. The PDF is almost like mine, but interestingly they reference the "12 river tiles" which an earlier commenter said was included with their copy of the game. The bottom of page 4 of the PDF talks about River rules. See also the middle of page 3 for a 2-tile city example. PDF can be found at riograndegames.com/games.html?id=48
@noHyable Glad it helped win you over to this cool game!
im not even into board games but you made it look awesome and wanna me play it. Great job :)
in that last situation, do both players get full points each or they split it and get half each?
Umm, sry for LATE reply, don't you start with the lake? Only played with my friends and we always start with the lake first.
would you kindly make a "how to play dominion" video please?
very clear and neat tutorial. Thank you !
Ah! Thanks! Just want I needed! Well done!
erm, don't farmers also get points with completed roads
?
Nope. Just the completed cities.
alrighty thanks
The best thing about this game is that you can make it yourself with some time and square pieces of paper (i suggest gridlined index cards)... you know... if 🎶you're just a poor boy🎶
Great instruction, please do one for Hunters and Gatherers
Great video! This was so helpful. Thanks!
@Escrupa I got my copy at a local game shop. You can also try funagain.com or Amazon (link in description).
Thank you! So if you complete a road, but DO NOT have a meeple set, you don't score anything for completing a road or a city? That's the one thing that still confuses me. Do you always have to place a meeple to score a point?
mrausterellis if you complete the road, and don’t have a meeple on the road, you don’t get points for the road. That same road piece might complete some other claimed feature (like a cloister or city) but those need meeples too. The only mild exception to this is when you complete un-claimed cities that may score you farmer points at the end of the game. Hope this helps!
Perfect. Thank you very much Sir.
Thanks, you did a heck af a job explaining this.
What determines the placement of the meeples ? Can you just put them wherever you want on your turn ? Can you later move them ? Thanks.
As long as the feature isn't claimed by someone else you can put them where you want. You cannot move them, but only retrieve them once they are scored.
You can only put them on the tile you just placed.
Thank you! This helped a lot.
Very nicely done!
Excellent tutorial!
Excellent tutorial.
Well done, please do the expansions :)
Awesome video! Well done!
Very Excellent Explanation!! Thanks a lot for this Video.. Help me a lot for the beginner ^^
Very useful, thanks for posting
Both players get the same number of points. There are never situations where points are split on any feature.
you're one of the videos that trigger asmr for me idk why but you do i hope u kno that lol
GREAT TUTORIAL!!
Thank you, great tutorial!
great tutorial indeed
very well explained
Great video! Thank you very much. Actually this should come with every box of Carcassonne :)
thanks great explanation
Well done!
Thanks
thank you.
well made video, but I don't think I'll get the game
I don't like this you can't steal towns, farms or roads rule. While playing IRL I don't use it but I must use it with iPad version :(
Ok, thanks ! :)
why you have two wedding rings?
cause he has two different wifes
don't get too excited guys
Helpful x. :)
Life saver XD
Vermin Supreme 2012