How to Play Carcassonne: The Gold Mines

Game Objective

The objective of the game is to collect as many gold ingots as possible. Although the value of gold is only known at the end of the game, the more gold a player collects, the more points it will be worth. Players are trying to obtain this precious metal, which drives everyone to madness.

Preparation (Setup)

1. The 16 wooden gold ingots and the 8 tiles with a gold ingot (identified with a symbol) are expansion components.
2. The new tiles are mixed with those from the base game.
3. Keep the gold ingots nearby.

Game Flow

The basic Carcassonne rules remain unchanged. With the The Gold Mines mini-expansion, the turn sequence is as follows:

1. Place a tile with a gold ingot (if applicable).
2. Place 2 gold ingots (if the placed tile has a gold ingot).
3. Place a follower or not.
4. Score completed features.
5. Distribute gold ingots.

Actions and How to Play

Whenever a player draws a tile with a gold ingot, they place it as usual. Then, they place a gold ingot on that tile and on an adjacent tile (even diagonally). Thus, a player will always place 2 gold ingots after placing a tile with an ingot. An ingot can be placed on a tile where one or more ingots already exist. A gold ingot counts for each feature on the tile; it is not assigned to a specific feature.

After placing the 2 gold ingots, the player can place a follower as usual.

When a feature is completed, the gold ingots on the tiles forming the completed feature are taken by the player. The player with the most followers takes all the gold ingots from the tiles forming the completed feature. This means all the tiles through which the road passes or those used to build the city. For monasteries, count the tile with the monastery and the 8 adjacent tiles that complete it.

If more than one player has the majority in a completed feature, or if multiple features with gold ingots are completed at the same time, the gold ingots are distributed as follows:

• Starting with the active player and followed by the other players in turn order, each player who can receive gold ingots takes one ingot.
• Proceed accordingly until all gold ingots have been distributed among the players.

Players' gold ingots are never hidden. At the end of the game, any gold ingots still on a tile are removed from the game. Farmers do not receive gold ingots.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends and scoring is calculated after the final scoring. Players score depending on the number of gold ingots they collected during the game. In short, the more gold a player has collected, the more points their gold will be worth. The scoring table is as follows:

• 1 – 3 gold ingots: 1 point per ingot.
• 4 – 6 gold ingots: 2 points per ingot.
• 7 – 9 gold ingots: 3 points per ingot.
• 10+ gold ingots: 4 points per ingot.

Tips for Winning

Refer to the manual for details on this section.