How to Play Carcassonne: The Robbers

Game Objective

In Carcassonne: The Robbers, players continue to build the medieval landscape of Carcassonne, but now with a touch of plunder! Robbers have taken over the roads and stolen gold from travelers. The main objective is to score points as usual, but also to strategically position your robbers to steal half of other players' points when they score. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

Preparation (Setup)

1. Mix the 8 tiles with a bag (identified with a bag symbol) from this expansion with the base game tiles.
2. Each player takes the wooden robber of their color and places it in front of them.
3. Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Game Flow

The basic rules of Carcassonne remain unchanged. The game progresses in turns, where each player performs their actions. The novelty is the introduction of robbers and how they interact with scoring.

Using Robbers

Whenever a player draws a tile with a bag (symbol on the left):

1. They place the tile as usual.
2. Immediately after placing the tile, the active player may place their robber on the scoring track. The robber is placed on a space occupied by at least one marker belonging to another player.
3. Then, in turn order, each other player may place their robber on the scoring track.
4. If the active player's robber is already on the scoring track, the active player may move it.

Actions and How to Play

The basic actions of Carcassonne (drawing and placing a tile, placing a follower) remain the same. The additional action introduced by this expansion is the placement and use of robbers.

Placing Robbers

• When a player draws a tile with a bag, they may place their robber on the scoring track on a space occupied by another player's marker.
• If the player's robber is already on the scoring track, they may move it to another space occupied by another player's marker.
• Other players may also place their robbers on the scoring track in turn order, following the same rule.

"Stealing" Points

• If one or more robbers are on the same space as a marker that is scoring, the owner of the robbers scores half of those points (rounded up). They add these points to their score by moving their own marker on the scoring track.
• The owner of the "stolen" marker scores all points, as usual.
• After the theft, the player returns their robber back in front of them.
• Reminder: Each feature is scored individually and the robber "steals" points from one feature, not all points scored during a turn.

Additional Rules for Robbers

• If a player's robber is on the same space as a marker that moves because it "stole" another marker, the robber does not score any points. Instead, the robber will follow the marker to "steal" it later.
• A robber must always steal the next points that are scored (with the exception of "stolen" points). A player cannot wait for a scored feature that might be worth more points.
• If a robber is on a space occupied by more than one marker and more than one of them is scoring, the robber chooses which player they are "stealing" half the points from.
• If more than one robber is on the space of a marker that is scoring, they all score half the points.
• A robber cannot "steal" their own colored marker.

End of Game and Scoring

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Tips for Winning

• Position your robber on a space on the scoring track where another player is about to score many points to maximize the theft.
• Be aware of other players' markers that are close to scoring and use the tiles with bags to move your robber to the ideal position.