Objective of the Game

Welcome to Carcassonne, a delightful tile-laying game where you and your friends will shape the medieval landscape of southern France! Your goal is to strategically deploy your followers as knights, monks, thieves, and farmers to claim roads, cities, cloisters, and farms. By cleverly expanding the map and completing features, you'll earn points both during the game and at its conclusion. The player with the most points at the end of the game will be crowned the master builder of Carcassonne!

Preparation (Setup)

Getting started in Carcassonne is a breeze! Here's how to set up your game:

1. Find the **starting tile** (it has a darker reverse side) and place it in the middle of your table.
2. Take all the remaining **land tiles**, mix them up thoroughly, and place them face-down in several stacks. Make sure everyone can easily reach them! (Pro tip: A cloth bag works great for drawing tiles randomly).
3. Place the **scoreboard** at the edge of the table, within easy view of all players.
4. Each player chooses a color and takes all eight **followers** of that color.
5. Place one of your followers on the '0' space of the **scoreboard** to serve as your **scoring marker**.
6. Keep your remaining seven followers close by; this is your personal **supply**.
7. The youngest player gets the honor of starting the game.

The Turn of Play

Carcassonne unfolds in a clockwise fashion. On your turn, you'll perform three simple actions, in this exact order:

1. Draw and Place a Tile

   Your first action is to draw one new **land tile** from any of the face-down stacks. Show it to the other players (they might offer "helpful" advice!) and then place it on the table. When placing a tile, remember these crucial rules:

   • At least one side of the new tile **must** touch one or more tiles already in play. Corner-to-corner placement is a no-go!
   • Any city, road, and field segments on your new tile **must** seamlessly connect to existing segments on adjacent tiles.
   • If, in a rare case, you draw a tile that cannot be legally placed anywhere (and everyone agrees), remove it from the game and draw another.
2. Deploy a Follower (Optional)

   After placing your tile, you **may** choose to deploy one of your followers from your supply to the tile you just placed. Keep these points in mind:

   • You can only deploy one follower per turn.
   • The follower **must** come from your personal supply.
   • The follower can **only** be deployed to the tile you just placed.
   • You must decide what role your follower will take based on where you place them:
     • A **thief** on a road segment.
     • A **knight** in a city segment.
     • A **monk** on a cloister.
     • A **farmer** on a field segment (lay farmers down on their backs to distinguish them!).
   • Important: You cannot deploy a follower to a road, city, or field segment if there's already another follower (even one of your own!) connected to that same feature. It doesn't matter how far away that existing follower is.
3. Score Completed Features

   If your tile placement completes any roads, cities, or cloisters, they **must** be scored immediately. Let's break down how each feature scores:

   • Completed Road: A road is complete when both of its ends are terminated by a crossing, a city segment, or a cloister, or if it forms a closed loop. The player with the most **thieves** on the completed road scores 1 point for every tile the road occupies. If there's a tie for the most thieves, all tied players score the full points!
   • Completed City: A city is complete when its segments are fully enclosed by a city wall, with no gaps. The player with the most **knights** in the completed city scores 2 points for every city segment and an additional 2 points for every **pennant** (shield symbol) within the city. Again, in case of a tie, all tied players score full points.
   • Completed Cloister: A cloister is complete when it is surrounded by eight land tiles. The player with a **monk** in the cloister immediately scores 9 points (1 point for the cloister itself and 1 point for each of the 8 surrounding tiles).

   After a road, city, or cloister is scored, any **thieves**, **knights**, or **monks** involved are returned to their owner's supply, ready to be deployed again on a future turn. Farmers, however, stay on their farms until the end of the game!

End of Game and Scoring

The game concludes at the end of the turn in which the last **land tile** is placed. After any features completed in that final round are scored, it's time for the **final scoring**!

Final Scoring Steps:

1. Incomplete Roads, Cities, and Cloisters:

   First, score all incomplete roads, cities, and cloisters. For each, the player with the most followers on that feature scores 1 point for every segment it occupies. Pennants in incomplete cities also score 1 point each. Once scored, these followers are returned to their owners.

2. Farms:

   Finally, it's time to score the farms! Farmers remain on the board until this point. To determine farm ownership, identify all connected field segments that form a farm. The player with the most **farmers** on a given farm is its owner. In case of a tie, all tied players are considered owners.

   The owner (or owners) of a farm score 3 points for every **completed city** that borders or lies within that farm. Remember, a city bordering more than one farm will score points for the owners of each of those farms!

After all farms are scored, the game is over! The player with the most total points wins. In case of a tie, tied players rejoice in their shared victory!

Tips for Winning

Want to master Carcassonne? Here are a couple of tactical pointers to get you started:

1. Manage Your Followers Wisely: You only have a limited supply of followers! Don't just place them everywhere. Think about which features will give you the most points and when you'll get your followers back. Sometimes, holding onto a follower for a crucial play is better than deploying it on a small road.
2. Look for Opportunities to Share: While you want to claim features for yourself, don't be afraid to connect your features to those of other players. If you can join a road or city where you have an equal number of followers as an opponent, you'll both score full points! This can be a great way to "piggyback" on someone else's hard work.
3. Farmers are Long-Term Investments: Farmers stay on the board until the very end, so they're a significant source of points. Don't underestimate the power of a well-placed farmer bordering multiple completed cities. Lay them down early and watch them grow your score!