This review was written by Susan van Heemst.

The newcomers to the Carcassonne game have probably noticed that there a great many other titles all beginning with the name. Some are expansions and some are stand-a-lone games. Which one should I try next? Will it add more fun to my Carcassonne gaming experience? The answer is Yes! It can really add to your experience with Carcassonne and bring in new elements to the game play. For this review, we will be looking at the stand-alone game of Carcassonne: The City.

One of the first things that you notice about The City, is that it comes in a snazzy wooden box. It’s rather like a treasure chest with all sorts of bits inside. Also, you will notice that there are a lot more little bits in this game than the original Carcassonne. Plus, the rules seem a bit longer. While it can seem a wee bit intimidating in the beginning, you will quickly get the hang of it. Don’t be discouraged by a few more rules and more gaming bits. This is a fun game!




Carcassonne: The City Board Game Info:

• Published: 2004
• Designed By: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede



• Published By: 999 Games, Hans im Glück, Rio Grande Games
• Players: 2 – 4
• Playing Time: About30 minutes
• Suggested Ages: 10 and up
• Language Dependence: None required with game pieces.
• Category: City Building, Medieval, Tile Placement
• Series: A Stand-alone game in the Carcassonne series

The game components are as follows:

• 32 followers (Meeples) in 4 different colors. (note that these meeples are slightly taller than in the basic game)
• 1 scoring board
• 1 city gate
• 70 full-sized wall pieces
• 2 shorter-sized wall pieces (to go on both sides of city gate)
• 12 towers
• 2 cloth bags for storage (1 for wall pieces & 1 for tiles)
• 75 city tiles

What is the Goal of the game? Points of course! He/she with the most points wins. How you gain those points is the challenge. In this game, you will need to cooperate a bit with your fellow players and use clever strategy in your tile placement.

How is Carcassonne: The City different from the basic Carcassonne game?

I’ve bought the original Carcassone game. Do I really need to buy others? Is The City actually different or just looks a bit different? – The City is different in several ways really. Let’s break those down a bit:

The Tiles:
Firstly, the tiles look different. The back of the tiles are tan and the playing side of the tiles have completely different items upon them. In the original game, you see cities, meadowlands, and roads. In the city, the layout is based upon the medieval city of Carcassonne lying within city walls.
On the playing side of the tiles you see a variety of various tile elements:

These elements include:

• 3 types of markets (Fish, grain, and livestock) These are always in grassy areas.
• 32 Public buildings (grey/white without a banner) These are in residential (tan) areas.
• 7 Historical buildings (have banner)
• Residential areas (always with tan background)
• City streets

There are differences in game play, set-up, rules, scoring points, and strategy in The City than in the original Carcassonne game. We will break down those differences as they come along during points, scoring, etc.

The overall difference is that you are not trying to control meadowland; nor are you trying to build cities this time. You are trying to get points by having more bordering markets, the most public buildings on your area, build markets, streets, etc.

Preparation for the game:
There are a few things that we need to do before we can start playing The City.:

1. Firstly, we need to shuffle the tiles and divide them into 3 stacks:
   – First stack will have 30 tiles.
   – Second stack will have 25 cards.
   – Third stack will have 20 tiles in it.
2. Each player chooses a color of Meeple and gets 8 meeples.
3. The 12 towers are divided equally between players.
4. Place the 2nd & 3rd tile stacks to the side for now until the first stack is completely used up.
5. Place the wooden wall pieces and city gate to the side for now.

Beginning the game: Now, we are ready to start playing Carcassonne: The City. There is no set beginning tile, as with the original game. The youngest player begins the game by choosing the top tile on the first stack of tiles (one with 30 tiles in it). He/She lays the tile down and decides what they would like to claim, if anything. A player claims an area by placing one of their meeples upon a certain area of the tile. All connecting areas from future tiles will add to your points. There are choices here, depending on the tile or you can choose to claim nothing at this point.

What can I claim on City tiles?

Markets: Firstly, you can claim market areas! Markets are indicated by being on grassy areas. Also, you will see an emblem indicating what sort of market it is. It could be a grain market, fish market, or a livestock market. Some market areas are only small sections on a tile. The meeple would sit on the market area. Your meeple will be returned when/if your market is completed.

Residential areas: All areas with a tan background and that have buildings are the residential areas of The City. Here, there are houses, Historical buildings, and Public buildings. Your meeple would be placed anywhere upon the tan area. Your meeple will remain on the residential area until the end of the game, when additional points are given.

City streets: Players of the original Carcassonne will be familiar with street building. Within the City, there are curvy, windy ways of streets. Occasionally, these will end at a market. Later, some streets will be ended by city walls. There are small junctions within some streets that become an end point (for scoring purposes). You would place your meeple upon the city street. Your meeple will be returned when/if your street is completed.

Game play continues

Now that the first tile has been placed and the choice of placing a meeple (or not) has been made; play moves onto to the next player in a clockwise motion. Again, the players are faced with the same decisions about claiming areas.

As the play continues, areas will become enclosed, or finished. Then, points are given based upon the area and how many tiles. We will look at points and scoring a bit later. Play continues this way until the first stack of tiles is completed.

So, begins the walls: Then, we move over the second set of tiles (with 25 tiles in it). The first person that finishes an area (market, streets, etc) now gets the “city gate” to place.

The City gate will begin the city walls and can be placed anywhere on the outer edges of a tile. Placement is completely up to the player. The player can also choose whether or not to set a meeple atop the gate as a “guard”. Later, he can get points for public & historical buildings this way. Here again, is an aspect that we have not seen in the original Carcassonne game. It is important to note that the meeple will remain there throughout the game

After the City gate has been placed, all players will now place a city wall piece (in a clockwise order). Once all players have played a city wall piece the first player (that completed the street, market, etc) has the option of setting down a guard tower.

This becomes interesting as well because you get points for the wall pieces connecting to your tower. Then, the play returns back to the tiles until something else is completed. Then, the wall pieces are once again laid down. I know that it can sound a bit confusing, but that will only last until you have done it once or twice. You really do get the hang of it quickly.

Game play with the third stack of tiles: By now, we have managed to build a great deal of the city and the city wall. Once the second stack of tiles is complete, the players switch to the third & final stack of tiles. There is one additional rule change at this point. During the final stack of tiles, each player will now place 2 wall pieces down each round. Thus, we are quickly nearing the end of the game.

When does the game end?

There are three different ways that the game will come to an end:

1. Firstly, when and if all tiles are used.
2. Secondly, if all of the wall tiles are used.
3. Thirdly, if the wall is almost complete and there is only a distance of 5 wall tiles to enclose the city completely.

Then, the points are all added up and a winner is declared!

Points and Scoring:

Now, that we have a little idea about the game bits and how the game is played, let’s look at points and scoring. There are several ways of gaining points during the game. Also, strategy must be used in order to gain points at the end of the game. So, how can we get those ever important points???

Completing City streets:
This is the simplest manner to gain a few points during the game. A completed street has two distinct end points (one at each end). An end point can be a city wall, a junction, or some end directly at the markets. A completed street can consist of as little as 1 tile and would receive 1 point per tile for streets of 1-3 tiles in length. If you managed to complete a street that is 4 tiles or longer, you will get 2 points per tile. So, it can be beneficial to try to build a longer street. Your meeple is returned to you once your street is complete. (Note that the ability of having a completed street of 1 tile and getting extra points for longer streets are differences between the original game and the City.)

Completing a market: A completed market can also be as little as one tile. (Again, this differs from the original game.) It is considered completed when it cannot be expanded further and has no empty spaces within it. Tan, residential areas can be played directly next to markets, so opposing players can close your market off as well. There are a few different rules when scoring points with markets though:

• If you have a completed market with only one sort of market type (fish, grain, livestock), you receive 1 point per tile in the market and receive your meeple back.



• If you have a completed market with more than one sort of market types (fish, grain, livestock), you receive the number of market sorts times the number of tiles. An example of this is to the right:
• You have an enclosed market consisting of two tiles and two types of markets (grain & livestock). You would multiply 2×2 for a total of four points and your meeple is returned to you.

Several players have a meeple on a completed market: It is possible for markets to really grow in size and connect over several tiles. This also brings about the chance of more than one player having claimed the markets with their meeples. The rule here is: The player with the most meeples upon the market gets the points. When there is a tie, all players get the full score added to their points and their meeples are returned.

The Residential areas: As previously noted, the residential areas are the tan areas with buildings upon them. These areas can also be claimed, but your meeple will remain there until the end of the game. This is important to note because you have a limited number of meeples to work with. So, why is it interesting to claim residential areas?

The residential areas are bordered by streets, walls, and markets. The bordering markets are one of the interesting aspects of claiming a residential market. These are points that are added at the end of the game, so you have to think about tile placement as you go along. The goal is to have control over a larger residential area with multiple bordering markets.

When you have a large residential area with bordering markets, you receive 2 additional points per market at the end of the game. This can also change the tide in points. The thinking is similar to that of the meadowlands within the original Caracassonne game. So, keep adding markets along your residential area whenever possible.

Of course, there is always the chance of having neighboring areas connect up. Then, there is a chance of multiple color meeples fighting for control of the residential areas. The rule is: The player with the most meeples upon the residential areas wins the points. If there is a tie, each receives the full points.

The City Walls, towers, Public buildings, and Historical buildings:

Now we know what we can get points for during the game and some of the points available at the end of the game. What about all of those wall bits we keep laying down? Why even mess with the towers? Points, of course! Each has a points option during or at the end of the game.

The Towers: This is the simplest manner to get points that involve the wall really. After a round of placing wall pieces, the first player has the option of setting down a guard tower. He/she would receive 1 point per connecting wall piece (between either the city gate or previous tower). In this manner, you can get some quick points. Since each player has multiple towers, don’t wait until the end of the game to begin using them. Grab those points while you can!

The Public houses and Historical buildings:
So, what are those grey & white buildings all about anyway? What is the difference between them? They become interesting at the end of the game and with claiming wall areas. As the city wall is built it enclosed the city. You can claim a piece of city wall and the row of tiles vertically in line with it. At the end of the game, points are given for each public house within that row and for each historical building (with banner). If done well, these can add a substantial amount of points at the end of the game.

Each public building within your row receives 2 points per public building. There are 32 tiles with public buildings upon them. So, there are plenty of opportunities to keep adding public buildings.

Each Historical building within your row receives 3 points per building. There are only 7 historical building tiles within the game. So, try to place them on your claimed row.

The Strategy of Carcassonne: The City:

Now that we have discussed a bit about the game, the rules, and the points it is time to think about strategy. Like all Carcassonne games, it can really be played at different levels. This is great because it can include kids as well. Players can simply try to build stuff and acquire points throughout the game and not really worry about claiming wall bits, etc. Then, it will still be enjoyable.

For myself, I like the strategy behind the game as well. Fighting for domination of the residential areas and claiming the best rows with public/historical buildings is a lot of fun. It does require careful thinking and planning as you play the game though.

The City allows much more flexible bordering between tiles. You can put a section of residential area right up next to a market area. So, if you have plans of making an enormous market, another player can quickly squash that idea and close it off. The same can occur with building larger residential areas.

Say that you are trying to connect a market area to another market area. Another player can cut you off with a piece of City wall and enclose that area. There are quite a few options and possibilities within this game.

While it can seem complicated to new players, you really will grab onto the flow and rhythm of the game quite quickly. After a few games, you begin to really see the strategy and benefits of more careful tile placement. Suddenly, you can amass quite a few points at the end of the game and come out the winner.

Along with any strategy thinking, you also need to be aware of what your opponents are trying to do. Are they trying to control a huge market area? Are they hording all of the public houses? What can you do to stop them, or at least slow them down? Those are all elements of this fun game.

Final thoughts on Carcassonne: The City

I have been a fan of the Carcassonne game/games for some time now. I love the simplicity of the tiles and the strategy of tile placement. Also, the fast game play is very appealing to me. As for The City, I do really like it. Do I like it as much as the original Carcassonne game? Probably not quite as much and I will tell you why. The original appeals greatly because it is easy to expand upon. There are loads of little expansions, etc that you can add to it. Also, it has very simple rules and is easy to teach anyone.

The City has more complicated rules, more game bits, and takes longer to play. That shouldn’t put people off though. It is a fun game, although a bit slower. It is a shame though that there aren’t any expansions to add to it. Of course that being said, perhaps it already has more than enough game parts already.

The City isn’t really what I would consider a “gateway” game as the original Carcassonne game is, but it is certainly a wonderful next step into the world of Carcassonne! It is fun, challenging, fast, and always different. You will never build the same city twice.

Again, it can appeal to a wide group of people. Slightly older children would certainly grasp onto the rules and love the artwork upon the tiles. It is very graphically pleasing in that respect. Older people will also enjoy this game.

So, if you are looking to try another game within the Carcassonne series, why not give the City a try? It is certainly one that you will play again and again. I would note that there is a rumor about The City going out of print. This means that it will not be produced anymore, or for the foreseeable future. If you have been thinking about grabbing this game, go ahead while you can.

To meet the author of this review you can visit Susan’s page on SophistiGames.

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