Official Rules Carcassone

A tile laying game for 2 to 5 players, by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede. Ages 8 and up.

Carcassonne, the world-famous French city, known for its imposing fortifications erected during the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This fortress, surrounded by magnificent walls, still stands today as one of the most unique French cities.

In this game, players must develop the area around Carcassonne. They will place their followers onto roads and into cities, monasteries and fields. Only those who make the most judicious placements will gain the points required to win the game.

Game components

72 Land tiles (including 1 Start tile with a darker back) showing roads, cities, fields, and monasteries. The 12 River tiles are not part of the basic game but have the same back as the Start tile.
40 followers in 5 colors: Each follower can become a thief, a knight, a monk, or a farmer. Each player will use one of their followers as a score marker.
1 scoreboard: To track the players' scores.
1 rulebook and 1 player aid

Game overview

On their turn, players place one tile. This is how roads, cities, monasteries and fields will be created, one tile at a time. To score points, players will need to place followers on these tiles. Points are scored throughout the game and at the end of the game. After the final scoring, the player who scored the most points is the winner.

Game setup

The Start tile is placed face-up in the center of the table. Shuffle the other tiles and place them in various face-down stacks to allow easy access for every player. Place the scoreboard close to the edge of the table to give players enough room to play their tiles in the middle of the table. Each player takes the 8 followers of his color and puts one (called marker thereafter) on the space numbered 0 of the scoreboard (it is the space located in the lower right-hand corner). Each player then keeps their remaining 7 followers in front of themselves: this is their personal supply. Players choose how the first player is designated, or simply let the youngest player begin.

Playing the game

Players take their turn one after the other, starting with the first player and then proceeding clockwise: on their turn, a player must do the following actions and follow the order listed below:

1. Draw and place one new Land tile.
2. Then, the player can take one (1) of his followers from his supply and put it on the tile he has just placed.
3. If by placing a Land tile one or more roads, cities, and/or monasteries are completed, these features are scored immediately.

The player's turn is now over and the next player takes her turn by following the same rules.

1. Placing Land tiles

At the beginning of their turn, a player must draw one of the face-down Land tiles. He looks at it and shows it to the other players (allowing them to "help" him). Then, he places that tile on the table according to the following rules:

The new tile (the one with a red border in the examples) must be placed in such a way that at least one of its sides touches one of the previously placed tiles. The new tile cannot only be connected by a corner.
New tiles must always continue fields, cities and/or roads.

In the unlikely situation where a drawn tile cannot be placed (all players must agree), the player returns the tile to the box (it will no longer be used for this game) and draws another tile.

2. Placing new followers

Once a player has placed her tile, she can put one of her followers on that tile according to these rules:

A player may only place 1 follower per turn.
The player must take the follower from her supply.
The player may only put the follower on the tile she has just placed.
The player must choose where she will place her follower. As such, the follower can become a…

The player may not place her follower on a road, in a city or in a field if that section is connected to another tile where there already is a follower (no matter which player owns that follower). For example:

If a player has placed all of his followers, he keeps placing one tile each turn. A player is never allowed to retake one of his followers from a tile. However, a follower is returned to its supply when the road, city or monastery it occupies is scored. Then, the player's turn is over. After, in clockwise order, the next player takes his turn, followed by the next one, etc. IMPORTANT: If, after placing a tile, one or more roads, cities and/or monasteries are completed, they are immediately scored before the next player's turn.

3. Scoring completed roads, cities and monasteries

A completed road

A road is complete once both ends of the road are connected to a crossroad, a city section, a monastery or the road loops onto itself. There can be any number of road sections between both ends. A player who owns a thief on a completed road scores 1 point per tile used in the completed road (make sure that you only count the number of tiles, since a single tile can be used for more than one section of the road). The player moves his marker a number of spaces on the scoreboard equal to the number of points scored. If you move beyond space 50 of the scoring track, put your marker on its side to indicate that you now have more than 50 points and keep moving your marker as usual on the scoring track.

A completed city

A city is complete when it is surrounded by walls and there are no gaps in the walls or the city. There can be any number of sections in a city. A player who owns a knight in a completed city scores 2 points per tile in the city (count the tiles and not the sections). Each banner in the scored city also gives the player 2 points.

What if there are more than one follower on a completed road or city? With some clever tile placements, it is possible to connect road and city sections, resulting in a road with more than one thief or a city with more than one knight. The player with the most thieves or knights scores the totality of the points. In case of a tie, the tied players each score the points.

A completed monastery

A monastery is complete when it is surrounded by tiles. The player who owns a monk in a completed monastery scores 9 points. (1 point per tile, including the tile with the monastery).

Followers go back into their player's supply

After scoring a road, a city or a monastery – and only then – the followers used in the scoring are returned to their player's supply. These returned followers may become thieves, knights, monks and farmers during the following turns.
It is possible for a player to place a follower, score a road, a city or a monastery and see this same follower return into their supply on the same turn. The order must always be as follows:

Complete a road, a city or a monastery with the new tile.
Place a thief, knight or monk.
Score the completed road, city or monastery.
Return the thief, knight or monk to its supply.

The fields

Connected field sections create a larger field. Fields are not scored during the game. Players are allowed to place farmers into a field section, but those are only scored at the end of the game. A farmer remains in the field where it was placed until the end of the game and is never returned to its player's supply! (To show this, lay the farmer on the tile instead of placing it standing up.) Fields are separated from one another by roads, cities and the edge of the board. (This is particularly important during the final scoring!)

Game End

When a player places the last tile, the game ends after his turn. Then, players proceed with the final scoring.

Final Scoring

Scoring incomplete cities, roads or monasteries

During the final scoring, incomplete roads, cities or monasteries are scored. A player who has a follower on an incomplete road, city or monastery scores 1 point per tile. For cities, each banner is also worth only 1 point. In case of a tie, use the same rules as for completed features. Once a feature is scored, return the follower to its supply. This should prevent any potential mistakes during the final scoring.

Scoring Farmers

When scoring the farmers, only completed cities are counted.
The farmer must be in a field that touches one or more completed cities. The distance between the farmer and the city does not matter.
For each city that the field touches, the player with the most farmers in that field scores 3 points. The size of the city does not matter. If some players are tied for the most farmers, they each score the points for that field.
A field is only worth points if it touches at least one completed city. More than one field may touch and score the same city. Each field is scored by following the rules below.

Once all the fields have been scored, the final scoring and the game are over.

The player with the most points is the winner. In case of a tie, play another game to determine the winner!

Scoring Summary

More examples for scoring farmers

Here is another example for scoring farmers (followers placed in fields). The full explanation for scoring farmers can be found on page 4 of the rules, under Scoring farmers.

Field 1: Blue is alone in Field 1. This field touches 2 completed cities (A and B). Blue scores 3 points for each city (no matter the size), for a total of 6 points.
Field 2: Red and Blue both have 1 farmer in Field 2. Both players score 3 points per completed city (of which there are three: A, B and C). Thus, Red and Blue both score a total of 9 points for Field 2. Note: Cities A and B touch both Field 1 and Field 2. As such, for these cities, Blue gains points in Field 1 and both Red and Blue score points in Field 2. The city in the lower left-hand corner is incomplete and is not worth any points.
Field 3: Yellow is the sole player to score Field 3 since he has more followers than Black. There are 4 completed cities touching Field 3, so Yellow scores 12 points. Note about field demarcations: Fields are separated from one another by roads and cities as well as the edge of the board.

How can more than one follower occupy the same field?

Turn 1: Blue puts a farmer in the field.
Turn 2: Red places a tile diagonally adjacent to the one that Blue has just placed. Red can put his farmer in the illustrated field since both fields are not connected at that time.
Turn 3: The two fields are now combined into a larger field. There are now two farmers in the same field.
Using similar tactics, it is possible for two thieves to be on the same road or two knights to be in the same city.