Carcassonne: The City

Jake had some free time at the Math Center, and Chris had a day off of work, so gaming had to happen. Chris had some new ones to play.

Carcassonne: The City was the one itching at the both of us the most.

Chris and Jake played a 2 player version of Carcassonne:The City.

This is a new game. And it is a great one. If you like the Carcassonne series, after one play, I can safely say that it is my favorite. I have played the others plenty of times, including "The Castle" which is by my favorite game designer (Reiner Knizia), but the City is the best.

And it better be -- it's the most expensive.

But it's worth it. It has beautiful wooden pieces - as well as the expected beautiful map tiles that fit together gracefully.

Actually, one of the things I find awkward about "The Castle" is that you can put pieces that don't really properly match together. This is also true in "The City"... but for some reason it works better here.

As always, you must keep the roads going smoothly. But markets and fields can be pushed up against each other. It works fine here... I can't explain why I can accept it here but not elsewhere.

I think it has to do with how much else this game has to offer.

"The City" begins as all other Carcassonne games does -- placing pieces in the roads, fields, and markets (the names change, but the concept is the same), collecting points as they are completed, or being an investment for points at the end of the game. But as the game proceeds, players start placing wall pieces around the game area. These walls can be used to place guards who watch over special buildings for collections at the end, as well as allowing you to place towers for quick points.

We actually played a few things incorrectly as we went along. We were both learning the rules as we went, but even with the inconsistencies with the rules (and they were slight, and could eventually turn into viable alternatives), it was great. Just great. The score turned out to be super-close, and I would consider this an unofficial score -- because of our rule problems, and the fact that it was an impromptu game session.

Here's what the game looked like (numbers in parentheses indicate chronology):

JAKE	Chris
(1) 9 pt. Market	(2) 3 pt. Road
(4) 8 pt. Road	(3) 10 pt. Market
(7) 8 pt. Road	(5) 6 pt. Market
(11) 24 pt. Market	(6) 3 pt. Road
(14) 16 pt. Road	(8) 8 pt. Road
(17) 7 pt. Tower	(9) 18 pt. Market
(18) 8 pt. Tower	(10) 1 pt. Road
(19) 6 pt. Market	(12) 8 pt. Tower
(22) 10 pt. Road	(13) 12 pt. Market
(23) 5 pt. Tower	(15) 3 pt. Road
(25) 4 pt. Market	(16) 3 pt. Road
(27) 2 pt. Tower	(20) 12 pt. Market
	(21) 9 pt. Tower
	(24) 2 pt. Road
	(26) 5 pt. Tower
	(28) 4 pt. Tower
Endgame countingÂ…
(30) 1 pt. Road	(29) 2 pt. Road
(31) 10 pt. Steward	(32) 12 pt. Steward
(34) 7 pt. Guard	(33) 8 pt. Steward
(35) 27 pt. Guard	(37) 4 pt. Guard
(36) 6 pt. Guard	(38) 9 pt. Guard
	(39) 5 pt. Guard
	(40) 17 pt. Guard
Totals
158	164

Chris wins... but remember we were still learning, and didn't play the game fully kosher.

Simply put, though: It's a great game.