The Carcassonne box: a walled hilltop city above green fields and a winding river, with a cottage in front — The Carcassonne box sold in IndiaPhoto: Board Games India

The back of the box with tiles showing roads and cities, a photo of the designer and the contents — The back of the boxPhoto: Board Games India

Stacks of square land tiles and a pile of wooden meeples in six colours — What's in the box: land tiles and wooden meeplesPhoto: Z-Man Games

A small map of joined tiles with meeples on roads and cities, next to stacks of tiles — Building the map, one tile at a timePhoto: Z-Man Games

A couple smiling at a wooden table, placing tiles on a growing map — It works well with two playersPhoto: Z-Man Games / Asmodee

Close-up of a big map in progress with coloured meeples on cities and roads — Meeples claim roads, cities and monasteriesPhoto: Z-Man Games / Asmodee

A map of tiles on a light wooden table with meeples placed, seen from above — A game under wayPhoto: Z-Man Games / Asmodee

Seven land tiles showing cities, roads, a river and a monastery — Every tile is a piece of the countrysidePhoto: Z-Man Games

Video

Family game · Indian edition available

Carcassonne

Build a medieval map tile by tile, then claim it

Tile laying Territory control

2–5best with 2-4
30–45 minper game
About 5 minto set up
7+years
Medium
Nonereading

The official edition, on Amazon.in

Indian edition

Buy on Amazon.in

This listing is the official imported edition. An Indian edition also exists, but this isn't it. Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery.

Paid link. We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

The game in a nutshell

Carcassonne is a tile-laying game for 2 to 5 players aged 7 and up. Together you build a map of roads, cities and monasteries one square tile at a time, and you score by claiming those places with your small wooden figures, called meeples. A game takes 30–45 minutes and each turn is short, so it suits families and people trying modern board games for the first time. It won the Spiel des Jahres (German Game of the Year) in 2001. In India you can find an English/Hindi edition from Yes Papa Games as well as the imported Z-Man Games box.

Is Carcassonne right for you?

Great if

Families with children aged 7 and up, because a turn is just 'place a tile, then maybe place a meeple'
Couples. With two players the 72 land tiles split about 36 each, so you get plenty of turns and control
Mixed-language tables, since nothing on the tiles needs reading
A first modern board game for relatives who only know Ludo, Monopoly or carrom

Skip it if

You dislike luck. Tiles are drawn face down, so the one piece you need for a city may never come
Someone at your table gets upset when others move into 'their' city to share or take the points
You want lots of talking and laughing. Carcassonne is calm, and with five players you wait longer between turns

THE BOARDGAMES.IN TAKE

Our ratings

How hard to learnMedium

3 / 5

Luck or skillLuck and skill

LuckSkill

Set-up~5 min

ReadingNone

Behind the ratings

How hard to learnCarcassonne is our anchor for 3 with Catan. A turn is simple, but scoring takes a game or two to learn, especially farmers.

Luck or skillYou can't choose which tile you draw, but where you put it, when you place meeples and how you join other players' cities decide most games.

Player interactionNo attacks, but you can sneak into someone's city to share or take its points, or place tiles that make their city hard to finish.

Set-up timeThe first time, allow about 15 minutes to punch out the tiles and scoreboard. After that it takes about 5 minutes: put down the start tile (or the river), shuffle the rest into face-down stacks, and give everyone 7 meeples plus one for the scoreboard.

Reading neededNothing on the tiles needs reading. Only the rulebook has text, in English and Hindi in the Indian box.

Difficulty uses our 1–5 scale: 1 is UNO or Connect 4, 3 is Catan, 5 is a heavy strategy game. These describe the experience, not an overall score.

A place on the honours list

Good company to be in.

Recognition from beyond our table.

Winner · 2001

Spiel des Jahres

Germany’s Game of the Year: the jury’s top family-game honour.

Meet the jury’s choice ↗

More recognition 1

Deutscher Spiele Preis (German Games Prize), 2001 (Winner)

How Carcassonne plays

The game starts with one tile face up in the middle of the table. On your turn you draw a tile and add it to the map. Its edges must match the tiles it touches: roads join roads, city walls join city walls and fields join fields.

Time to teach: about 10 minutes.
Reading and language: The tiles have no words on them, so nobody needs to read during play. The Z-Man box has an English rulebook. The Indian English/Hindi edition, as its name says, is meant for readers of either language.

How to Play Carcassonne in 3 Minutes - The Rules Girl · The Rules Girl

If this creator doesn’t allow embedded playback, watch on YouTube ↗.

Your turn, step by step

1
Place
Draw a tile and add it to the map. Every edge must match the tiles it touches: road to road, city to city, field to field.
2
Claim
You may put one of your meeples on that tile, on a road, city or monastery that no one else already has a meeple on.
3
Score
If your tile finishes a road, city or monastery, it scores now: 1 point per road tile, 2 per city tile and coat of arms, and 9 for a surrounded monastery. The meeples there go back to their owners.
4
Win
When the last tile is placed, unfinished places score a smaller amount, and farmers (if you use them) score for finished cities. The most points wins.

Read the official rules (PDF)Carcassonne rulebook (current edition) · English

The full explanation: how a game of Carcassonne goes

After placing the tile you may put one of your meeples on a feature of that tile. On a road it is a traveller, in a city a knight, on a monastery a monk and in a field a farmer. You cannot place a meeple on a road, city or field that already has a meeple anywhere along it. Each player has eight meeples. One of them marks your score, so seven are left to play.

When a feature is finished, it scores straight away and the meeple goes back to its owner. A finished road scores 1 point per tile. A finished city scores 2 points per tile, plus 2 for each coat of arms. A monastery scores 9 once all eight tiles around it are filled. If two features with meeples join up, whoever has more meeples there takes all the points, and a tie means everyone in it scores in full. This is how you sneak into someone else's big city.

The game ends when the last tile is placed. Unfinished roads, cities and monasteries then score 1 point per tile (and 1 per coat of arms). Farmers score last: each field earns 3 points for every finished city it touches. Farmers stay on the board for the whole game, so many groups leave them out of their first game.

The current Z-Man box also includes two small expansions. The River is 12 tiles laid first, which make a winding river to build around. The Abbot gives each player one extra piece that can go only on a monastery or a garden. You can also take it back early to score its unfinished monastery or garden.

What's in the box

72Land tiles
including the start tile, which has a dark back
12River tiles
The River mini-expansion; dark backs
40Meeples
8 each in black, red, green, blue and yellow; one of each colour marks the score
5Abbots
The Abbot mini-expansion; 1 in each player colour
1Scoreboard
2Rulebooks
one in English and one in Hindi (the Z-Man box has one English rulebook)
2Supplement sheets
farmers, The River and The Abbot; English and Hindi

Box: 19 × 28 × 7 cm, 0.77 kg. Handy to know for gifting and travel.

From an Indian listing for the Yes Papa Games English/Hindi edition. It matches Z-Man's list for its international box (ZM7810: rulebook, 72 land tiles, 12 river tiles, 40 meeples, 5 abbots, scoreboard). Meeple colours and the dark-backed start tile are from Z-Man's rulebook. The only difference is paperwork: the Indian box adds Hindi copies of the rulebook and supplement, while the Z-Man box has one of each in English.

Where to buy

Amazon.inImported edition

The official edition, on Amazon.in

This listing is the official imported edition. An Indian edition also exists, but this isn't it. Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery.

Buy on Amazon.in

Opens Amazon.in in a new tab.

Both genuine versions sold in India are imported. The English/Hindi edition from Yes Papa Games is made in Germany under licence from Hans im Glück and imported by Vibrant Hobbies. The other is the Z-Man Games edition (item ZM7810). Both use the same tiles and rules, and the Indian box adds Hindi copies of the rulebook, so either genuine copy will do. Our Amazon.in link goes to the imported Z-Man Games edition (ZM7810).

How to make sure you get a genuine copyA little care before you click.

Look for a publisher name on the box and listing: Z-Man Games, Hans im Glück or, for the Indian edition, Yes Papa Games. A listing with no publisher, or with an unrelated brand in the URL, is a warning sign
Be wary of a set that costs a fraction of the usual price. Much cheaper 'Carcassonne' listings, shown with a big discount, did not name Z-Man Games, Hans im Glück or Yes Papa Games.
Check the player count. The base game is for 2 to 5 players, so a listing that promises '2 to 8 players' is not describing the real box
Look at the photos. The genuine box contains 72 land tiles, 12 river tiles, 40 wooden meeples in five colours, 5 abbots and a scoring track
Be wary of listings with zero or very few reviews that copy the genuine listing's title word for word

We link to one Amazon.in listing that we've checked against the maker's own information. We don't show prices: Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery. Paid link. We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

What reviewers and players say

Reviewers call Carcassonne one of the classic first games for people new to modern board games. A turn is just 'draw a tile, place it, maybe add a meeple', so an 8-year-old can keep up with older players. Reviewers like the mix of luck and planning, and that a table can play kindly or cut-throat by sneaking into each other's cities. The main catches: you can't control which tile you draw, farmer scoring confuses new players (the current rulebook moves farmers to a separate sheet), and the first game can feel tricky until everyone has seen a few cities score.

What people love

Quick turns and simple rules: families go from confused to confident within a few games
Works for a gentle family game or a sharp contest, depending on how much you steal and block
Wooden meeples and cardboard tiles, with nothing to read during play
A long line of expansions if you want more later, and the River and Abbot are already in the box

Common complaints

Luck of the draw: the tile you need to finish a city may never come
Farmers and field scoring are hard for beginners, and the rule changed between editions, which confuses players who learnt an older version
The rulebook feels long the first time, and the small meeples aren't for very young children

Based on 7 reviews and discussions

Review Carcassonne: A Conversationne (David McMillan and Andrew Holmes, December 2019) · Meeple Mountain
Review Carcassonne board game review (Jenny Bray, November 2022) · What's Good To Do (UK)
Players What are good standard strategies for Carcassonne? (October 2010) · Board & Card Games Stack Exchange
Players There seem to be several different scoring systems for fields/cities in Carcassonne, which is correct? (October 2010) · Board & Card Games Stack Exchange
Award Carcassonne, Spiel des Jahres 2001 · Spiel des Jahres jury
Reference Carcassonne (board game): awards, publishers, reception · Wikipedia
Reference Carcassonne - English / Hindi Edition (Yes Papa Games) · Board Games India

Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.

More like Carcassonne

Our picks if Carcassonne isn't quite right

Feature	Carcassonne	Azul	Ticket to Ride	Kingdomino
Players	2–5	2–4	2–5	2–4
Best with	2-4	2-4	4	2 or 4
Play time	30–45 min	30–45 min	30–60 min	15–25 min
Age	7+	8+	8+	8+
Rules	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy
Indian edition	Yes	Yes	Import	Yes
Why look at it	This page	Another tile-laying game with short turns and nothing to read	A gateway classic built around a shared map, slightly longer	Quicker tile-laying where each player builds their own small kingdom

Also made or sold in India by Yes Papa Games

Jaipur

Two rival merchants trade goods and camels in old Jaipur

2 players30 min10+

More tile-laying games

See all

Kingdomino

Build a tiny kingdom from land dominoes in twenty minutes

2–4 players15–25 min8+

Dragomino

Kingdomino for five-year-olds: match landscapes, hatch baby dragons

2–4 players15–20 min5+

Labyrinth

Shift the maze walls to reach your treasures first

2–4 players20–30 min7+

Connectors: Mission Space

Link picture tiles into a path through planets and galaxies

2–4 players10–20 min6+

Qwirkle

Match colours or shapes to build lines of six tiles

2–4 players30–45 min6+

Also worth a look (not in our catalogue yet): My First Carcassonne – A simplified version for children aged 4 and up.

Questions people ask about Carcassonne

Is there a Hindi version of Carcassonne in India?

Yes. Yes Papa Games sells an English/Hindi edition, licensed from the German publisher Hans im Glück and imported and distributed by Vibrant Hobbies. It has the same tiles and rules as the Z-Man Games box, plus Hindi copies of the rulebook and supplement.

How can I tell if a Carcassonne copy is genuine?

Check the brand, the box photos and the player count. A genuine box names Z-Man Games, Hans im Glück or Yes Papa Games, and the real game is for 2 to 5 players. Be wary of a set that costs a fraction of the usual price: the much cheaper listings we saw did not name any of these publishers.

Does Carcassonne come with the River and Abbot expansions?

Yes. Both the Z-Man Games box and the Indian English/Hindi box include The River (12 tiles) and The Abbot (5 abbots), alongside the 72 land tiles.

Is Carcassonne good for 2 players?

Yes. It plays 2 to 5, and with two players you each place about 36 of the 72 land tiles, so you get more control over the map. With five players each person places about 14 tiles and waits longer between turns.

Game facts

Designed by: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede
Publisher: Hans im Glück (published in English by Z-Man Games, an Asmodee studio)
In India: Yes Papa Games (English/Hindi edition), imported by Vibrant Hobbies LLP
First published: 2000
Players: 2–5
Barcode: 681706781006
Language: No reading – The tiles have no words on them, so nobody needs to read during play. The Z-Man box has an English rulebook. The Indian English/Hindi edition, as its name says, is meant for readers of either language.
Box size and weight: 19 × 28 × 7 cm, 0.77 kg
Awards: Spiel des Jahres (Germany's Game of the Year), 2001 (Winner); Deutscher Spiele Preis (German Games Prize), 2001 (Winner)

Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.

Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.