«Carcassonne » iOS review

Carcassonne iOS Board game

Meet the tile based board game which has won a lot of awards on iOS and Android! Carcassonne has become a modern legend and a must-have. This game was released by The Coding Monkeys which was founded in 2003 by students who have won the Apple Design Award.

Also, the app is available for Android! You can buy and download it here!

Gameplay

Players are creating a landscape by placing tiles with pictures of roads, cities, fields and etc. Also, they have followers – knights, monks, thieves, or farmers – those can help to earn points. The player with the most victory points after the scoring wins the game. The landscape is different every time, so it makes each game a new experience. It takes from 20 to 30 minutes to play this game and be sure you will play it again and again!

Carcassonne iOS - Start Screen

Turn Variants

Turns in this game depend on the quantity of tiles. There are 72 of them and each player creates the landscape corresponding to the pictures on these tiles. Road should match the road, castle should match the castle and so on. Everything depends on which tiles you have and you should act accordingly. On each turn you have a random tile which you must lay down on the playing area. The idea is to lay it down where you can get victory points or you can choose the farming route to score some more points later. Also, the rules are easy because developers provided a great manual!

Victory conditions

The game ends when one of the players has used all the 72 tiles. Then, the winner is the player who gained the most victory points after the scoring.

Solo play

Solitaire mode provides absolutely different scoring system. You start off with the 1000 points and each tile you lay reduces these points. The objective of this mode is to complete set of targets which increasingly get harder and harder as you proceed in the game.

Carcassonne iOS - Map

AI and multiplayer

You can play against smart AI players or with up to 5 players online or local multiplayer match. Multiplayer mode has a push notifications system to play online with other players and it’s quite stable!

Expansions

Traders and Builders

This expansion provides additional turns and the pigs which make one of your fields more valuable. Collect goods to gain additional points at the end of the game. This expansion has twenty-four new tiles and two new pieces.

Inns and Cathedrals

Inns provide the doubling the value of a roads, while Cathedrals have a bonus point per city tile. But beware because it’s risky! Unfinished settlements have no value at all. Eighteen new tiles and a new piece added in this expansion.

The River

Lay out your river wisely in the beginning of the game to gain a strategic advantage in the end of it. This expansion includes twelve new tiles, which can be played at the beginning of the game.

As for the Princess and Dragon it is available only on boardgame setting.

Youtube

Conclusion

Carcassonne is the game for you and your friends! In multiplayer mode you have the opportunity to compete with them. This game has a system of achievements and when your friends are online they can beat your records so be careful!

Carcassonne iOS - Final Scores

It’s a must-have and a great game! The app for your iPad or iPhone is available on iTunes and it’s not so expensive.