How to play Carcassonne

The objective

Your goal is simple: build a shared landscape and score completed cities, roads, monasteries, and fields. This guide uses the most common beginner-friendly rules. Families and groups may agree on variations before starting.

What you need

Carcassonne tiles, meeples, and a scoring track.

How to set up

1. Place the starting tile and shuffle the remaining tiles face down.
2. Give each player meeples and place one on the score track.

How to play: step by step

1. Draw and legally connect one landscape tile.
2. Optionally place one meeple on an unoccupied feature of that tile.
3. Score completed roads, cities, and monasteries.
4. Return meeples from completed features for reuse.

Beginner strategies

• Keep at least one meeple available.
• Join an opponent's feature only when the shared points are worthwhile.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Connecting mismatched landscape edges.
• Placing a meeple on an already occupied connected feature.

Frequently asked questions