Christmas Present

From Wikicarpedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search


What is it? It happens once every year, it's cold, everything is covered in snow and the whole world is decorating pine trees. Shall I tell you the answer? Of course, it is Christmas.
This is when millions of gifts find their owners. They are very happy with some of them, but sometimes the feeling "they shouldn't have opened the package" overwhelms the person. In this add-on players will receive gifts and not all of them will be happy ones (at least for the other players).

General info and comments

Christmas Present was released exclusively to the Hungarian market by Piatnik in December 2013. It was published through JEM Magazine's website as a print-and-play expansion.[1]

The original Hungarian rules and artwork are available here:

Thanks to Rachel Anthony-Rowlands and Leven for providing corrections to our translation.

Contents

  • 64 cards: 2 decks of 32 cards each (the Cloister deck and the Roadside deck) with differentiated backs.
Back of the Cloister deck
Back of the Roadside deck

Rules

The basic rules of Carcassonne do not change, and the Christmas Present expansion can be used with all expansions released so far.

Preparation

At the start of the game, separate the cards into two decks according to their distinct card backs (Cloister and Roadside), then shuffle each deck and place them face down within reach of all players.

Gameplay

1. Placing a tile
Drawing a card

Players take turns drawing tiles according to the rules of the basic game and place them down, following the usual rules.

When a player places a tile adjacent to another player's cloister, they may draw the top card from the Cloister deck and either activate it immediately (if the card allows or requires immediate activation) or place it into their hand (if the card allows or requires activation later).

When a player places a tile that contains only roads, they may then draw the top card from the Roadside deck and either activate it immediately (if the card allows or requires immediate activation) or place it into their hand (if the card allows or requires activation later).

Activating a card

The current player can activate several cards in a row in a turn. Players can only play the cards in their hands in their own turn (except for the card that protects from a Roadside card).

The activated cards are placed in a discard pile once used. [2]

Each player can have a maximum of 5 cards of both card types in their hand at the same time, they keep these a secret from the others. At the end of their turn, players must discard excess cards from their hand.

At the end of the game, the cards that can be played must be revealed in player order (those with the Carcassonne symbol), then the cards that can be used during the game can no longer be used (those with the lightning symbol or those with no symbol).

Description of the cards

Cloister deck

     These cards are activated when drawn and are then added to the discard pile. A lightning bolt symbol (Lightning-symbol.png) is placed at the bottom of these cards.

Score3.png
Score 3 points immediately.
XmasPresent ScoreUnfinishedRoad.png
Score an uncompleted road you control for 2x points. [3] [4]
XmasPresent ScoreUnfinishedCity.png
Score an uncompleted city you control for +1 points per tile. [5] [4]
XmasPresent ScoreUnfinishedCloister.png
Score an uncompleted cloister you control for 1 point per tile (except for the cloister itself). [6] [4]
XmasPresent ClaimUnoccupiedFeature.png
Depending on the type of card, place a follower on an unoccupied farm/road/city. This can be a farm/road/city on a tile placed previously.

     These cards can be activated at any time during the game and are then added to the discard pile. There is no symbol at the bottom of these cards.

XmasPresent ClosedLoopRoad.png
Score 2x points for a completed road that forms a closed loop. [7]
XmasPresent PreventAttack.png
Discard a Roadside card to nullify an attack by an opponent. [8]
XmasPresent Draw2.png
Draw two tiles in the current turn, but you may only place one tile, as stated in the rules. The other tile not selected is removed from the game.
XmasPresent ShieldsWorth3.png
Score 3 points per pennant when scoring a completed city with pennants. [9]
XmasPresent CityWithoutShieldsWorth3.png
Score 3 points per tile when scoring a completed city without pennants. [10]
XmasPresent ReturnMeeple.png
Return one follower from any tile to your supply.

     These cards are activated at the end of the game. A Carcassonne mark (Carc-symbol.png) is placed at the bottom of these cards.

XmasPresent DoublePoints.png
Score 2 points for each follower remaining in your supply.
XmasPresent EarlyFarmScoring.png
For each farm that you control, score +1 point for each completed city.
XmasPresent JoinFarmScoring.png
When scoring any farm with shared majority, score +1 point for each completed city.

Roadside deck

     These cards are activated when drawn and are then added to the discard pile. A lightning bolt symbol (Lightning-symbol.png) is placed at the bottom of these cards.

XmasPresent ClaimOccupiedFeature.png
Depending on the type of card, place a follower on a farm/road/city/cloister occupied by another player.
XmasPresent MeepleLock.png
Depending on the type of card, rotate (lie down) all followers on a feature of the corresponding type. From now on, all the followers added to that feature will lie down too. Once the cloister/road/city is completed, all the followers placed on it will remain on the tile until the end of the game. The players involved will only receive those points for the feature at the end of the game. [11] Points for the feature are awarded only at the end of the game. [12]
XmasPresent BreakTies.png
Depending on the type of card, if a road/city/cloister you own is tied, you gain an advantage (as if you had one more follower on the road/city/cloister). In the case that two players play such a card on the same road/city/cloister, they cancel each other out, so the tie is maintained.
Note: In a cloister, you can only have more than one monk by using a Cloister card. [13]

     These cards can be activated at any time during the game and are then placed in the discard pile. There is no mark at the bottom of these cards.

XmasPresent MeepleSwap.png
Depending on the type of card, exchange a follower on a cloister/city/road/farm for an opponent's follower on the same feature type.
XmasPresent Mastermind.png
Force the next player to place their tile in the location of your choosing.

     This card is activated at the end of the game. A Carcassonne mark (Carc-symbol.png) is placed at the bottom of the card.

XmasPresent BreakFarmTie.png
If you share a farm with an opponent, you gain an advantage (as if you had one more follower in the farm). In the case where two players play this card on the same farm, they cancel each other out, so the tie is maintained. [13]

Card Distribution

Total Cards: 64

Cloister Deck

XmasPresent Card01.png ×2
XmasPresent Card02.png ×2
XmasPresent Card03.png ×2
XmasPresent Card04.png ×2
XmasPresent Card05.png ×2
XmasPresent Card06.png ×2
XmasPresent Card07.png ×2
XmasPresent Card08.png ×2
XmasPresent Card09.png ×2
XmasPresent Card10.png ×2
XmasPresent Card11.png ×2
XmasPresent Card12.png ×2
XmasPresent Card13.png ×2
XmasPresent Card14.png ×2
XmasPresent Card15.png ×2
XmasPresent Card16.png ×2

Roadside Deck

XmasPresent Card17.png ×2
XmasPresent Card18.png ×2
XmasPresent Card19.png ×2
XmasPresent Card20.png ×2
XmasPresent Card21.png ×2
XmasPresent Card22.png ×2
XmasPresent Card23.png ×2
XmasPresent Card24.png ×2
XmasPresent Card25.png ×2
XmasPresent Card26.png ×2
XmasPresent Card27.png ×2
XmasPresent Card28.png ×2
XmasPresent Card29.png ×2
XmasPresent Card30.png ×2
XmasPresent Card31.png ×2
XmasPresent Card32.png ×2

Footnotes

For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.




  1. Interpretation from the Community The concept is so similar to The Gifts The Gifts, that it seems very likely that this expansion served as the inspiration for that one, though this expansion has many more cards and abilities.
  2. Interpretation from the Community When there are no cards left to draw, the discard pile is not re-shuffled.
  3. Interpretation from the Community The active player will choose and immediately score an uncompleted road where the player has the majority. The scoring will be performed as if after the game but considering 2 points per tile. The followers on the road will be removed.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Interpretation from the Community After scoring, the followers on the feature are returned to their owners with these cards.

     Official clarification from the publisher Question: The three cards shown below cause an immediate scoring affecting a road/city/monastery. Does this scoring cause the followers on the road/city/cloister to return to their players?

    Answer: Yes, the scoring does cause the followers to return to their players. (1/2023)

    XmasPresent ScoreUnfinishedRoad.png
    Score an uncompleted road you control for 2x points.
    XmasPresent ScoreUnfinishedCity.png
    Score an uncompleted city you control for +1 points per tile.
    XmasPresent ScoreUnfinishedCloister.png
    Score an uncompleted cloister you control for 1 point per tile (except for the cloister itself).
  5. Interpretation from the Community The active player will choose and immediately score an uncompleted city where the player has the majority. The scoring will be performed as if after the game but considering 2 points per tile (+1 point per tile at the end of the game). The followers in the city will be removed.
  6. Interpretation from the Community The active player will choose and immediately score an uncompleted cloister where the player has the majority (there may be several followers on a cloister with this expansion). The scoring will be performed as if after the game but considering 1 point per tile except for the tile with the cloister. The followers on the cloister will be removed.
  7. Interpretation from the Community The active player will score a completed road forming a loop where the player has the majority. The scoring will be performed as usual but considering 2 points per tile.
  8. Interpretation from the Community If the active player uses a Roadside card against you, you may use this card to cancel the action even if it not your turn.
  9. Interpretation from the Community The active player will score a completed city with pennants where the player has the majority. The scoring will be performed as usual but considering 2 points per tile and 3 points per pennant (i.e. +1 point per pennant).
  10. Interpretation from the Community The active player will score a completed city without pennants where the player has the majority. The scoring will be performed as usual but considering 3 points per tile (i.e. +1 point per tile).
  11. Interpretation from the Community If two features are joined together and one has rotated followers, the followers from the other are also rotated.
  12. Interpretation from the Community The feature and any associated bonuses will be evaluated when the feature is completed, including any temporary modifiers (e.g. scoring tiles, mage, witch...) or bonuses (e.g. the fairy scoring bonus, Markets of Leipzig bonuses, watchtowers...). At the end of the game, the players will receive these points for the feature. You may need to jot down all these deferred points to avoid forgetting them.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Interpretation from the Community If three or more players are tied for majority and two players activate tiebreaker cards, those two players will share the majority to the exclusive of any others.