Variants
Introduction
Variants are different versions of Carcassonne game that share the same set of rules.
Promos
Various promotional editions.
CutCassonne
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10 cut-n-play tiles for Carcassonne in the Second Edition style introduced in 2014 that were hidden on the bottom of the gift box "Hans im Päckchen" given at out Essen 2014. No meeples were included.
You may cut out the tiles from the box and glue them on blank tiles, and use them as an expansion.
CutCassonne has the darker city backgrounds.
See rules for them here.
Carcassonne Demo-Spiel
Promotional mini game version of Carcassonne contained in the 999 Games 25th anniversary box in 2015. The game is for two players and contains 20 smaller tiles and 8 smaller meeples in red and blue (4 of each). No scoreboard is provided, and all base game rules apply, except farmers. Also released by Hans im Glück in a German edition.
Carcassonne Demo-Spiel has the darker city backgrounds.
See the rules here.
Carcassonne Solo Variant
Promotional variant based on the base game released in April 2020 during the "Stay at Home" campaign. Hans im Glück published downloadable rules (in German and in English) for a one-player collaborative variant where the player (or a team) has to score the maximum number of points possible.
It follows the usual rules of the base game with some modifications:
- It uses 3 sets of meeples only (4 meeples each in 3 colors), and optional one abbot in another color as turn tracker.
- Scoring meeples on the scoreboard are placed initially in specific spaces.
- A stack with one third of the tiles is assigned to each color.
- Meeples must placed whenever there is an unoccupied feature (except fields).
- Only the meeple(s) with the least number of points can score a completed feature.
- The game ends when the player cannot place more tiles or cannot place a meeple in a turn (ran out of meeples in one color).
- The final scoring is based on the number of meeples placed on the board.
See the rules here
Carcassonne Print-and-Play Demo
Print-and-play game version of Carcassonne released in April 2020 during the "Stay at Home" campaign. Hans im Glück published downloadable rules in German and in English (the latter provided by ZMG).
The game is for two to five players and includes 48 smaller tiles and a scoreboard to be printed and cut. Players have also to provide their colored pieces to serve as meeples: 5 for the game and 1 optional for the scoreboard, if used. All base game rules apply, except farmers.
See the rules here.
Limited Editions
Limited Edition 2003
The Limited Edition was released in 2003, and is considered by some as Big Box 0 or, at least, the precursor to the Big Box series.
Contents:
Limited edition: Base game, Traders and Builders
This limited edition was released by Hans im Glück in 2004, and was supplied in a metal box.
Contents:
Limited edition: Base game, Princess and Dragon
This limited edition was released by Hans im Glück in 2006.
Contents:
Tchibo-Edition
This was sold exclusively by the German trade company Tchibo from 2007. It was packaged with El Grande in a metal box.
Contents:
Limited edition: Wheel of fortune
This limited edition was released by Hans im Glück in 2009. From the outside the limited edition is not recognizable as such, only when you take a look in the cover you will find the corresponding certificate. The first 500 copies were signed by the book author Helene-Luise Köppel and the game designer Klaus-Jürgen Wrede.
Contents:
The Wheel of Fortune
- Novel "Wheel of Fortune" by Helene-Luise Köppel
Limited edition: Base game, Crop circles
This limited edition was released by Hans im Glück in 2010.
Contents:
10th Anniversary
Hans im Glück released the 10th Anniversary Edition of the game in 2011 packaged in a giant blue meeple-shaped case to mark the 10th Anniversary of Carcassonne.
Contents:
Base Game
The Festival
- A meeple-shaped scoreboard
- 5 sets of colored, translucent meeples
Müller Exklusiv-Edition
This was sold exclusively by the German trade company Müller from 2013. It was packaged in a metal box.
Contents:
Limited edition: Base game, Dutch monasteries
This limited edition was released by 999 Games in 2014.
Contents:
15th Anniversary
Hans im Glück released the 15th Anniversary Edition of the game in 2016.
Contents:
Saint Nicholas Scoring Board
The Saint Nicholas Scoring Board is a variant based on a scoreboard for Carcassonne II that was sold by cundco.de exclusively on Saint Nicholas Day in 2016. It was a limited edition of 150 items.
Two scoreboard spaces are marked with stickers:
- Space number 6 has a Santa Claus hat.
- Space number 24 has a Christmas tree.
The scoreboard is signed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede.
See the rules here
Limited Special Edition 2018
This was sold exclusively by CundCo from 2018. This was a special edition of the Carcassonne game in the form of a medieval book. The product was handcrafted using natural materials like vegetable tanned leather and hand-made paper.The edition was strictly limited to 100 copies with 80 copies available for sale to Carcassonne fans. Each copy was individually numbered, and accompanied by a certificate of authentication.
Contents:
- Base Game (First Edition artwork)
20th Anniversary Edition
Hans im Glück released the 20th Anniversary Edition of the game in 2021. It comes with the base game, but upgraded with a high gloss, UV spot print on all the tiles and the blue and golden box to truly make the details shine, while the tiles themselves are upgraded with brand new illustrations and decorated with characters. This edition brings 20 new tiles, including a 20th Anniversary expansion with 15 tiles and a new river with 5 more tiles than other rivers and a double-sized tile river source. This edition includes normal meeples and abbots for 5 players, and meeple stickers to personalize the meeples.
This edition has cities with clipped buildings.
Contents:
- 20th Anniversary Base Game
The Abbot
20th Anniversary River
20th Anniversary Expansion
- A sheet with meeple stickers
Big Boxes
Carcassonne Big Boxes are a good (and usually cheaper) way for players wanting to get started with the game of Carcassonne as they typically contain a copy of the base game and a number of major, and sometimes minor, expansions. These have been released every few years, with a slightly different set of expansions each time. The following Big Boxes have been released.
Big Box
The first Big Box was released in 2006 by Hans im Glück.
Contents:
- Base Game
- River (RGG only)
Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals
Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders (without the cloth bag for tiles)
Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon
Exp. 4 - The Tower
The German edition of Big Box did not include The River (thanks to kettlefish)
Big Box 2
Big Box 2 was released in 2008 by HiG.
Contents:
- Base Game
- Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals
- Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders (without the cloth bag for tiles)
- Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon
Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor
Exp. 6 - Count, King & Robber
Big Box 3
Big Box 3 was released in 2010 by HiG.
Contents:
- Base Game
- Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals
- Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders (without the cloth bag for tiles)
- Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon
- Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor
Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars
Big Box 4
Big Box 4 was released in 2012 by HiG.
Contents:
- Base Game
- Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals
- Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders (without the cloth bag for tiles)
Mini #1 - The Flying Machines
Mini #2 - The Messages
Mini #3 - The Ferries
Mini #4 - The Goldmines
Mini #5 - Mage & Witch
Mini #6 - The Robbers
Mini #7 - The Crop Circles
- 6 blank tiles
Big Box 5
Big Box 5 was released in 2014 by HiG.
Contents:
- Base Game (modified version with additional Wheel of Fortune symbols on some tiles)
- River III (special edition of River I with vineyards and printed sheep)
- Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals (including 8 50/100 points tiles instead of 6)
- Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders (without the cloth bag for tiles)
Exp. 9 - Hills & Sheep (without the cloth bag for sheep and wolf tokens)- The Wheel of Fortune (different version than the standalone version)
- Sets of pink and purple figures for players 7th/8th
Big Box 6
Big Box 6 was released in 2017 by HiG.
Contents:
- Base Game
- The Abbot
- River
- Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals (including 8 50/100 points tiles instead of 6)
Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders (without the cloth bag for tiles)- Mini #1 - The Flying Machines
- Mini #2 - The Messengers
- Mini #3 - The Ferries
- Mini #4 - The Goldmines
- Mini #5 - Mage & Witch
- Mini #6 - The Robbers
- Mini #7 - The Crop Circles
Big Box 7 (Big Box v3.0)
Big Box 7 was released in 2021 by HiG. The Bigbox has the name Big Box v3.0 or Big Box 2022 in some countries. The Bigbox has cities with clipped buildings.
Contents:
- Base Game
- The Abbot
- River C3 (source tile has a road added and the lake tile has a monastery added)
- Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals (including 8 50/100 points tiles instead of 6)
- Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders (without the cloth bag for tiles)
- Mini #1 - The Flying Machines
- Mini #2 - The Messengers
- Mini #3 - The Ferries (one tile has 4 road segments instead of 3)
- Mini #4 - The Goldmines
- Mini #5 - Mage & Witch
- Mini #6 - The Robbers
- Mini #7 - The Crop Circles
- 3 blank tiles
Russian Big Box 1
The Russian Big Box 1 was released in 2013 by Hobby World. The Bigbox has the name Royal Gift
Contents:
Russian Big Box 2
The Russian Big Box 2 was released in 2019 by Hobby World. The Bigbox has the name Royal Gift
Contents:
Bundles
The following bundles have been released.
Bundle: Base game, Inns and Cathedrals, Traders and Builders
We suspect that this bundle was released in 2003, or possibly 2004.
Contents:
Bundle: Base game, Traders and Builders, Princess and Dragon
This bundle was released in 2005.
Contents:
Bundle: Base game, Tower
This bundle was released in 2007.
Contents:
Bundle: Base game, Catapult
This bundle was released in 2012.
Contents:
Bundle: Base game II, Inns and Cathedrals II
This bundle was released in 2016.
Contents:
Russian Compilation 1
The Russian Compilation 1 was released in 2011 by Hobby World. The compilation has the name Suburbans and Inhabitants
Contents:
Russian Compilation 2
The Russian Compilation 2 was released in 2012 by Hobby World. The compilation has the name Nobles and Towers
Contents:
- Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon
- Exp. 4 - The Tower
The Count of Carcassonne- River II
Heretics and Shrines- The Crop Circles I
Russian Wheel of Fortune
The Russian Wheel of Fortune was released in 2012 by Hobby World.
Contents:
Russian Compilation 3
The Russian Compilation 3 was released in 2014 by Hobby World. The compilation has the name Science & Magic
Contents:
- Mini #1 - The Flying Machines
- Mini #2 - The Messages
- Mini #3 - The Ferries
- Mini #4 - The Goldmines
- Mini #5 - Mage & Witch
- Mini #6 - The Robbers
- Mini #7 - The Crop Circles
Mini-Bundle I
The Mini-Bundle I was released in 2023 by Hans im Glück. It includes 4 mini expansions converted to C3 that were also released separately the same year. This bundle was also released in several countries by their local publishers.
Contents:
Travel Editions
Carcassonne Travel Edition
The Travel Edition was released in 2007.
The tile size of the Travel Edition is smaller than the regular game, so it is not possible to add any expansion for the regular game, except 
The Phantom expansion. Meeples, too, are smaller than normal.
Contents:
- 72 landscape tiles
- 40 meeples in five colours - 8 each in red, yellow, green, blue, and black
- Drawstring bag with scoring track printed on one side.
- Note: The second printing of the Dutch edition does not include the drawstring bag. Instead, a meeple-shaped scoring track is printed on the back of the box.
Accessories:
- Grey 12mm Meeples for adding a sixth player
- 12mm Phantoms
Carcassonne for 2
Carcassonne for 2 was released by Hans im Glück in 2017.
It is a two-player version of Carcassonne that comes in a small metal box. There is no score track.
Contents:
- 48 landscape tiles (subset of the standard base game with additional tiles in other configurations)
- 12 meeples in two colours - 6 each in red and blue
Accessories:
- 12mm Meeples in a variety of colours, for expanding the game beyond 2 players
- 12mm Phantoms
- Medium drawstring bag