The City Base Game

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Box City2nd RGG.png

Originally released by Hans im Glück in 2004, Carcassonne: The City is a tile-laying game for 2-4 players, ages 8 and up. It is based on the Carcassonne game system from Klaus Jürgen Wrede, but is not compatible with any of the other games.

The game uses many of the standard Carcassonne game concepts. Players create the old town by laying tiles. As the town grows, the walls are built around it, starting from a single wooden gate. The wall is created from wooden pieces forming a 3d version of the medieval town at the end of the game. Each player also receives several cylindrical wooden towers (how many depends on the number of players), giving the town walls added impact.

"The impressive city of Carcassonne was a magnet for tourists from all lands even in The Middle Ages. Its large markets, grandiose homes and busy streets ade the whole city a popular attraction. Here is your chance to build the city of Carcassonne! Players build walls, build towers, found markets, and place followers in the normal way. At the end, you will all enjoy looking at the beautiful 3-D city you have built!"

Contents

  • 70 wall pieces
  • 2 short walls
  • 1 city gate
  • 12 towers
TheCity WallPieces.jpg

(l-r): standard wall piece, short wall piece, city gate, tower

  • 32 followers in 4 colours
TheCity Followers.jpg
  • 2 bags to hold the city tiles and wooden pieces
TheCity Bag.jpg
  • 1 scoring track
TheCity Scoretrack.jpg
  • 75 city tiles which show different street segments, residential areas, markets and buildings

The goal

The players work together to build the city of Carcassonne with residential areas, markets (fish, grain, and livestock), streets and walls.

Through the clever placement of their followers, they score points during and at the end of the game.

Preparation

Each player takes 8 followers in a selected colour, places one on the 0 space of the scoring track, and puts the rest as their supply, on the table in front of them (their play area).

TheCity TileStacks.jpg

The players divide the 12 towers equally amongst themselves

Shuffle the tiles face down and place in 3 stacks. The first stack should contain 30 tiles, the second stack 25, and the third stack 20. The fastest way to do this is to create three equal stacks (with 25 tiles), and then move 5 tiles from the third stack to the 1st stack. Place the first stack within reach of all the players.

Place the other two stacks, the 70 wall tiles, the 2 short wall tiles, and the city gate aside for now. They will be used later in the game.

The players choose a starting player. That player begins by drawing the top-most tile from the 1st stack and placing it face-up in the middle of the table. The player may place one of their followers on one of the features (street, market, or residential area) of the tile. The rules for placing followers are described later.

Playing the game

The players take turns in clockwise order, following the starting player. A player, on their turn, takes the following actions in the order show:-

  1. The player must draw a new tile and add it to the city
  2. the player may place a follower from their supply on the just added tile
  3. If the just added tile completed a street or a market, the players must now score it

Adding tiles to the city

As their first action, the player must draw the top-most tile from the 1st stack and add it to the city as follows :-

  • The player must place the added tile (shown with a red border in all examples) with at least one side directly adjacent to one or more already placed tiles. A player may not place a tile so that the only other tile it touches is at a corner.
  • The player must place added tiles such that streets are continued (when present). All other tiles features may be placed next to each other without regard for matching the features.
TheCity Ex01 ContinueStreet.jpg
TheCity Ex02 AdjacentPlacement.jpg
TheCity Ex03 InvalidPlacement.jpg
Street segments must
be continued
A residential area may be
placed next to a market
This is not allowed as the added
tile does not continue the street
from the previous tile

Placing followers

After adding a tile, the player may place one of their followers as follows :-

  • The player may only place 1 follower
  • the player must take the follower from their supply
  • the player may only place the follower on the tile just added
  • the player must carefully place the follower on one of the segments on the tile - either as ...
a Citizen a Seller a Steward
TheCity Ex04 Citizen.jpg
or as
TheCity Ex04 Seller.jpg
or as
TheCity Ex04 Steward.jpg
on a street segment
(standing)
on a market
(standing)
on a residential area
(place lying down
in either of
the shown locations)

Placement restrictions

If the added tile continues a street, market or residential area from previous tiles with a follower, the player may not place a follower on that feature (even if the other follower is of the same colour). It matters not how far away the other follower is, as long as it is on a continuation of the feature. When a player adds a tile that completes a market or a street that has no previous follower, the player may not place a follower on that feature. The three examples below should help to make these rules clear.

TheCity Ex05 Place1.jpg
TheCity Ex06 Place2.jpg
TheCity Ex07 Place3.jpg
Red may only place a steward.
In the extended market,
there is already a blue seller
Blue may place a follower as a seller
or a citizen, or as a steward
on the small residential area (red arrow)
as there is already a blue steward
on the large residential area.
Blue may not place a follower
on the empty market,
as it was completed by placing the tile.

When a player has no more followers in their supply, they continue to play tiles (but no followers). This lack of followers is usually short-lived, as players get followers back when they score them.

If, through the placement of a tile, a street or a market was completed, the players now score the completed feature. Residential areas are not scored at this time.

Now, the player's turn is over and the next player, in clockwise order, takes their turn.

Scoring completed streets and markets

Red scores 3 points (3 tiles)

A completed street

A street is complete when the street segments on each end of the street terminate in a crossing, another feature or, later in the game, against a wall. A street is also complete when it forms a closed loop. Between the end points, a street can have any number of street segments, but the player's score is based on the number of tiles in the street.

Red scores 8 points (4 tiles)

For a completed street with 1-3 tiles, the player with the citizen on the street scores 1 point for each tile along the length of the street (number of tiles in the street, not number of segments).

For a completed street with 4 or more tiles, the player with the citizen on the street scores double the points described above (number of tiles x 2).

Players immediately record their points by moving their followers on the scoring track a number of spaces forwards equal to the amount scored. When a player's marker passes 0 (50 points) the follower should be placed on its side to indicate it has scored 50+ points.

A completed market

A market is complete when it cannot be further continued (it is bordered on all sides) and has no empty spaces within it. A market can have any number of tiles.

For a completed market, the player with the seller on the market scores points equal to the number of tiles in the market multiplied by the number of different kinds of market (fish, grain, livestock). Only the first occurrence of a kind of market counts towards the score of the multiplier. Multiple occurrences of the same kind of market add nothing to the score of the market.

Blue scores 9 points
(3 different kinds of market x 3 tiles = 9 points)
Blue scores 8 points
(2 different kinds of market x 4 tiles = 8 points)

What happens when several followers stand on a completed street or market?

The new tile connects two separate markets and completes the combined market. Only in this way can several followers be in a feature.
Red and blue both score full points, in this case 18 points (3 kinds x 6 tiles), as each ties with the most sellers (1) on the market.

Through clever tile and follower placement, it is possible for a completed street or market to have several followers. This happens when separate features are connected. In this case, the player with the most followers on the feature scores all the points. When players tie with the most followers on a feature, each scores the full points. Players not tied for the most, score nothing.

The remaining rules and images will follow shortly

Special rules for 2 players

With 2 players the number of walls built is doubled.

  • After scoring during the 2nd stack each player builds 2 walls
  • After scoring when using the third stack, each player builds 4 walls

The players take turns building 1 wall each until they have built 2 or 4 walls.

In the very first wall building round with the 2nd stack, the player whose tile placement caused the scoring builds the city gate first, then the other player builds 1 wall, then the tile placing player builds 1 wall and, finally, the other player builds 1 wall.

Tile Distribution

Total Regular Tiles: 75

TheCity Tile 01.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 02.jpg  x4
TheCity Tile 03.jpg  x4
TheCity Tile 04.jpg  x3
TheCity Tile 05.jpg  x2
TheCity Tile 06.jpg  x2
TheCity Tile 07.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 08.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 09.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 10.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 11.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 12.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 13.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 14.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 15.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 16.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 17.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 18.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 19.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 20.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 21.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 22.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 23.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 24.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 25.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 26.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 27.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 28.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 29.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 30.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 31.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 32.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 33.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 34.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 35.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 36.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 37.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 38.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 39.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 40.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 41.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 42.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 43.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 44.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 45.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 46.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 47.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 48.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 49.jpg  x2
TheCity Tile 50.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 51.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 52.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 53.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 54.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 55.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 56.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 57.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 58.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 59.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 60.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 61.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 62.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 63.jpg  x1
TheCity Tile 64.jpg  x1


Footnotes

For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.