Difference between revisions of "The Gifts"

Revision as of 08:19, 18 April 2024

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With this mini-expansion released for the 20th anniversary of Carcassonne, you can receive gifts if you help your fellow players.

General info and comments

Expansion symbol

The Gifts was released by Hans im Glück in 2021.

Note: The expansion does not include printed rules. They can be downloaded from the product here in German and in English:

https://cundco.de/en/mini-expansions/carcassonne/390/carcassonne-the-gifts?c=35

This expansion has been developed for the Carcassonne basic game. All the basic game rules still apply in addition to the expansion rules below. You can combine it with other expansions - but at your own risk – that is, there will be no official rules for these combinations.

Rules

Preparation

Shuffle the 25 gift cards into one facedown deck.

Gameplay

This expansion only changes the course of action in step 1. Placing a tile. The following actions 2. Placing a meeple and 3. Scoring a feature are carried out as usual.

1. Placing a tile

Receiving a gift

If you place a tile in a way that it adds to a road or city of a fellow player, you receive a gift.

This means that:

Roads or cities that have been expanded must belong to someone else (after the tile has been placed) according to the majority rule. ^[2]
When your tile extends several roads and/or cities, you still only receive 1 gift.

Now draw the top card of the deck, take a look at it (without showing it to any other player) and place it face down in front of you.

Note: In case all gift cards have already been given out at this point, shuffle the discard pile into a new gift deck. If the rare case occurs that all gifts are lying "unopened" before the players, you do not receive a gift.

Example 1: You place your tile, adding to Blue’s road and take a gift for doing so. Without the blue meeple on the road, you would not receive a gift, because you share the majority in the city.

Opening a gift

After having drawn a tile, but before placing it, you may open exactly 1 gift. ^[3] ^[4]

To do so, turn over one of your gifts, resolve the action, then put it onto an open discard pile. ^[5]

There are 5 types of gifts:

Synod

Place a meeple from your supply onto any unfinished monastery (if possible).

The monastery can already be occupied by one or more meeple – yours or someone else’s.

The monastery may also be unoccupied.

Example 2: You use the card “Synod” and place a meeple onto the monastery 1, which is already occupied by a blue, a green and one of your own meeples. Now you place a tile and complete the monastery 2. You score 9 points, Blue and Green do not score any points.

Road Sweeper

Score any unfinished road right away. ^[6]

It is not necessary for you to have a meeple on the road.

After the road has been scored, all the meeples on it are returned to their owners. ^[7] ^[8]

Example 3: You score the road and receive 4 points and take your meeple back into your supply 1. Next you continue the road by placing your tile 2 and place the meeple back onto the road 3.

Cash Out

Take your own meeple from a feature (city, road, monastery, or field), put it back to your supply and score points for doing so.

You score 2 points for each meeple, placed on that feature – also for the one you are taking back.

Example 4: You take your meeple back from the city and score 6 points.

Change Position ^[1]

Change the position of one of your meeple on a tile.

If your meeple is standing on a road, a monastery or a city, place it lying down in a field on the same tile. If your meeple is lying down in a field, place it standing up on a road, city or monastery on the same tile.

You may place your meeple standing up or lying down onto features that are already occupied.

You may only change the position of the meeple from lying down to standing or standing to lying down. Moving the meeple between features such as a road, a city, or a monastery is not allowed. ^[9]

Example 5: You change the position of your meeple, placing it, lying down, onto the already occupied field next to the city.

Take 2

In addition to the tile you've just drawn, draw another one. ^[10] ^[11]

Now pick one of them and place it according to the usual rules. The other tile is shuffled back into the facedown stack of tiles.

2. Placing a meeple

When you place a tile, you may place a meeple on it according to the usual rules.

Note: This expansion does not affect this action.

3. Scoring a feature

When you complete one or more features (e.g. a monastery, a road etc.), you score them according to the usual rules.

Note: This expansion does not affect this action.

Final Scoring

At the end of the game, you score 2 points for each unopened gift in front of you.

Other expansions

This section contains additional information about the interactions with other Carcassonne expansions.

Synod

General comments:

This action may be used to place a meeple on any monastic buildings:

Monastery
Abbey (Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor)
Shrine (Exp. 6 - Count, King & Robber)
Special monasteries (Monasteries in Germany / Japaneses Buildings / Monasteries in Belgium & the Netherlands)
Darmstadt church (Darmstadt Promo)

You may not use this action to place a meeple on a garden (The Abbot) or a German cathedral (Cathedrals in Germany).

Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon

Adding a monk to a monastery with the fairy does not assign it automatically to the meeple, even if the fairy is alone.

Monasteries in Germany / Monasteries in the Netherlands & Belgium / Japanese Buildings

You may use this action to place a meeple as an abbot on a special monastery.

The Peasant Revolts

You can protect a meeple placed with this action if you pay 4 points.

Road Sweeper

General comments:

This action allows to trigger the scoring of any uncompleted road and leave it unoccupied. The road should be scored as if at the end of the game. This should be taken into consideration if the road is affected by other expansions.

Cash Out

General comments:

This action only applies to features that can be completed and scored:

Road
City
Monastic buildings (see Synod section above)
Field
Garden (The Abbot)
Castle (Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars)
German castle (Castles in Germany)
German cathedral (Cathedrals in Germany)
Baba Yaga's Hut (Russian Promos).
Acrobat spaces (Exp. 10 - Under the Big Top), no matter if the pyramid is uncompleted or completed

This action does not apply to features that cannot be completed and scored:

Special areas:
- City of Carcassonne (Exp. 6 - Count, King & Robber)
- City of Leipzig (The Markets of Leipzig)
- Wheel of Fortune (The Wheel of Fortune)
Towers (Exp. 4 The Tower)
Areas with trapped meeples:
- Bathhouse (The Barber-Surgeons)
- Solovei Razboynik (Russian Promos)
- Vodyanoy (Russian Promos)

Change Position ^[1]

General comments:

This action applies to meeples on normal features placed on a particular tile that can be completed and scored:

Road
City
Monastic buildings (see Synod section above)
Field
German castle (Castles in Germany)
German cathedral (Cathedrals in Germany)
Baba Yaga's Hut (Russian Promos)
Acrobat spaces (Exp. 10 - Under the Big Top):
- You can turn an acrobat into a farmer no matter if the pyramid is uncompleted or completed
- You can turn an farmer into an acrobat if the pyramid is uncompleted only

This action may not involve features not located on a particular tile or that cannot be completed or scored:

Special areas:
- City of Carcassonne (Exp.6 - Count, King & Robber)
- City of Leipzig (The Markets of Leipzig)
- Wheel of Fortune (The Wheel of Fortune)
Towers (Exp. 4 The Tower)
Areas triggering a meeple placement elsewhere:
- Magic portal (Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon)
- Flying machine (Mini #1 - The Flier (Flying Machines))
Areas with trapped meeples:
- Bathhouse (The Barber-Surgeons)
- Solovei Razboynik (Russian Promos)
- Vodyanoy tiles (Russian Promos)
Castles (Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars), since they are not placed on a particular tile

This action may only apply to meeples that can be farmers:

Normal meeple (Base game)
Large meeple (Exp. 1 - Inns and Cathedrals)
Ringmaster (Exp. 10 - Under the Big Top)
Guard meeple (Exp. 11 - Ghosts, Castles and Cemeteries)
Phantom (The Phantom)

This action may not be applied to meeples that cannot be farmers:

Abbot (Base game - The Abbot)
Mayor (Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor)
Wagon (Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor)

This action does not apply to special figures:

Pig (Exp. 2 - Traders and Builders)
Builder (Exp. 2 - Traders and Builders)
Barn (Exp. 5 - Abbey and Mayor)
Shepherd (Exp. 9 - Hills & Sheep)

Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders

The builder is removed when its last supporting meeple on the feature (road or city) is moved to an adjacent field.
The pig is removed when its last supporting farmer in the field is moved to a feature.
If you use this action to place a farmer in a field, you may place afterwords your pig in that field in 2. Placing a meeple.

Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon

Moving a meeple to a feature with the fairy does not assign it automatically to the meeple, even if the fairy is alone.

Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor

If you use this action to place a farmer in a field with a barn, the scoring of the farmer will take place in 3. Scoring a feature.

Monasteries in Germany / Monasteries in the Netherlands & Belgium / Japanese Buildings

This action may be used to place a meeple as an abbot on a special monastery.

The Peasant Revolts

You may protect a meeple placed with this action if you pay 4 points.

Take 2

Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor

This action will not have effect if you decide to place an abbey.

Halflings

This action will not have effect if you decide to place a Halfling from your supply.

Castles in Germany

This action will not have effect if you decide to place a German castle from your supply.

Fortune Teller

This action will not have effect if you decide to use your fortune teller(s).
This action may add an extra tile to choose from if you decide to use your fortune teller(s).

Tile distribution

Total cards: 25

×5

×5

×5

×5

×5

Footnotes

For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 The original name for this card in the English rules is "Change on the lie." We used this name instead to make it closer to the German wording.
↑
You have to consider the majority rule once you placed the tile, that is, at the end of 1. Placing a tile. Therefore, you may be just extending the road or city, or even connecting it to another feature, so the initial majority balance may be altered at this point.
This means that you receive a gift when:
- You extend a feature where you are not present but at least another player is after placing the tile.
- You extend a feature that you may share or not with other players but you don't have the majority after placing the tile.
This means that you do not receive a gift when:
- You extend a feature where you are not present but you obtain (or share) the majority after placing the tile.
- You extend a feature that you may share or not with other players but you have (or share) the majority after placing the tile.
Note that the rules do not take into consideration if the tile placement is completely beneficial for your opponents: you may receive a gift for extending a feature but you may be creating a situation where the feature cannot be completed or it is easier for you to obtain the majority in future turns. Lastly, it is irrelevant whether you complete the feature you extend.
↑ This action is optional. This means you open a gift when interested in the outcome.
If you open a gift that has no effect at a given point in the game, the gift will be just wasted.
↑ If you draw an unplaceable tile, you will discard it and draw a new one as many times as necessary until you draw a valid tile. At this point, you will be able to open a gift before placing the valid tile. As a consequence, if the last tile of the game is unplaceable, you will not be allowed to open a gift.

Question: What happens after drawing an unplaceable tile if you want to open a gift?

Answer: You are only allowed to open a gift once you draw a placeable tile. (4/2022)
↑ Discarded gift cards are placed face up on top of the discard pile.
↑ The road should be scored as an incomplete feature at the end of the game, taking into consideration the majority in the chosen feature.
↑ When using a Road Sweeper gift card on a road, you trigger its scoring and remove all the meeples on it afterwards. Since the road is left unoccupied before placing a tile, you may occupy it again during your turn, if possible.

Question: Whose meeples are removed when you use a Road Sweeper gift card on a road?

Answer: Like in other scorings, all the meeples on the road are removed afterwards, even those in minority or tied during the scoring. Afterwards, you may add a meeple to this road just unoccupied, for example, when adding a tile to it. (12/2021)
↑ This sentence has been reworded to match the clarifications provided. The original wording was misleading, assuming the active player had to remove only one meeple, if any present on the chosen road:
"After the road has been scored, the player's meeple is put back into their supply."
↑ In other words, you may change a meeple to another feature only if it requires a position change: a meeple standing on a road, in a city or on a monastery may become a meeple lying down in a field on the same tile and vice versa. Moving a meeple to another feature without a position change is not allowed (e.g. a meeple standing in a city cannot change its position directly to stand on a road, or a meeple laying in a field cannot change to another field).
This wording is based on the base game, where meeples are only placed lying down in fields but they are always standing on other features. So, in general terms, consider that the position change implies that a meeple on a non-field feature becomes a farmer on the same tile, or that a farmer moves to another non-field feature on the same tile. This is important when playing with some expansions that allow you to place a meeple on a non-field feature in a special position (placed sideways or even lying down).
↑ If there are no tiles left to draw a second tile, this gift will have no effect and you will play the only tile you have as usual.
↑ If you open a Take 2 gift card and the second tile you draw is unplaceable, you will discard it and draw a new one until you have two valid tiles. At this point, you will play one of them and discard the other. If there are no tiles left to draw a second placeable tile, this gift will have no effect and you will play the only tile you have as usual.

Question: If you open a Take 2 gift card and you draw an unplaceable second tile, how do you proceed?

Answer: You basically "ignore" the tiles that can't be placed until you have two valid options. (4/2022)

[change-position-renamed-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 The original name for this card in the English rules is "Change on the lie." We used this name instead to make it closer to the German wording.

[2] You have to consider the majority rule once you placed the tile, that is, at the end of 1. Placing a tile. Therefore, you may be just extending the road or city, or even connecting it to another feature, so the initial majority balance may be altered at this point.
This means that you receive a gift when:
You extend a feature where you are not present but at least another player is after placing the tile.

You extend a feature that you may share or not with other players but you don't have the majority after placing the tile.
This means that you do not receive a gift when:
You extend a feature where you are not present but you obtain (or share) the majority after placing the tile.

You extend a feature that you may share or not with other players but you have (or share) the majority after placing the tile.
Note that the rules do not take into consideration if the tile placement is completely beneficial for your opponents: you may receive a gift for extending a feature but you may be creating a situation where the feature cannot be completed or it is easier for you to obtain the majority in future turns. Lastly, it is irrelevant whether you complete the feature you extend.

[3] You extend a feature where you are not present but at least another player is after placing the tile.

[4] You extend a feature that you may share or not with other players but you don't have the majority after placing the tile.

[5] You extend a feature where you are not present but you obtain (or share) the majority after placing the tile.

[6] You extend a feature that you may share or not with other players but you have (or share) the majority after placing the tile.

[3] This action is optional. This means you open a gift when interested in the outcome.
If you open a gift that has no effect at a given point in the game, the gift will be just wasted.

[4] If you draw an unplaceable tile, you will discard it and draw a new one as many times as necessary until you draw a valid tile. At this point, you will be able to open a gift before placing the valid tile. As a consequence, if the last tile of the game is unplaceable, you will not be allowed to open a gift.

Question: What happens after drawing an unplaceable tile if you want to open a gift?

Answer: You are only allowed to open a gift once you draw a placeable tile. (4/2022)

[5] Discarded gift cards are placed face up on top of the discard pile.

[6] The road should be scored as an incomplete feature at the end of the game, taking into consideration the majority in the chosen feature.

[7] When using a Road Sweeper gift card on a road, you trigger its scoring and remove all the meeples on it afterwards. Since the road is left unoccupied before placing a tile, you may occupy it again during your turn, if possible.

Question: Whose meeples are removed when you use a Road Sweeper gift card on a road?

Answer: Like in other scorings, all the meeples on the road are removed afterwards, even those in minority or tied during the scoring. Afterwards, you may add a meeple to this road just unoccupied, for example, when adding a tile to it. (12/2021)

[8] This sentence has been reworded to match the clarifications provided. The original wording was misleading, assuming the active player had to remove only one meeple, if any present on the chosen road:
"After the road has been scored, the player's meeple is put back into their supply."

[9] In other words, you may change a meeple to another feature only if it requires a position change: a meeple standing on a road, in a city or on a monastery may become a meeple lying down in a field on the same tile and vice versa. Moving a meeple to another feature without a position change is not allowed (e.g. a meeple standing in a city cannot change its position directly to stand on a road, or a meeple laying in a field cannot change to another field).
This wording is based on the base game, where meeples are only placed lying down in fields but they are always standing on other features. So, in general terms, consider that the position change implies that a meeple on a non-field feature becomes a farmer on the same tile, or that a farmer moves to another non-field feature on the same tile. This is important when playing with some expansions that allow you to place a meeple on a non-field feature in a special position (placed sideways or even lying down).

[10] If there are no tiles left to draw a second tile, this gift will have no effect and you will play the only tile you have as usual.

[11] If you open a Take 2 gift card and the second tile you draw is unplaceable, you will discard it and draw a new one until you have two valid tiles. At this point, you will play one of them and discard the other. If there are no tiles left to draw a second placeable tile, this gift will have no effect and you will play the only tile you have as usual.

Question: If you open a Take 2 gift card and you draw an unplaceable second tile, how do you proceed?

Answer: You basically "ignore" the tiles that can't be placed until you have two valid options. (4/2022)

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Difference between revisions of "The Gifts"

Revision as of 08:19, 18 April 2024

Contents

General info and comments

Contents