Variants


Introduction

Variants are different versions of Carcassonne game that share the same set of rules.

Promos

Various promotional editions.

CutCassonne

 
 

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:

 Base Game
 River
 Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals
 Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders


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:

 Base Game
 Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders


Limited edition: Base game, Princess and Dragon

This limited edition was released by Hans im Glück in 2006.

Contents:

 Base Game
 Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon


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:

 Base Game


Limited edition: Wheel of fortune

 
Box front
 
Hidden certificate in the cover

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:

 Base Game
 The Crop Circles I


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:

 Base Game
 Exp. 6 - Count, King & Robber
 The Besiegers


Limited edition: Base game, Dutch monasteries

This limited edition was released by 999 Games in 2014.

Contents:

 Base Game
 Monasteries in the Netherlands & Belgium


15th Anniversary

Hans im Glück released the 15th Anniversary Edition of the game in 2016.

Contents:

 Base Game
 The Festival 15 years
 The Abbot
 River


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

 
RGG version
 
HiG version

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:

 Base Game
 Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals
 Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders
 Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor
 King


Russian Big Box 2

The Russian Big Box 2 was released in 2019 by Hobby World. The Bigbox has the name Royal Gift

Contents:

 Base Game
 The Abbot
 River
 The Princess & the Dragon
 Count, King & Robber
 Bridges, Castles & Bazaars


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:

 Base Game
 Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals
 Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders


Bundle: Base game, Traders and Builders, Princess and Dragon

This bundle was released in 2005.

Contents:

 Base Game
 Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders
 Exp. 3 - The Princess & the Dragon


Bundle: Base game, Tower

This bundle was released in 2007.

Contents:

 Base Game
 Exp. 4 - The Tower

Bundle: Base game, Catapult

This bundle was released in 2012.

Contents:

 Base Game
 Exp. 7 - The Catapult


Bundle: Base game II, Inns and Cathedrals II

This bundle was released in 2016.

Contents:

 Base Game
 Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals


Russian Compilation 1

The Russian Compilation 1 was released in 2011 by Hobby World. The compilation has the name Suburbans and Inhabitants

Contents:

 Exp. 1 - Inns & Cathedrals
 Exp. 2 - Traders & Builders
 Exp. 5 - Abbey & Mayor
 King


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:

 The Wheel of Fortune
 Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars


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:

 The Markets of Leipzig
 Monasteries in Germany
 German Cathedrals
 The Tollkeepers


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
  • Tile bag with scoring track printed on one side

Accessories:


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: