Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which the players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, etcetera. Having placed a tile, the player can then decide to place one of his meeples on one of the areas on it: on the city as a knight, on the road as a robber, on a cloister as a monk, or on the grass as a farmer. When that area is complete, that meeple scores points for its owner.

During a game of Carcassonne, players are faced with decisions like: "Is it really worth putting my last meeple there?" or "Should I use this tile to expand my city, or should I place it near my opponent instead, giving him a hard time to complete his project and score points?" Since players place only one tile and have the option to place one meeple on it, turns proceed quickly even if it is a game full of options and possibilities.

Carcassonne Expansion Wiki

Large Expansions:
1. Inns & Cathedrals (2002)
2. Traders & Builders (2003)
3. The Princess & the Dragon (2005)
4. The Tower (2006)
— Kreivi ja Kuningas (2006, Lautapelit.fi only. Repackaged mini expansions.)
5. Abbey & Mayor (2007)
6. Count, King & Cult (2008, HiG only. Repackaged mini expansions.)
- Count, King & Robber (2013, Z-Man. Repackaged mini expansions)
7. The Catapult (2008)
— Wheel of Fortune (2009, can replace base game)
8. Bridges, Castles & Bazaars (2010)
9. Hills & Sheep (2014)

Small Expansions:

• The River (2001)
• King & Scout (2003. Included in Count, King & Cults.)
• Die Katharer (The Cathars) (2004, Spielbox only)
• The Count of Carcassonne (2004. Included in Count, King & Cults.)
• The River II (2005. Included in Count, King & Cults.)
• Games Quarterly Expansion "GQ11" (2006, Games Quarterly only)
• The Cult (2008. Included in Count, King & Cults and Cult, Siege & Creativity)
• Cult, Siege & Creativity (2008, Rio Grande only. Includes The Cult and a remake of The Cathars.)
• Der Tunnel (The Tunnel) (2009)
• The Corn Circles (2010)
• The Plague (2010)
• The Festival (2011. Included in Carcassonne: 10 Year Special Edition.)
• The Phantom (2011)
• Die Schule (The School) (2011, Hans im Glück only)
• The Houses (2012, Spielbox)
• Die Windrosen (The Compass Rose) (2012, Carcassonne On Tour/2013, spielbox issue 05)
• Die Belagerer (The Besiegers) (2013, Included in Müller Exklusiv-Edition/2014, Hans im Glück)
• Die Klöster (The Monasteries in Germany) (2014, Carcassonne On Tour/2014)
• Halb so Wild (Halflings) (2014, Spielbox)
• Halb so Wild II (Halflings II) (2014, Hans im Glück)
• Darmstadt (2014, Hans im Glück)

Carcassonne Minis:
1. The Flying Machines (2012)
2. The Messages (2012)
3. The Ferries (2012)
4. The Goldmines (2012)
5. Mage & Witch (2012)
6. The Robber (2012)
7. The Corn Circles 2 (2012. Six new tiles for the Corn Circles expansion.)

Awards

• 2012 Ludo Award Winner
• 2004 Vuoden Perhepeli Winner.
• 2002 Årets Spel Winner, Best Family Game.
• 2001 Spiel des Jahres Winner, Game of the Year.
• 2001 Deutscher Spiele Preis Winner, Game of the Year.
• 2001 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee, Game of the Year.
• 2001 Spiel der Spiele Hit Games with Friends Winner.
• 2000 Meeples' Choice Award Winner.

Online Play

• BrettspielWelt (real-time, with expansions)
• Aso Brain Games (real-time, with Inns and Cathedrals and Traders and Builders expansions)
• Xbox LIVE Arcade (real-time, officially licensed, with King and Scout, River and River II expansions)
• Apple iOS (real-time, asynchronous, officially licensed)
• Concarneau (real-time, asynchronous, web-based, with Inns and Cathedrals and Traders and Builders expansions)

Microbadges

Components (Rio Grande Base Game):

• 72 Land Tiles
• 40 Followers (8 × 5 Colors)
• 1 Scoring Track
• 1 Rule Booklet
• Before 2010 the base set also included The River

Special Editions

The table below indicates which expansions were included in the various compiled editions that have been available (✓ included; – not included):

List of Carcassonne promotional items and where to obtain them