Nuremberg has come and gone, and with the precision of clockwork, it brought us yet another member of the Carcassonne family. This time it's Die Kinder von Carcassonne, or the Children of Carcassonne. Well, we didn't have a version for the little ones yet, did we?

Summary of play

The Children of Carcassonne uses the same idea as the parent game: lay tiles and put your meeples on them. The tiles have only roads on them (with some buildings to add atmosphere), and the roads are on all sides of each tile. So you can place them wherever you want, because they'll always match. A big difference with basic Carcassonne is that you don't place your meeple when laying a tile. Most of the tiles show one or two children on the road (or roads) on the tile. If a road is closed on both ends, meeples are placed on the children with the corresponding colours.

Each player starts with eight kiddiemeeples. The first to place them all on the tiles wins the game.

Comment

I didn't expect too much of the Children of Carcassonne. I mean, after all, how good could the umpteenth version be of a game that has since long jumped the shark? Boy, was I wrong. The reversing of the meeple placement (when finishing rather than starting a road) was a stroke of genius to create a simple yet wonderful junior version. It actually introduces very young children to the basic concepts of strategy and tactics. There's no memory, concentration or dexterity involved, like in many other childrens' games. It's just them and their wits, and a healty dose of luck of course.

I just love seeing my five year old making tactical moves, helping her own position or even hindering mine. And I she loves it too, because she always requests another game when we finish. Where I sometimes suspect her of humouring me if I suggest playing a game, her enthousiasm here is genuine.

Besides being a good game overall, the looks are just great. The kiddiemeeples are nice and big, as are the tiles. The illustrations on the tiles are nice and fitting for a kids' game, showing lots of animals the children of Carcassonne supposedly chase according to the background story.

Verdict

I can't help it, but the Children of Carcassonne is a smash hit with my kids, my wife and me. The bits are very good, as is the gameplay. Since (almost) every child is a closet gamer, one could see this as the ultimate 'gateway game' for children, as it's based around tactics rather than around memory, concentration or dexterity, just like these games of ours we so dearly love.

So from the perspective of children and their game-loving parents, I can only give the Children of Carcassonne the highest possible rating. I can wholeheartedly recommend this to every geek with young children.

Just got this and definitely agree - - excellent implementation, and makes the Catan kids look a bit weak.

Wow. I had no idea such a beast existed.

It sounds like a really clever re-implimentation of the system. After the disappointment of the Catapult, this actually gives me hope for Carcassonne.

This is a terrific for younger children. By switching when meeples are placed, the game is transformed for something out of reach into something fun and accessible. My 5 year old understands the mechanics of Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, for instance, but doesn't really have any idea of how to play it. It only took him about 5 minutes to really get into The Kids of Carcassonne and start to engage with the game, thinking about how to place his tile, and so on. My 9 year old, while initially being slightly sniffy about playing a "young kids" game, quickly came round too.

It's a super game - easy to play, nice big meeples, chunky colourful tiles. Really pleased I bought it. I can see us playing it a lot.

This game is great with my 3 and 4 year olds. They get so excited when they get to place one of their meeples on the board. It's definitely a great game to develop enthusiasm for board games in your kids!