A clever tile-laying game. The southern French city of Carcassonne is famous for its unique Roman and Medieval fortifications. The players develop the area around Carcassonne and deploy their followers on the roads, in the cities, in the cloisters, and in the fields. The skill of the players to develop the area will determine who is victorious.

Special rules for the 12 river tiles: Remove the special starting tile from the game. Instead, begin the game by laying the spring that starts the river. Set aside the lake tile and schuffle the remaining 10 river tiles face down and draw from these before drawing from the tiles from the normal game. These tiles are played and followers may be played as in the normal game with one exception: a river tile may not be placed so that the river makes a "U" turn. Followers may not be placed on rivers. Once these 10 river tiles have been played, the next player plays the lake and then play continues with the normal tiles.

Components:

• 72 Land Tiles
• 40 Followers (8 × 5 Colors)
• 1 Scoring Track
• 1 Rule Booklet
• The River Expansion is now included with the Base Game (12 River Tiles)

Awards:

• 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.