Customer Reviews:
 A neat twist on the Carcassonne theme January 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For those new to this series, the idea is brilliantly simple. You pick up a tile at random which has on it a top-down view of part of the interior to a castle. By placing it on the table, you gradually build up a map, which in itself makes for an attractive play area. Obviously the piece that you play must 'fit in' with what is already on the table. In doing so, you may start (or continue) a pathway, a building, or a tower. You have a stock of people (or 'meeples', as they are often called), and you can optionally place one of them on the tile you have just laid, provided your opponent has not already laid claim to that particular feature on a previous turn. When, on subsequent turns, the path, building or tower is completed (i.e, when you cannot make it any bigger) then that element is scored, and your meeple returns to your stock, so they can be played again at a later time. Ultimately, the player who scores the most points will win the game.
There is considerable scope for strategy and thinking ahead. You only have a limited number of meeples, for a start, so you need to be careful. If you just lay them down willy-nilly you will soon have none left and will not be able to take advantage of 'quick points' where, by laying a tile you immediately complete a feature that had no other player on it. And clearly it is very important to consider the best place to lay the tile that you have drawn - there will usually be several places where it will fit.
A major difference between this game and the original version is that the original one, being a map of the whole area, is only restricted by the size of your table - you can expand the map in whichever direction you want. In 'The Castle', the play area is pre-defined by the castle walls, which also form the counting track where you score your completed features. This leads to another interesting difference. At the start of the game, 'bonus' tiles are laid face down at certain points around the walls - an example would be 'score 5 extra points in the final reckoning', or 'score double for one completed tower'. The first person to land on a square covered by the bonus tile, gets it. This adds a whole new element to the game, as it is not unusual to find people deliberately NOT playing a meeple until they know that the score will get them to the next bonus tile.
In conclusion, then, this is highly recommended, for newbies and old hands alike. For newbies, this serves as a good introduction to the world of Carcassonne, in that it is a shorter game which is deliberately restricted - I can't imagine how anyone could issue an expansion for this one! - and yet it includes all the main elements of the original. For old hands, there are subtle differences in gameplay, plus it is only for two players, so it feels 'familiar, yet different'.
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