Carcassonne: The Discovery
Carcassonne: The Discovery Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 84 landscape tiles (including 1 starting tile), which picture mountain, grassland, and sea segments. On the shores of some mountain and grassland segments, there are port cities.
- 25 followers in 5 colors. Each follower can be used as a brigand (in the mountains), as a navigator (on the seas), or as an explorer (in the grasslands). One of each player's followers is the player's scoring marker.
- 1 scoring track, used to track players' scores.
- 5 summary cards
- 1 rule booklet
Overview
The players place land tiles turn by turn. As they do so, the mountains, grasslands and seas emerge and grow. On these, the players can deploy their followers to score points both during the game and at the end. The player with the most points after the final scoring is the winner.
Preparation
Place the starting tile face up in the middle of the table. Shuffle the remaining landscape tiles face down and stack them in several face-down stacks so that all players have easy access to them. Place the scoring track near one edge of the table to leave room for the players to place land tiles in the middle of the table.
Each player takes a summary card and the 5 followers in his color and places one as his scoring marker on space 0 of the scoring track. Each player places his remaining 4 followers before him on the table as his supply. The players choose a starting player using any method they want.
Playing the Game
Players take turns, in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player. On a player's turn, he executes the following actions in the order shown:
- The player must draw and place a new land tile.
- The player may either deploy one of his followers from his supply on the landscape tile he just placed or score a territory by removing one of his previously deployed followers. Note that a player may never both deploy and remove a follower on the same turn.
When a player neither deploys nor withdraws a follower, he simply places a landscape tile and ends his turn.
1. Placing Landscape Tiles
First a player must draw a landscape tile from one of the face-down stacks. He looks at it, shows it to his fellow players (so they can advise him on the "best" placement of the tile), and places it on the table, using the following rules:
- The new tile must be placed with at least one edge abutting one previously placed tile. The new tile may not simply be placed corner to corner with a previous tile.
- The new tile must be placed so that all segments on the new tile continue any mountains, grasslands, and seas segments on all abutting tiles.
In the rare circumstance where a drawn tile has no legal placement (and all players agree), the player discards the tile from the game (into the box) and draws another tile.
2. Deploying Followers
After the player places a land tile, he may deploy one of his followers, using the following rules:
- The player may only play 1 follower on a turn.
- The player must take it from his supply.
- The player may only deploy it to the tile he just placed.
- The player must choose where to deploy the follower on the tile: as an explorer in the grasslands, as a brigand in the mountains, or as a navigator in the seas.
- The player may not deploy a follower on a mountain, grassland, or sea segment if that segment connects to a segment on another tile (no matter how far away) that already has a follower (from any player) on it.
Scoring a Territory
Instead of deploying a follower, a player can remove an already deployed follower and score the points for the territory where it was. The player moves his scoring marker forward on the scoring track a number of spaces equal to the points earned and places the removed follower back in his supply. He may deploy the follower in his next turn, if he chooses.
A player may remove a follower and score any territory where he has one or more followers, whether the territory is completed or not and whether the follower removed shares the territory with other followers or not.
Territory Values
The values of the territories are the following:
Grasslands
If the grassland is incomplete, it is worth 1 point for each segment of the grassland (count the numbers of tiles). Notice that an incomplete grassland can grow and be completed later.
If the grassland is complete (that is, completely surrounded by mountains or seas), it is worth 2 points for each segment of the grassland (count the numbers of tiles). Note that a complete grassland cannot grow either in size or in value.
In both cases, the presence of cities does not affect the value of the grassland.
Exception: when a complete grassland has just 2 tiles, it is worth only 2 points (instead of 4).
Example: an incomplete grassland has 4 tiles and Red — removing his follower — scores 4 points. A complete grassland has 5 tiles and Red — removing his follower — scores 5x2=10 points. A complete grassland has only 2 tiles: Red — removing his follower — scores only 2 points.
Mountain
If the mountain is incomplete, it is worth 1 point for each city located in that mountain and in all adjacent grasslands. Note that an incomplete mountain can grow and be completed later.
If the mountain is complete (that is, completely surrounded by grasslands or seas), it is worth 2 points for each city located in that mountain and in all adjacent grasslands. Note that a completed mountain cannot grow in size, but its value can increase, as new cities are added to adjacent grasslands.
Exception: when a completed mountain has just 2 tiles, it is worth only 1 point (instead of 2) per city.
Example: an incomplete mountain has 4 cities (1 in the same territory and 3 in adjacent grasslands) and Red — removing his follower — scores 4 points. A complete mountain: in the figure there are 5 cities, but just 4 (1 in the mountain and 3 in adjacent grasslands) score points; the 5th isn't in an adjacent grassland. Red — removing his follower — scores 4x2=8 points. A complete mountain has only 2 tiles: Red — removing his follower — scores only 4 points, 1 per city (it does not matter whether the adjacent grassland is complete or not nor how far from the mountain a city in the grassland is — a city may be several segments away as long as it can trace a connected path through the grassland to the mountain).
Seas
If the sea is incomplete, it is worth 1 point for each city located on its shores. Note that an incomplete sea can grow and be completed later.
If the sea is complete (that is completely surrounded by grasslands or mountains), it is worth 1 point for each city located on its shores plus 1 point for each segment of the sea (count the tiles). Note that a completed sea cannot grow either in size or in value.
Exception: when a completed sea has just 2 tiles, it is worth only 1 point for each city located on its shores.
Example: an incomplete sea has 2 cities on its shores and Red — removing his follower — scores 2 points. A complete sea has 3 cities on its shores and it has 4 tiles and Red — removing his follower — scores 3+4=7 points. A complete sea has only 2 tiles: Red — removing his follower — scores only 1 point, as there is 1 city on its shores.
A Territory with More Than One Follower
It is possible through clever placement of landscape tiles for there to be more than one explorer on a grassland, or more than one brigand on a mountain, or more than one navigator on a sea.
When this occurs, each follower is considered separately, as though it were alone. There are not majorities and minorities: each single follower can score the points for the territory.
For example, if a player has more followers in a territory, he may remove them in different turns, scoring for each the value of the territory when it is removed (note: he cannot remove them in the same turn).
Example: Red adds a tile and deploys a follower on the sea; he can do that because that sea, so far, is not connected to the sea with the yellow follower. Later, a new tile is added to join the 2 seas. Now both Red and Yellow have a navigator in the same sea and can score for this new, larger sea (so far only 4 points for the cities, as the sea is still incomplete, but the value may become much larger).
After Removing from an Incomplete Territory
When a player removes a follower from an incomplete territory, this territory (if it has no other followers) becomes empty and it is possible for a player, by placing a new tile that enlarges the territory, to deploy a follower on it.
Game End
At the end of the player's turn when the last landscape tile is placed, the game ends. Then follows the final scoring.
Final Scoring
Each player scores the points for his not yet removed followers, but note: to calculate the points, all the territories involved in the final scoring are considered incomplete, even if they are actually complete.
The player with the most points is the winner!
Variant Drawing Rule
At the beginning of the game, each player takes 2 tiles, randomly, which he keeps face up before him.
On a player's turn, he chooses one of his 2 tiles, places it and then draws another tile to have 2 tiles for his next turn.
Furthermore, at the beginning of the game, players may choose to remove some tiles from the game. Remove them randomly, but leave them face up near the scoring track. Remove 1 tile when playing with 2 or 5 players; remove 2 tiles when you play with 3 players; and 3 tiles when you play with 4 players. In this way, all players should have the same number of turns.