20 YEARS OF CARCASSONNE: THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
by Chris Wray
Few games achieve the commercial and critical acclaim of Carcassonne. Following its 2001 Spiel des Jahres win, Carcassonne and its spinoffs have gone on to sell tens of millions of copies. The game gave us the iconic meeple (both the shape, and the word) and revolutionized the tile-placement mechanic. It has spawned dozens of expansions, dozens more promos, and inspired countless other games. It is available in dozens of languages. This mega-hit recently received a new 20th Anniversary Edition.
This partially a lookback on the history and success of the game, and partially a review of anew, limited-time 20th Anniversary Edition release. (Z-man Games, for 2 to 5 players, ages 7 and up, 40 minutes, $49.99)
Designer Klaus-Jürgen Wrede had the idea for Carcassonne when he was touring the south of France on vacation in the late 1990s. He was tracing the history of the crusade against the Cathars for a novel he was writing, and his travels took him through a region covered with castles and walled cities. He fell in love with the landscape, everything from the countryside to one of the huge, fortressed cities, Carcassonne.
His trip gave him an idea for a game where the players imitate the growing of cities and castles. The first prototype was completed soon after he returned from vacation, but it was more complex than he had hoped: he wanted the game to have simple, intuitive rules while still featuring a strategic touch. He started reducing the game to its essentials, experimenting with different iterations. He painted the first tiles by hand with watercolors. The first prototype was ready by early 2000.
Wrede—who was, at the time, a completely unknown game designer—sent the rules and some photographs for Carcassonne (plus similar materials for a couple of other games) to Hans im Glück. They landed on the desk of Dirk Geilenkeuser, who saw potential in the game. The publisher asked for the prototype, testing it in Germany and in the United States before HiG agreed to publish it in May 2000. The game then entered development, with HiG hurrying to have it ready by October.
Legendary artist Doris Matthäus did the game’s illustrations. Bernd Brunnhofer (founder of Hans im Glück) that gave the game its most iconic feature: the meeple. Wooden figurines representing people weren’t new to boardgaming, but Carcassonne was the first game to use the shape of the modern meeple. One account of the history of meeples attributes the word itself to gamer Alison Hansel, who used the term when playing Carcassonne in November 2000 as a portmanteau of “my people.”
The game went viral shortly after its release. It was featured in the Summer 2001 Gamers Alliance Report. It won the Spiel des Jahres in 2001, a strong year that featured nominees or recommendations from Reiner Knizia, Alan Moon, and Uwe Rosenberg, among others. After the relative complexity of Tikal and Torres, the SdJ jury veered towards a lighter game, praising the simple yet tactical gameplay of Carcassonne. The game won the Deutscher Spiele Preis that year, and it received a nomination for the Gamers’ Choice Award (which would become the International Gamers Award).
The game remained mostly the same until 2014, when the artwork was updated. The back of the tiles has remained mostly the same over the years, to allow owners of the new and old editions to still use expansion. But the new artwork has bolder colors and more detailed illustrations. Many of the early expansions—including nearly all of the major expansions—received updates to correspond with the update. Just a couple of months ago, alongside new products to commemorate the 20th Anniversary, a third edition was announced.
As alluded to, a 20th Anniversary edition was also announced and released. It has the same core gameplay: players still take turns putting down the game’s 72 tiles, while also putting down their meeples to claim landscape features and earn points. Just as with the original, the location of a meeple determines how it scores, whether it is a knight (2 points per in a city), a thief (1 point per tile on a road), a farmer (3 points per completed city touched by its countryside), or a monk (1 point per tile surrounding a monastery).
But the new version is striking. It comes in an elegant blue and gold box with a minimalist design. The tiles have a new UV-coating and updated visuals. The rulebook is on a high-quality, tactile paper that evokes feelings of medieval Europe. The meeples are the same, but they now includes stickers for an extra character upgrade. And perhaps most importantly, the game includes three expansions: a new version of The River expansion (which adds a new starting mechanic), the Abbots (which allow you to take advantage of new features on the tiles), and an all-new and exclusive 20th anniversary mini expansion. All tiles are adorned with UV-print, with many detailed Easter eggs hidden in the art. Costume stickers are included in case you wish to “dress” your meeples. All contents are compatible with existing and future Carcassonne releases.
The 20th Anniversary Edition is so striking that it is the version I recommend players buy. It is priced just a few dollars above the regular edition, but the inclusion of the extra expansions—and the better production value—makes it a good value.
In recent years, I’ve thought a lot about who would win a SdJ playoff. If we pitted all of the 40+ winners against each other, which would prevail? My bet has often been on Ticket to Ride, but I think Carcassonne is the other strong contender. Carcassonne feels like a timeless design, a pure play example of tile placement at its finest. The Carcassonne 20th Anniversary Edition changes—while minor—demonstrate this: with good underlying mechanics, all a game needs is an occasional component upgrade to make us gamers fall in love all over again. Here’s to another 20 years! – – – – – – – – – Chris Wray
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