Carcassonne rules: how to play and how to score

Carcassonne quick rules

The goal

One tile at a time, you build a landscape of roads, cities, monasteries and fields together. You place your meeples on it to score points: a traveler on a road, a knight in a city, a monk in a monastery. You score during the game, then in a final scoring, and the most points wins.

Your turn

Your turn has three steps, always in this order. Draw a tile and place it next to a tile already in play, with matching edges: road to road, city to city, field to field. Then you may place just one meeple, only on that tile; finally, if your tile completed a road, a city or a monastery, it’s scored right away.

Roads, cities and monasteries

A road is completed when both ends are closed, or when it loops onto itself: 1 point per tile. A city is completed when its walls surround it with no gaps: 2 points per tile and 2 per coat of arms, the small shield drawn on some city tiles. A monastery surrounded by 8 tiles is worth 9 points; after each scoring, the meeples go back to their players’ supply.

Meeples and control

You can’t place a meeple on a feature that is already occupied: the whole road, the whole city or the whole field, not just your tile. But two occupied features can be joined later; when it’s scored, the player with the most meeples there scores everything, and tied players each score everything. You can place a meeple on a feature your tile just completed: you score it and take the meeple back at once.

Farmers and fields

A farmer is a meeple lying down in a field; fields are separated by roads and cities. It stays put until the end and only scores in the final scoring: 3 points per completed city touching its field, for the player with the most farmers there. The rulebook advises playing a first game without farmers.

The Abbot and the gardens

The Abbot is a supplementary rule in the box: each player has an abbot, which only goes on a monastery or a garden. A garden occupied by an abbot scores like a monastery: 9 points when 8 tiles surround it. On your turn, if you don’t place a meeple, you may take back your abbot and score right away 1 point for its tile and 1 per surrounding tile.

Game end and final scoring

The game ends after the turn in which the last tile is placed, and every meeple still in play is scored. Incomplete road: 1 point per tile; incomplete city: 1 point per tile and 1 per coat of arms; incomplete monastery: 1 point plus 1 per surrounding tile. Each field is worth 3 points per completed city touching it, and on a tie, all tied players win.

Beginner pitfalls

Keep meeples in your supply: without one, you can’t occupy anything. Beware of farmers placed too early, stuck until the end, and of cities that get too big late in the game: incomplete, they’re only worth half. Watch the features next to yours: an opponent can connect to them and take control.

The River

The River only changes the start of the game: the source tile replaces the start tile, and you place all the river tiles before the normal ones, with the lake closing the river. The river never turns twice in a row in the same direction. No meeple goes on the river itself, but you may place one on the roads, cities, monasteries and fields of these tiles.

Inns & Cathedrals

A completed road with an inn is worth 2 points per tile, a completed city with a cathedral 3 points per tile and per coat of arms. Still incomplete at the end, they’re worth 1 point per tile and per coat of arms, as usual; in boxes from before 2025, they were worth nothing. Each player also gets a large meeple, which counts as two for the majority.

Traders & Builders

When a city is completed, the player who placed the last tile takes one token per goods symbol in it (chicken, grain, cloth), and at the end, each goods majority is worth 10 points, to each tied player on a tie. Your builder, assigned to a road or a city, gives you an extra turn when you extend it. Your pig, assigned to a farmer, scores 3 points per completed city touching its field whenever a city with a coat of arms is completed, then returns to your supply; in boxes from before 2025, rely on your rulebook.

How to score Carcassonne

Points during the game

Your score on the scoreboard when the last tile is placed. Completed road: 1 point per tile. Completed city: 2 points per tile and 2 per coat of arms. Monastery surrounded by 8 tiles: 9 points.

Final scoring

Incomplete road: 1 point per tile. Incomplete city: 1 point per tile and 1 per coat of arms. Incomplete monastery, and your abbot’s garden: 1 point plus 1 per surrounding tile. Fields: 3 points per completed city touching a field where you have the most farmers.

Inns & Cathedrals

During the game, a completed road with an inn is worth 2 points per tile, a completed city with a cathedral 3 points per tile and per coat of arms. If incomplete, they’re scored at the end like any other.

Goods majorities (Traders & Builders)

10 points per goods type (chicken, grain, cloth) for which you have the most tokens; on a tie, each tied player scores them. In boxes from before 2025, the chicken is wine.

Pig from boxes before 2025 (Traders & Builders)

Boxes from before 2025 only: 1 more point per completed city touching your pig’s field (4 instead of 3), if you have the most farmers there. With the 2025 rules, the pig scores during the game.

Worked example

A completed 5-tile city with 2 coats of arms is worth 5 × 2 + 2 × 2 = 14 points. Left incomplete, it’s only worth 5 + 2 = 7 points. In the final scoring, Emma has that incomplete city (7), an incomplete 3-tile road (3), a monastery with 5 surrounding tiles (1 + 5 = 6) and the majority in a field touching 3 completed cities (3 × 3 = 9): 7 + 3 + 6 + 9 = 25 points, added to her scoreboard total.

Common mistakes

• Scoring incomplete cities at full value: at the end, a city is worth 1 point per tile and per coat of arms, half as much.
• Forgetting fields: they only score at the end, and the same city counts for every field it touches.
• On a meeple tie, giving the points to only one player: each tied player scores everything.
• Counting the final scoring twice: if you already moved it on the scoreboard, don’t add it again.
• With Inns & Cathedrals, following the old rule: since the 2025 range, an incomplete road with an inn or city with a cathedral still scores 1 point per tile and per coat of arms.

How to set up Carcassonne

A game takes about 45 minutes. Follow The tiles and Each player, then add the parts for the expansions you’re playing. For a first game, the rulebook advises playing without the farmers, The River and the abbots.