GBP (£)
USD ($)
20 years? Carcassonne has been around for 20 years? Well, no. In fact, it is technically 21 years old, having been published in 2000. But, as it won the Spiele des Jahres award in 2001, this super slick looking special edition has been designed to celebrate that most sought after board gaming industry achievement. Well, now we're at the Carcassonne 20th Anniversary Edition!
For anybody who hasn’t heard of Carcassonne, this is a granddaddy of tile placement games. At its most basic (the full review can be read here), designer Klaus-Jurgen Wrede transports players to the medieval city of Carcassonne in France. Once there, the objective is to build out specific areas by placing tiles adjacent to existing tiles that match. Eventually, you'll complete a specific feature in order to score points.
Over the past 21 years, the classic game has benefitted from an almost unquantifiable number of mini and mega expansions. As well as special variants and standalone games. As such, it is possible to enjoy the main mechanism in almost any landscape as well as combining them to form a cohesive space. It's limited only by your imagination!
Carcassonne 20th Anniversary Edition - What's New?
The Carcassonne 20th Anniversary edition doesn’t alter the basic gameplay. It includes an updated version of the existing River mini-expansion. As well as the Abbott mini-expansion and some new tiles. The box features fancy gold foil lettering displaying a shield on the front and a tile pattern on the back. Z-Man games have also introduced high-gloss UV spot printed tiles to showcase the artwork. This has been done by Anne Patzke. There are even sticker upgrades to the meeples. Not to mention a number of little hidden design “easter eggs” for fans to discover.
If you’re new to the game, or simply a collector, then it could be hard to resist the call of the special edition, although there is a notable difference in the price of each. At any rate, the box is likely to fit better on your shelves than the meeple shaped 10-year special edition tin!
The only question left is, with no signs of Carcassonne’s enduring popularity fading, I wonder what the 30th Edition has in store for us?! My money is on a levitating, holographic version but perhaps I am getting a little ahead of myself. It is, however, going to be another fun 10 years of playing Carcassonne, waiting to find out.