Under the Big Top: Carcassonne

Step right up folks! The circus is in town…

The world of Carcassonne has plenty of themed expansions from sheep farming and ferocious dragons, from trading and building to straight up kidnapping. There truly is a wealth of variety in this tile laying classic. But what do the residents of medieval Carcassonne do for entertainment at the end of a days work? From now on they will have ready access to the greatest show on earth (or at least the greatest show in France) with the Under the Big Top expansion.

The tenth expansion to Carcassonne is all about a travelling circus as it pitches up around the board drawing in crowds, before moving onto a new location. As with all of the other expansions, Under the Big Top is compatible with plenty of the other expansions so there are plenty of configurations of gameplay!

“The circus is the only fun you can buy that is good for you.” – Ernest Hemingway

The main components of this expansion are the new circus location tiles and the corresponding wooden big top token. When a new circus location tile is placed then the circus token arrives with a facedown animal token underneath it. This circus stays in play until a new circus tile is drawn and the circus moves on, with the big top token being moved to the new location. Now comes the payoff, players will reveal the value of the animal token that was underneath the big top and score points for it. The scoring works very similarly to the abbeys and other such features, all meeples surrounding that animal token (the standard 9 tile maximum rule that Carcasonne does so well) will gain that many points each-basically, the more meeples you send to the circus and its surrounding tiles, the more points you stand to win. This is, pure and simple, a push your luck type gambit. You may bet a load of meeples on the score of the circus tile, only to find that this is a flea circus worth only 1 point. There’s no way of knowing whether a circus will draw in enough points until you are already committed so this aspect may not work for some players as it’s more about ‘luck’ than strategy.

“So if you do acrobatics things on the street with no other goal than showing off, please don’t say it’s parkour. Acrobatics existed a long time ago before parkour.” – David Belle

The other new tile type that is included with Under the Big Top is the acrobat tile. Now this tile is a strange one, working under the basis that the residents of Carcassonne are so enamoured by the circus that they are ready to leave their rural lives behind for the glitz and glamour of a performers life. In principle, when an acrobat tile is placed then players can either place a meeple in the usual location OR they can choose to start a meeple pyramid-yes you read that right…. meeple… pyramid! Anyone who places a tile adjacent to an acrobat tile can build on the pyramid until it consists of three meeples.

“There is no Ringmaster outside the circus.” – Vineet Raj Kapoor

The final component of Under the Big Top is the new Ringmaster meeple. Now of course, in the real world, the Ringmaster goes where the circus goes and this kind of thinking can gain you some serious points. The Ringmaster meeple may be placed on any tile (except in a meeple pyramid) and when that feature is completed, even if the feature is scored by someone else, the Ringmaster gains points for every circus or acrobat tile which he is adjacent to. It’s a nice, if non essential, scoring mechanism.

Final Thoughts

Chances are that, if you have read this far, you are familiar with Carcassonne and may even own the game along with some expansions. If that’s the case then, is this expansion worth the purchase?

The answer is… well, it depends. Don’t misunderstand me, we regularly incorporate this expansion into our family games of Carcassonne but it won’t be for everyone. The theme is fun and the rules for placement are a breeze so it takes no time at all to get your head around the gameplay. That being said however, it does feel a little bit like the developers have run a little low on ideas and created more of a gimmicky expansion pack here. Now again, don’t misunderstand me; this is the 10th expansion. 10th! Some games struggle to successfully implement 1 expansion and for that I have a lot of respect for the developers. I just think it’s not as strong as some that have come before. The Acrobats, for instance, can be a real Achilles Heel if you begin a pyramid and then everyone else decides to lay tiles around it without contributing to the pyramid-you can quickly be left with a meeple that has been iced out and left alone forming a pyramid of one! The Ringmaster meeple is a cute little design and it’s handy for some extra points but, again, it just feels just a tad bit like fluff.

I love Carcasonne and always recommend it as an exceptional gateway game and a family favourite for a more chilled out gaming session and, because of this, I really appreciate more content. Under the Big Top is a fun expansion and includes some nice aspects to it but I would definitely say that this should not be your first foray into the expansions of Carcassonne. If though, you are the kind of person who can’t get enough tile laying madness and want to get the full Carcassonne experience, then you will be guaranteed some extra fun when the circus pulls into town.