Carcassonne
142 questions players ask about Carcassonne, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-29.
142 questions players ask about Carcassonne, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-29.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
The base game has 72 landscape tiles, one of which is the dark-backed start tile. The River adds 12 more tiles, so a full box with the River holds 84. Expansion tiles are counted separately.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Any number you like. The rulebook just says to form several face-down stacks that everyone can reach. A bag works equally well and gives the same odds when the tiles are well shuffled, though the official solo variant needs three equal stacks.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Each player has seven meeples in their supply, plus an eighth that marks their score on the track. There is no official way to add more regular meeples as you add expansions; expansion pieces such as the Big Meeple are the extras.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Six players works with Inns & Cathedrals, which includes a sixth set of meeples and extra tiles. No official expansion adds a seventh, though one poster reports that their Big Box includes pink and purple sets for seven and eight players. An extra set of meeples can otherwise be added to the base game without any special rules, but the game may end quickly, so check how many turns each player gets.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. With the River, the dark-backed start tile goes back in the box and the river spring begins the game instead. The remaining river tiles are laid before the normal tiles. Letting the start tile be played later is a house rule.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Tile backs match and the rules are compatible, so a new base game works with older expansions and the C1, C2 and C3 art styles can be combined, although the art will look mismatched. Spin-off games are generally not combinable with the main game.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Version 2.0 changed the rules: farmers became an optional advanced rule, the River became a permanent part of the game, and the Abbot and Gardens were added. Version 3.0 only refreshed the artwork and added no new rules.
No. In the base game the houses, people and animals drawn on tiles are decoration only. Roads, cities, monasteries and fields are the only things that matter. Some expansions give particular tile art a rule, so check the expansion if a symbol is explained there.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Draw a tile and place it so every touching edge matches. Then you may place one meeple on a feature of that tile that holds no meeples. Finally score every feature the tile completed and return its meeples. Placing a meeple always comes before scoring.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Remove it from the game by putting it back in the box, then draw another tile. It is not shuffled back into the stacks. This is rare, and you may not discard a tile that has any legal spot.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Yes. Every edge that touches a tile already in play must match: city to city, road to road, field to field. You cannot match just some of the edges, and a city edge cannot sit next to a road.
No. You may place the tile at any legal spot that touches at least one tile along an edge, and it need not be adjacent to the last tile. Only meeple placement is limited to the tile you just laid.
No. Tiles and features connect only along shared edges. Two city, road or field pieces that touch at a corner stay separate until another tile joins them along an edge, and a tile touching only at a corner is not legally placed.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. No edition forbids it, and deliberately creating a spot that no remaining tile can fill is a legitimate tactic. A ban on holes is a house rule.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Other players may see the tile and offer advice, but the player who drew it decides where it goes and must place it themselves. You cannot hand it to someone else to place.
Not by the rules as written: you draw at the start of your own turn. Drawing early is a common shortcut at the table that many groups accept, but it matters near the end of the game.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Not always an extra turn, but turns are generally uneven. The start tile is on the table before play and is nobody's turn, leaving 71 tiles, which does not divide evenly by any player count. In a two-player game, player one takes the first and the last turn. Evening it out is a house rule.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
No. Placing a meeple is optional, and many turns pass without one. If your supply is empty you simply place the tile and score.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
No. You may only place a meeple on a road, city, monastery or field with no meeples, and that includes your own. Meeples from different players can share a feature only when later tiles join two occupied features together.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
No. A meeple may only go on a feature of the tile you just placed. After that it stays where it is until scoring returns it.
No. The whole connected feature counts, however far the existing meeple is from your new tile. A segment that is not yet connected to any occupied feature can take a meeple, even if you intend to join it later.
Yes. You cannot place onto an occupied feature, but a tile can join two features that each already hold a meeple, so several colours share one feature. Majority then decides who scores.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Yes. Place the tile, put a meeple on the completed road, city or monastery, then score it and return the meeple. You need a meeple in your supply, and you can claim only one feature this way per turn because you place only one meeple.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
No. Placement comes before scoring, so a meeple returned during scoring is not available until your next turn.
You still draw and place your tile, and any feature you complete is scored normally for whoever has meeples on it. You just cannot place a meeple that turn.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes, it is a monastery, so a monk can go on it, and the road or field on that tile can be claimed instead. Its road edges still have to match neighbouring tiles. You use only one meeple per turn, so you choose one feature of the tile.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
A road ends at a village, city, monastery, or where it loops back on itself. Crossings and T-junctions of roads at a village end each arm as a separate road, so a village in the middle of a road splits it in two.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. A completed road, city or monastery without a meeple scores nothing for anyone and cannot be scored later. Your only chance to claim it is to put a meeple on it with the tile that completes it.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
The player with the most meeples scores the full value, and players with fewer score nothing. If players tie for the most, each of them scores the full points. Big meeples count as two.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Extra meeples only decide who holds the majority; the feature is scored once at its normal value, whether it holds two of your meeples, or yours and an opponent's.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Yes. It does not matter who places the completing tile. Scoring happens at the end of that player's turn, and every player with the majority in the feature scores before the meeples go back to their owners.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Every feature completed by the tile you place is scored, in the same scoring step. You place only one meeple per turn, but meeples already sitting on the completed features score for their owners, so you can score several features at once.
No. A city is complete only when it is fully enclosed by walls with no gaps inside, so an unfilled hole in the middle keeps it open. Walls meeting only at corners do not enclose it.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Four points: two per tile like any other city. The old first-edition rule that paid only two points for a two-tile city was dropped when farm scoring changed, and is now only a house rule.
A completed city scores 2 points per tile plus 2 per pennant. An incomplete city at game end scores 1 per tile and 1 per pennant. Meeples score nothing themselves.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Yes. Adjacent monasteries are legal, each can hold its own monk, and each scores nine points when it is surrounded. A tile that sits next to both counts for both, and any tile can be placed beside a monastery as long as edges match.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Yes. A monastery scores one point for itself and one for each of the eight tiles around it, diagonals included, for 9 when complete. It must be fully surrounded to score nine during play.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
A looped road is complete and scores one point per tile, each tile counted once even if it holds two segments of the road.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
In current printings (the 2.0 and later rules) farmers sit on the advanced rules sheet, so using them is optional, in the same way as the Abbot and the River. The base rulebook's core turn covers only highwaymen, knights and monks. Older editions treated farmers as part of the core game.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Under the current third-edition rules each field scores 3 points for every completed city it touches, for the player with the most farmers on it. Older printings scored 4 points per city, awarded city by city. The expansions assume the 3-point rule, so agree on one version before you start if your copies differ.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The first edition worked from each city: it went to the player with the most farmers on the fields touching it, for 4 points, so the same farmers could be counted city by city. The third edition works from each field: the majority farmer in a field scores 3 per completed city it touches. A two-tile city also changed from 2 to 4 points.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. A field with any farmer cannot take another, whoever owns it, and that includes a field joined to an occupied one. Two fields that each hold a farmer can later be merged by a tile, which is the only way two farmers share a field.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. The number of farmers only decides who controls the field, with ties scoring for every tied player. The owner scores each completed city once, not once per farmer.
Yes. Each field is scored independently, so a completed city touching two separate fields where you hold the majority pays you for each. If the two fields later join into one, the city counts only once for that field.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. A field continues across any tile edge that has no road or city on it, however narrow the strip of grass looks. Roads and city walls are what bound a field.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Roads divide fields, so a tile with four road arms touches four separate fields, even where a tiny patch of green sits at the crossing. Only a road tunnel from an expansion lets a field pass under a road.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. A farmer stays on its field for the whole game and only scores at final scoring, even if the field is fully enclosed. The field is not complete until the end, so an unoccupied enclosed field can still receive a farmer.
Yes. Any green area is a field, so a farmer can be placed on a one-tile field surrounded by city edges as long as it holds no farmer. It scores only for the completed cities that touch it.
No. A city only supplies a field when they share a tile edge. Corner contact never connects features, so it does not give the farmer points either.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Treat the river like a road: it divides the fields on either side. The spring and lake tiles do not split the field around them, so the farms on both banks join up around the lake. The one reported exception is the Spring tile from the GQ promo expansion, which does split the farm.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Not immediately. Two river bends in the same direction cannot follow each other directly, because that would turn the river back on itself. A bend, a straight tile, then a bend the same way is allowed. The English rule wording is looser than the German, which says this explicitly.
Lay the spring first and set the lake aside. Shuffle the other river tiles and lay them one at a time, matching water to water, before drawing any normal tiles. The lake goes last. The river tiles carry the start tile's back because they replace it.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The Abbot goes only on a monastery or garden of the tile you just placed, and a regular meeple cannot go on a garden. On a later turn in which you place no meeple you may take the Abbot back and score its current value, counting tiles as if the feature were incomplete.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Taking the Abbot back counts as your meeple action for the turn, so you cannot also place a meeple or put the Abbot on the tile you just laid. The same holds for an Abbot you just placed, unless its feature is completed and scored that turn.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No, not in the base game. A meeple can only be placed on the tile you just played, so an unoccupied incomplete monastery or garden cannot receive a new Abbot, from you or from another player, unless a new expansion rule allows it.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Roads score 1 per tile, as when completed. Cities score 1 per tile and 1 per pennant, half of the completed rate. Monasteries score 1 for the monastery plus 1 per surrounding tile. Only the player or players with the most meeples in a feature score it.
Each separate group of city tiles is its own incomplete city, scored on its own at 1 point per tile and per coat of arms. Gaps that a future tile could have filled are ignored, and unconnected pieces are never added together.
The rulebook states this directly, and forum replies agree.
Immediately after the turn in which the last tile is placed, followed by final scoring of every unfinished feature.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
They share the victory. The rules give no tiebreaker.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
Your final score is the lowest of the three colours' scores, so the weakest colour counts. The only support is one forum reply that the asker accepted, so check the solo rules in your copy.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A completed road with one or more Inns scores 2 points per tile instead of 1, and two Inns on the same road still double it only once. An incomplete road with an Inn at game end scores nothing under the original rules, although the 2025 reprints changed this to the normal 1 point per tile.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Only the road segment or segments the Inn actually sits beside, not every road on the tile. On the printed junction tile the Inn counts for the road heading left and the one heading right but not the one heading down. For the lake tile the replies disagree on one or both sides.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A completed city with a Cathedral scores 3 points per tile and per pennant instead of 2. The Cathedral tile counts as a city tile, and a second Cathedral adds nothing. An incomplete cathedral city scores 0 at game end under the original rules, though the 2025 reprints changed this to 1 per tile and pennant.
A meeple on the Cathedral tile only claims the city as a knight. A cathedral is not a monastery, so an Abbot cannot be placed there, and it does not score like one.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
It is an extra piece added to your supply, not a replacement, and it counts as two meeples when comparing majority, so one Big Meeple ties with two normal meeples.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The small river towers are not Inns. City tiles from any set connect freely as long as the edges match, since there is no distinction between base and expansion cities. The extra garden or inn icons on the redesigned River tiles have no effect.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. The short stubs only break up the fields and cannot hold a thief, so the tile counts as a normal crossroads with the two longer segments as roads.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
An Abbey is played instead of drawing a tile on your turn. It may only fill a hole whose four orthogonal neighbours are already placed, whatever those tiles show, and the diagonal spaces need not be filled. If no such hole exists you cannot play it.
An official ruling covers this.
No. The Abbey ends every feature that touches it, even when two cities or fields of the same type sit on opposite sides, so they stay separate. The designer confirmed that it ends everything touching it.
Unclear, and printings differ. The game ends after the turn in which the last land tile is placed, and a 2009 report says the German publisher clarified that an Abbey cannot be played after the last face-down tile. But the 2010 Rio Grande Big Box rules, as quoted by one player, let players who still hold an Abbey place it, if possible, after the last tile. Agree on one reading before you start.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
It behaves like a monastery. You may place a monk, and it scores 9 when all eight neighbouring tiles are present, or 1 point per tile including itself if unfinished at game end. Because it needs its four sides filled, an unfinished Abbey is worth at least 5.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A Mayor's strength equals the pennants in its city, so with none it counts as zero and scores nothing. A city with only zero-strength Mayors scores for nobody. A zero Mayor still occupies the city, so others cannot add a knight to it, and he does not cancel other players' knights.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Instead of a normal meeple, in a city that holds no knight or Mayor, so it cannot go on a road or field, and not in a city that already has a follower. Otherwise ordinary meeple rules apply, and it counts as a follower for the Dragon, Tower and Princess.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Placing a Barn on a field junction scores that field at once as if the game had ended, and the farmers on it return to supply. The Barn stays and scores again at game end for its owner. A field with a barn cannot later receive farmers, and a farm connecting to it scores immediately at a lower rate.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Only on a junction created by the tile you just placed where four tiles meet and every touching corner is field, and not on a field that already has a barn. It can go on a field that holds farmers. An Abbey is not field, so a junction that includes an Abbey corner cannot take a barn.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The Barn is a special figure, not a follower. The Dragon cannot eat it, a Fairy cannot be placed beside it and the Tower cannot capture it. No pig can be placed on a barn farm, because no farmers can be there either.
After scoring, the Wagon may return to your supply or move to an unoccupied, incomplete feature (road, city or monastery) on its own tile or on any of the eight tiles around it. The feature does not have to be connected to the one just scored. If there is no such feature, it goes back to your supply. Older rules and some older forum answers used connected features instead.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Starting with the player whose turn it is, then clockwise. In a Builder double turn, score the first tile and move wagons before drawing the second tile.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
It may go on a road, city, monastery or Abbey, never on a field. It counts as an ordinary meeple, including for incomplete features at game end. After scoring it may move like any Wagon, including from a monastery or Abbey, to an unoccupied incomplete feature on the same or a neighbouring tile.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
Yes. The standard start tile goes back in the box and play continues as usual.
Whichever building is completed first scores 9 points and the other scores nothing; both followers return. If neither finishes before game end, both score the usual incomplete points, and if both complete at the same time, both score 9.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A large follower can be placed there and counts as two when moved to a scoring feature. The Dragon may not enter the City of Carcassonne.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
After placing your tile you may put one bridge on that tile or on a tile touching it. It runs straight from one field edge to the opposite field edge, never diagonally, with both ends on field, so it can start a new road or continue one. If you place a road against a field, you must bridge it that same turn. Each tile takes at most one bridge.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Bridges count as road and do not separate the cities or fields they cross, so a farmer's field continues beneath. The expansion rulebook states this directly.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Placing a castle scores nothing. You score the full value of the first feature completed in a neighbouring area, which is the castle's own two tiles and the two tiles on each side, whether or not anyone had a meeple on it. If that tile completes several such features, you choose which one to score, and a castle scores only once.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Only a completed city of exactly two tiles made of two semicircular city segments, and only when a player has a meeple in it. That player chooses between the usual 4 points and placing a castle instead, and the meeple stays in place when the castle is placed.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Castles divide fields the way cities do. At final scoring a castle next to a field is worth 4 points per castle instead of 3, even if the castle itself never scored.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. A follower in a castle is not on any tile, so the Dragon cannot eat it and the Tower cannot capture it. The expansion's cross-expansion notes confirm both.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Every castle neighbouring the first completed feature scores its full value, so both castles pay you.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
After the turn in which the bazaar tile is placed, reveal one tile per player. The player on the placer's left chooses a tile and opens the bidding in points. Others bid higher or pass, then the chooser either buys it from the top bidder or sells to him. Anyone who gets a tile is out of the round, the last remaining player takes the final tile free, and then, starting with the first player who took a tile, everyone places theirs as a normal turn.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
If fewer tiles remain than there are players, skip the auction. Placing a bazaar that was won in an auction does not start another auction. For a drawn bazaar tile that cannot be placed, players generally still hold the auction, reading the rule text that covers not placing the tile.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
No. The bazaar is only a marker that triggers an auction. A meeple placed on the tile goes to one of its actual features.
Place the tile, then place a meeple (or move the Fairy instead). Only then does the game pause for the Dragon's six moves, after which play resumes where it was paused.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Every follower on a tile it enters, whatever the owner or feature, including a follower on a tower or a farmer, and under the common reading Builders, Pigs, Mayors and Wagons too. A newer publisher FAQ says it eats everything of flesh and blood, but not a Barn, and a follower in the City of Carcassonne or a Castle is safe.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The Dragon stays off the board until the first Volcano tile is placed. A Dragon tile drawn before that is set aside and a replacement is drawn, and the set-aside tiles are shuffled back in when the first Volcano appears. Each later Volcano tile makes the Dragon fly to it and stop there; no further moves happen.
Starting with the player who placed the Dragon tile and going clockwise, each player moves the Dragon one tile orthogonally, six moves in total, never revisiting a tile or entering the Fairy's tile. If it has no legal move, it stops. It cannot move off the placed tiles, and it stays on its last tile until a Dragon or Volcano tile is drawn.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Whenever you place no follower on your turn, you may put the Fairy on any tile where you have a follower of your own. Under the current rules that includes turns where you have no followers left and turns with a Volcano tile. Earlier 2005 answers that said otherwise are superseded.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
Probably not. Players treat using the Princess as acting on a follower, so you cannot also place the Fairy that turn. The rulebook only says you may not place a follower after removing a knight, so this is a community reading.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
She protects followers on her tile from the Dragon, gives you 1 point at the start of your turn if your own follower shares her tile, and gives 3 points to the owner of the follower on her tile when that feature scores. The 3 points are added to the feature's normal score, and the Fairy stays on the board afterwards.
Players disagree on part of this and there is no official ruling.
The 3-point bonus is added once per scoring of a feature, so a farm gives it once rather than once per city. The 1-point start-of-turn bonus is given once per turn, so a Builder's bonus tile does not give it a second time. Whether the 3 points apply to incomplete features at game end is not settled: the rulebook says the bonus applies when a feature is scored, while one reply argues only completed features count.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
Meeples, big meeples and Abbots count, as do farmers, and the Fairy may stand beside any figure that can score. A Barn is not a follower, so the Fairy cannot be placed next to it. Builders and Pigs count only under the original rules, not the Big Box ones. A Fairy on a tile also protects a tower on that tile and the follower standing on it from the Dragon, but not from a Tower capture.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
If you place it so it adds to a city that holds knights, you remove one of them (any owner, including yours). The original rulebook says you must; later editions and many players treat it as optional, so check your edition. If you remove one, you cannot place a follower that turn, even on the field or road. Removal happens before scoring.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
Players generally say yes: Mayors and Wagons are followers and can be removed, though the rulebook only mentions knights. A Builder left alone after its knight is removed stays on the city, is not trapped, and a later Princess could remove it; one reply thinks it goes back to its owner.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
You may place a follower on the portal tile or any tile already in play, but only on a feature that is unoccupied and not completed, and following all normal placement rules. It may not go onto a castle, and a tile the Dragon stands on is off limits.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
A Builder or Pig may come through only where it could legally be placed anyway, such as a city already holding your meeple. A Barn cannot be placed through a portal, according to the Abbey & Mayor rulebook.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
No follower, Builder or Pig may go on a Volcano tile. One player's reading is that no Tower can either, since the forced Dragon move ends the turn. The annotated rules say a Barn, being a figure rather than a follower, can be placed there.
No. You choose the cloister or the city, and either way the choice does not depend on whether the city already holds a follower. A monk on the cloister does not stop a later knight from claiming the city, if otherwise allowed.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
Yes. It works with two players, and many groups shuffle all their expansions into one set of tiles if the box space allows. With King & Scout, only the King half is used; the Scout half belongs with Hunters & Gatherers.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
At the end of your turn, only if the tile you placed made at least one opponent score while you scored nothing. You may place only one follower there per tile placed, in addition to your normal placement, so a Builder's second tile can allow a second. Adding to a feature without completing it, or scoring yourself, does not qualify.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Each quarter feeds one kind of feature: castle to cities, blacksmith to roads, cathedral to cloisters and shrines, market to farms (market only at game end). Starting left of the tile placer and ending with the placer, each player gets one go to move any number of followers from the matching quarter into the feature before the majority is decided. A quarter has no follower limit.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
When you place a follower in Carcassonne you may move the Count to any quarter. Followers cannot be moved out of the quarter where he stands. Under newer wording he also blocks placing into that quarter, while the older English text blocked only moving out. He moves only when a follower is placed in the city.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
After the last tile, the player who placed it finishes his turn, then in turn order from the player to his left each player moves one follower from a quarter to a fitting feature, including incomplete ones, repeating until none remain. The Count still blocks his quarter.
Several players agree and point to an unofficial FAQ, but no official ruling is cited.
Yes. It counts as a completed city for the King's end-of-game point and for farm scoring, and ownership does not matter. An early reply doubted it but corrected itself after checking the FAQ.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
Placing a Barn scores its farm immediately, and that scoring is the trigger. Followers in the City of Carcassonne's market may be moved onto that farm before the barn scoring resolves, and the Count rulebook confirms market meeples can be used in a barn scoring. The farmers are returned afterwards.
Several experienced players agree, and the current English rulebook puts meeple placement before the flock action.
No. Shepherds score only through the Guide the Flock to the Stable action, taken after you expand your shepherd's field with a tile. You place your meeple (or Shepherd) first, then choose to grow or guide the flock, so a Shepherd returned by guiding cannot be placed again that turn. Guiding without expanding happens only when a tile completely encloses the field, and then it resolves immediately.
An official ruling covers this.
Not by scoring on the spot. Shepherds score only through your own Gather the Flock action, so a Shepherd in a field an opponent encloses is stuck unless a Dragon eats it.
No. Sheep score only when the flock is gathered during play, so sheep still in a field at game end are worth nothing.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. Shepherds are not followers, so the Tower, Catapult and Magic Portal do not work on them and Hills do not break ties with them. The Dragon is the exception that eats them. A Shepherd may share a field with a farmer.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A follower on a Hill breaks a tie only in the feature where it stands, and the winner alone scores. Several Hill followers count no more than one. The second tile under a Hill tile can still be placed as the last tile.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes for shrines: Vineyards give their 3 points for a completed shrine, since shrines score like monasteries (the printed rules add that you score them only if you win the challenge). For an Abbot taken back early, the printed rules give no vineyard points, but a 2026 post relays a Hans im Glück reply saying you can score them, with the wording to be clarified, so this is unsettled.
The player who places the tile completing a city larger than the current largest (or a road longer than the current longest) takes the tile, regardless of who owns meeples there, and the other owners still score normally. Size counts tiles, not points or pennants, and a tie leaves the tile with its current holder.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The King scores 1 point for each completed city on the board and the Robber Baron 1 point for each completed road, no matter who completed them, and they count at the end.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A city containing a Cathar or Siege tile scores only 1 point per tile when completed (2 with a cathedral) and nothing if incomplete. Farmers supplied by it count it double.
A cult place cannot be placed adjacent (including diagonally) to more than one cloister, and a cloister cannot be placed adjacent to more than one cult place. That also forbids placements that would leave an existing cloister touching two cult places, or the reverse.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
Both features score, because neither was completed first.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
Yes. A Cult feature is separate from fields and splits field areas like a monastery does, so fields do not run across it.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. The Big Meeple counts as two only for majority on a road, city or field, and it scores once in the circus like any meeple. The Ringmaster is a normal meeple in every way except that it cannot join an acrobat pyramid.
No adjacency to the acrobat tile is required. You may score a completed pyramid on a turn in which you place no meeple or other figure, much like taking back an Abbot early, even if none of the acrobats is yours.
A single reply supports this reading; there is no official ruling.
No. You may place only one meeple per turn, either on the new tile as usual or on the acrobat tile.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Each turn you draw a Magic tile you must place or move one of the two magic pawns, choosing which, before placing a follower. It need not go on the tile you just placed. It goes on an incomplete city or road, so not onto one your tile just completed.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. The Mage and Witch are not meeples, so a normal meeple can share their feature, and a Flying Machine follower can land on that tile.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Any follower you could place normally can be used as a flier, and the Phantom can fly too if it is the figure you place that way. It can land only on an unfinished road, city or cloister, so not on a castle or in a field, and it may land on a feature where you already have a follower.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A ferry can be moved only when your tile continues a road that has one, and then only the first ferry met in each continued direction, optionally, after you place your meeple. You need no meeple on that road. Moving ferries can put opposing meeples on one road, which is the point of the expansion. A ferry tile must still get its ferry even if no follower goes on the road.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Moving a ferry can reopen a road that was completed earlier, so it can be scored again.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Score all completed features first, then the Messenger triggers: each scored feature lets you move one of your scoring figures, and only one message is drawn at a time, though points from a message can trigger another. Only the active player draws. The 2021 Z-Man rules add a footnote that your figures must be alone on the space, which the original rules lack, and players disagree on whether to use it.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A sole majority holder takes all the gold on the completed feature. If players tie, the gold goes out one bar at a time, starting with the active player and going clockwise, while each player may only take from features where they hold the majority. Gold left on the board at game end is removed and scores for nobody.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A knight can escape only if a cloister touches the Cathar tile (corners count), whether or not that cloister is occupied, complete or yours. At the end of your turn you may return one of your own followers (knight or builder) from the city, or on the same turn if you placed the cloister, and nothing forces you to keep one inside. Many players also return a Builder left alone in the city.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
The knock-out and seduction tokens affect followers only: normal and large meeples, mayors and wagons. Players commonly count builders and pigs as followers here too, but that is not settled. Towers, the Dragon, the Fairy and barns are not affected. Tokens return to you after each round, and six players need a sixth set from Inns & Cathedrals.
You perform one fruit action (Harvest or Sell) after placing a meeple, even if several trees border it; you simply pick which tree to harvest from. You may choose Sell even when the tree is empty. Builders, pigs, shepherds and barns are not meeples, so they do not trigger it.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Any meeple type placed there gives the extra turn, and paying map chips takes back all your meeples from the island at once. Tiles can connect across the Irish Sea where the map grid squares meet.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No. The Cult is a separate feature and splits the farms around it. When a tile completes a Cult and a cloister together, both players score full points.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Only thieves (road), knights (city) and farmers (field), so normal and large meeples can be added or removed. Builders are not removed directly, though one leaves with the last follower in its feature. A Large Meeple in a field counts as a farmer.