Carcassonne Central

Alright, I've had it with the copy editor and translator of the Rio Grande Games versions of Carcassonne and its expansions! Besides the fact that there is virtually no consistency between repetitive phrases in expansions (such as "Expansion! -may only be played with Carcassonne), someone seriously needs to go back and take an English class. I've noticed errors in previous expansions, but my brand new purchase of Bridges, Castles and Bazaars is by far the worst copy edited expansion I have ever purchased from any company. Just to start, there is a spelling error on the top of the box...THE TOP OF THE BOX!!! They spelled Bazaars "Bazaazs"!!! Seriously?! To make things worse, at the top of the rules, they also misspelled it, this time writing "Basaars". In addition, the spelling at the top of the rules is not capitalized while everywhere else on the box it is.

My next gripe is with the word order. Rio Grande apparently translates using Babelfish because it is nearly identical to a translation I did about four months ago. The advertisement on the back of the box reads: "Haggling as art is performed". Do they mean "The art of haggling is performed" or "Haggling is performed to such a degree that it appears like an art form"? Seriously, "Haggling as art is performed" is not natural English and makes no sense. Later in the advert, they write "engineers with new bridges drive road construction". Are the engineers driving because bridges certainly can't drive? Can an engineer really have a new bridge? "Drive" as in "direct toward a goal"? Quite frankly, this wording is just screwy. A few places in the rules have similar, albeit slightly better worded, problems in this same pattern.

Finally, the rules have at least two extra words in them. The 2nd paragraph of the "Bridges" section reads" as there are players how", the "how" being a random extra word with no value at all. The 1st paragraph of the "Castle" section does a similar mistake, although it is more understood, when it reads "converted into to a castle", the "to" being redundant due to "into".

One last random thought: The Catapult and BC&B both have the Hans im Glück logos on the top and right side of the boxes while the Wheel and all pre-Catapult expansions do not (the only HiG logo is on the back at the bottom-left corner). Is this a new trend or did Rio Grande just forget to remove the HiG logos from two of the sides?

Okay, random gripes of the day. I'll have a review up of the expansion in a few days when I get a second play-through done. Cheers!

Extra last thought: RGG stopped numbering the expansions when HiG expansion #6 came out (Count, King & Cult). Anyone else think that they should continue numbering them and even possibly release CK&C? I definitely do because I'd love to have my CK&C rules in English (and one document).

I should have no opinion on this ;), but you're right. What's most frustrating is that these 'rules' are used a reference for judgements about what's right and wrong, allowed and illegal. If you can't even string a sentence together correctly, why should I accept anything you say?

There are always errors and awkward phrases in texts. That's what proofreaders are for. But the RGG translations feel like... apathy.

So, when do we get the next CAR update??? :D

I have been so out of things lately, that the only answer I can give is 'soon'. I probably need a list of things which need to be done... But that's a different thread, and we shouldn't hijack Whaleyland's rant :-)

This reinforces for me that we have to mostly abandon the RGG rules, except where they provide clarification. For me, Matt's translation of the HiG rules is the authoritative ruleset because it's closer to the original German.

I concur. Although I do not play much Carcassonne these days, it is Matt's CAR that provides the authoritative interpretation of the rules and is the rules that we, in our gaming group, abide by (...unless the rules have yet to be compiled for the CAR ;))

Maybe you should offer to work for Jay!   ;D