Carcassonne Central

Here are a couple of ways that you (the reader of this post) can speed up a game of Carcassonne, which could be very useful if you have many expansions or want to play several games within a small number of  hours.

1) If you do the math, you will find that if the players are limited to 25 sec. per turn (which is a lot longer than you may think,) the game will complete in 30 min. (plus some for scoring.)
However,

2) Some people may not this idea. Some Carcassonne players like to study the map for a long time. They might say that a time limit would hinder their ability to play well. The solution? Have the players pick up a new tile, after they place one, to be used in their next turn. This way, they can study their piece and the map while someone else is placing their tile and then be ready almost immediately to place their tile, having already thought through where they should put it.

These ideas could be combined or kept separate.

the second suggestion is a popular one, good idea to speed up a game

I've been using that one forever. But it does get rather screwed up by Abbey and Mayor.

How so?

You cannot use the Abbey tile if you have drawn a tile in advance. When we play and there are opportunities for me to use my Abbey tile, I hold off drawing a tile in advance to leave the option open of using my Abbey.

Which is precisely where the problems come in. By holding off you indicate that you're considering using your Abbey and it means the time-saving benefit of the 'turn-end' draw is lost.

Still, if we use A&M (http://A&M) (which, given that I'm a fan of mega-Carc, is what usually happens) we revert to the usual 'turn-start' draw.

Cool. Thanks.

Whoa! It just hit me.


Why can't you use the Abbey if you had drawn a tile in advance? Think about it. All you would have to do to fix this is: if you decide to use the Abbey, you have to keep the tile you've drawn until the next turn.

Maybe I'm completely wrong but right now it makes sense.

Sounds like a good enough idea to me!  Nice one. :)

Here is a slight problem with this... and it is only slight. If you were to hold on to a previously drawn tile while you play your Abbey, it would deprive the next player/s from drawing the tile now held by you and perhaps give you an unfair advantage. For example, you might be holding onto the only tile that can be used by an opponent to complete a city. If the opponent thinks that this tile is still left to be drawn, then that would place him at a disadvantage. Like I said it is only a slight problem.

I agree with this and see that this could be a potential problem, but if all players agree to this rule ahead of time then they cant complain later! hehe

It also can become a problem when playing with the builder. I mean you COULD just grab another tile after placement but then you have the same problem that Joff mentioned... :-\

Whilst these are disadvantages, they do seem so small as to be relatively insignificant. I, for one, haven't memorised tile distribution lists and would have no idea if my required tile can still be drawn.

IMHO, memorizing the tile distribution is similar to counting cards in Blackjack.

I kind of like the idea of not using the Abbey tile if I have pulled a tile. Creates a sort of "oops" condition to make players pay attention to when they want to use their Abbey tile.

i does not count tiles but, i am bright enough to know there is 2 cathedrals, a CCCC with 1 shield, 1 CCC with 2 shields, some tiles are easier to remember than some roads tiles!

Unfortunately, this sometimes happens subconciously. I have not memorised the distribution of tiles on purpose, but I still 'know' enough of them.