Tonight we reached the end of a game and the player next in turn after the last tile was drawn had an Abbey tile left, and a place it could be played to her advantage. She wanted to play it as the "last tile" of the game. There was disagreement about whether an Abbey tile can be the "last land tile" as per the rules, or whether the game must end when the last
regular tile is played.
We studied the rules sheets and Matt's consolidated rules and can find no definite ruling on this. One opinion says that the "last tile" means the last tile form the bag/tower/box. The other opinion says (correctly) that the rules don't actually say this they just talk of the last tile - and the Abbey tile is . . well, . . a tile. The first opinion responds that the Abbey and Mayors rules say the Abbey can be played "instead of drawing a tile" and after the last tile is drawn there is nothing to draw it "instead of". The second opinion responds "humbug" (or something a little stronger . .
We have found that players tend to hold on to the Abbey in the hope that they will draw a needed tile to fill a hole, and only have to use the Abbey as a last resort. So at the end of the game this can be a big deal.
The majority verdict of the house-rule-judges here was that the Abbey tile can be so played because the rules do not specifically forbid it and if they were written vaguely and not tightened when Abbeys and Mayors was playtested (??) then we can interpret them in the way most advantageous for players. (OK! so isn't playing "Lawyers of Carcassone" after each game part of the fun . . . ? )
If our honorable judges opinion is supported one could concievably have a "last round" of Abbey tile placements after all other tiles have been drawn if everyone holds on to their Abbeys until the end. That might be OK though.
Are we missing something in the rules or is this another point worth getting an official ruling on?
D
