How did you start playing Carcassonne?

[SteveBme]

The game was recommended to me and I went looking for the rules. Found this site and Matts CAR (version 3.7.1)
From there I just had to have the game and it has not stopped. I am now waiting to get Cult, Seige and Creativity.
Favourite expansion was T&B - until Abbey and Mayor. The new meeples and the barn offer exciting new oprions for gameplay. Those two expansions have made Carcassonne a great game.

Thanks to Matt for all of his work on the CAR - as this is the best way to tell others about the game if you are not able to sit them down and play a game. Have been reading through your new CAR 50b4 and think that the layout is better for newer players (with the points at the bottom of each page)

Also - a thanks to all of you who manage this site and for all of us on this site, for your time and your thoughs.

[JaffaMan11]

Had been introduced to Settlers of Catan by a friend, and when we were in the games shop browsing at it's expansions the shop lady recommended Carc as another (and cheaper) option. Bought it, loved it (except princess and dragons), and add expansions for birthdays etc on a regular bases. Now have five other families we have introduced to it all playing it with their own sets.

[mathguy89]

What I now call my gaming family - as in not my actual family - bought the big box.  We played it once, and they gave it to me for graduation with the understanding that I would bring it back every so often to play with them.  Little did any of us know that that action would launch me into the bigger world of boardgamegeek and subsequent purchases that ensue from it.

[canada steve]

Have played many many games over the years and regularly play every week, this was just another game that we had decided to try. Dont play it as much as we used to as other games like Small World and BattleLore have taken up our time.

[Ordmantel]

Last September I was at a gaming session with my friends where we started the night with a game of Peurto Rico.  It was my first time playing it, and I towered over my friends in points and won the game.  The way this group plays is the person who wins the first game gets to pick the next game to play.  Since I heard about Carcassonne from this group before, I thought it would be fun to try it out.

We played with the base game and I&C first, and I was floored.  The game was everything and more that I expected it to be.

Since that night, I've bought every expansion aside from the cathars and the tower (which I plan to purchase soon as a self-graduation gift *go me!*), and my family loves the game and we always have a round of carc after every family get together.

[Diminuendo]

My first encounter with Carcassonne was in my local game store, at a game demo day. I liked it from the beginning and bought it the same day.

[Celina]

I saw it on BGG, yearned for it for a year but didn't want to pay full price for it. Then I bought it at a garage sale for $2! It took another year before I got my husband to play it with me. After 2 plays, I found this site, and decided to build the forest expansion. Right now I'm working on the Lake expansion, not sure if the different colors are going to bother me or not.

Mostly I play with my youngest, as the rest of the family like Global Domination type games.

[Whaleyland]

Odd, I missed this thread. My story is short and random. I played Xplorers over at asobrain.com and noticed Toulouse. Played it. Loved it. Never could figure out the farmer rules (1st edition...uck!). Somehow discovered it was based on some board game called Carcassonne. Bought the Big Box I. Loved it ever since. I still play Toulouse sometimes too (only solo play), but really wish HiG would allow them to use 3rd edition scoring. It kills me so much of the time!

[Gwommy]

I was introduced to the game by one of my Canadian friends. We're in a renaissance reinactment group and we were at an event together and there was a gap of time where we had nothing to do.  So he pulled out the game that he got brand new and we played it.  I loved it, especially since it kind of had a renaissance theme to it, so it was perfect. I quickly picked up my own copy. And I've been buying all the expansions as they come out (at least from the US).  I never knew about 3rd edition rules until I came here this past summer. I never had a problem scoring farms using 1st edition rules, but I do like 3rd edition rules better.

[Ailurus]

About three years ago, my sister invited me for a Carcassonne game. I don't remember how she found out about the game?
We began playing the game enthusiastically after she and her friend visited the real Carcassonne

[elmendalerenda]

Bought the Big box at Berlin, seemed a nice game and the price was awesome, since then been playing it with my wife and my current gaming group in Peru.

[aeoliner]

a friend brought it over to my house when him, myself, and a second friend played it. the guy who brought it was quite confident and said "Don't get discouraged if I lap you guys in the score. I have played before and this is your first time." I not only lapped him, I blew him out of the water! Loved it ever since.

[Drucifer]

I first played it on my iPod Touch.  I noticed the game the day it was released and recognized the name as a few friends love it on the Xbox 360 so I made the purchase. 

Since then I've actually went out and buoght the Big Box 2 but haven't had time to play it yet.  Plus I don't know too many people wo would probably be interested in playing it.

[Bpos]

I’m new to Carc but had been very interested in it for some time now.  Never having played but having read many reviews I decided to purchase the base game, which included the river expansion.  I thought about buying the Big Box 2 set (but hesitated in case my wife and I didn’t like it then we were stuck with this huge box for nothing) but now regret the decision as we love it and it would have given us more gaming options at a much better cost etc, etc.

My first question is this:
Now I have the base game and river exp, if I go ahead and purchase the Big Box 2, which includes another base game and five more exp’s, can the two base games be joined to create a bigger, longer game?  What are the benefits and pit-falls in doing this?

My second question:
Should I proceed and join the two base games and then wish to have a smaller, quicker game, or introduce the game to a new person, would it be wise to identically mark (say with a uniform sticker or stamp) the backs/fronts of the tiles from the original base game so as to ensure they can be separated from the other base game to ensure the correct tiles are used in a smaller game?

Advice on this would be useful.  I do note that marking the backs of tiles in any way can cause concern if it is not done uniformly as players may “learn” any differences and use that to an unfair advantage.

Cheers!

[CKorfmann]

This is actually a common circumstance for people here.  First, I'd say that you should definitely buy the big box and then you can do one of two things.  Keep the river tiles (since they are not included in the Big Box) and give away the base set to someone else so they can enjoy learning the game.  You could let them know that if they enjoy playing the game, to do the same thing and pass the base set along to another person.  If you don't think you should keep the river tiles, they are available now as a seperate mini-expansion (something that has not always been the case).

The alternative would be to keep the base set for yourself, again using the river expansion, but using the extra 72 tiles to make some of the custom expansions offered here at CC.  There are easily enough expansions available here to fill up 72 tiles, several times.  If you find you enjoy the fan-made expansions we have to offer, you could always get more tiles from Chri5lynn.  He sells blanks (with no backs) in lots of 500.  I've been pretty modest with the fan creations I've made so far, but find the extra base set of tiles to be extremely handy for them, especially a tile here and there, not to mention the extra meeples you can use to make meeple expansions.  You could also use the extra set of meeples to give a custom paint job (though you won't have those from the Big Box available).

To directly address your question in regard to playing with two base sets, I've never done so, but I can see some value in it.  At least for stretching out the game.  However, once you get into playing all the expansions that come along with the Big Box, you will already be playing a game that should last around 3 hours.  Maybe less if you're fast.  You also may find that you'd eventually like to add Wheel of Fortune to the mix and this repeats all but around 18 or so of the tiles from the base set and those new ones are most, if not all, repeats of tiles from other sets. 

I hope this answers your questions.  If you decide to make more purchases, I strongly recommend Fair Play Games.  They have the best prices by far from what I've seen.  There are a handful of large and small expansions that are not included in the Big Box that you might be interested in sooner or later.  They should be available there as well.