Maybe whaleyland would like to chime in on this topic as he is usually on top of stuff like this!
Thanks guys. I tweeted them so we'll see if they respond that way. Email is for chumps
The Ark is also a fun little mechanic, albeit one that was later adopted in Carcassonne expansions to a degree.
The City: ... as giving something else for Mr Meeple to do also contain the games size, so much so that it becomes the only Carcassonne game that can end before all the tiles are used up. Having finally 'discovered' it, we've played it quite a few times now.... Although the following is a worthwhile observation - I love it, my daughter of 28, hates it!
The only two spin-offs that I don't currently own are Goldrush and Star Wars. On that basis I guess I'm in a reasonable position to comment. Since my last comment,some two and half years back(!) I've got round to playing all that I owned and hadn't played, plus bought new ones, so, in no particular order, current feelings with observations are:
The Discovery: This ones a bit odd. On release it was described as a simpler version of Carcassonne thus making it ideal for 'younger players'. Actually it's the most technically and strategically challenging of the lot! Less meeples and you can only place or take back, not both. Also you can remove and take a partial score without completing. Scoring is not nearly as obvious/direct as the other games either, and for some reason most players will sit and twist the tiles round and round having trouble knowing the best place to put them! For all these reasons, it goes very near the top of the list!
South Seas: Right at the top of this rather long missive I said I had changed my mind about The Castle being the best spin-off.... and this one is the reason why. If you've not bought it yet, this is my advice... stop reading and go to your favourite place of purchase immediately! Go on, just do it!! So, yes, I like this one a lot. It's fast, it's fun... no make that FUN. In a way it takes the concept of Discovery (only 4 meeples, place or take back, not both) and delivers it all in a beautiful quick easy wrapping. It's also the only Carcassonne game not to incluse a scoreboard, now that's different. It has a currency, wooden bananas, fish and shells (lots of them), little boats and ships to purchase with your wood. In many ways it takes the game to somewhere completely different. Total winner.
The Pacific and this theme is just so far removed from the medieval south of France that I can't really envisage it as a 'Carcassonne' game.
Discovery has very different game play. So much so, it didn't feel very Carcassonne at all. There are essentially 3 types of city and not enough joining pieces. The landscape becomes blobs. The scoring is clunky (it applies the 2-point city rule to every type) & there is incomplete feature scoring, by removing your meeple early is nice - like The Abbot in Carcassonne 2.0. The scoreboard only goes upto 50. I quite liked the artwork and theme, but didn't enjoy the game play. It's brave for being different, but I don't think it had the legs. You're not missing much Jungleboy.
'the Scoreboard only goes up to 50'.... er, pretty standard Carcassonne scoreboard then! All of them only go up to 50.
This one doesn't.
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