How to time games

[joanBC]

Hi,

As we use to be 4 players in our games, and we use several expansions, each one of us tend to overthink and take some time to place the tile and decide what to deploy (if any) on it. This situation often leads to over 4 hours games.
We are thinking of timing the game so to set a time limit for every player. Is there a general rule (official or widely accepted) setting what time each player should have? And what happens if tile is not deployed (or turn finished) within that time?



Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=5518.0

[Willem]

I used to play with some people who took ages with their turns, and admitted they just were bad at making decisions. They always said "there might be somewhere better...."

We usually had lots of time anyway, so no issue, but we also played with the idea of using a timer per turn. It's something you can fill in yourself, but we were thinking of 1 min per turn, and a 5 point deduction if you went over

[joanBC]

OK, so then I deduce there is no a general accepted rule or practice about this and it is up to us.

When you say 1 min per turn you mean 1 min even if your turn is a double turn  from Inn&traders?

[unclewill]

We talked about getting an egg timer and when someone decided the player needed some encouragement to decide, they could flip it over.

For a 2 player game we also talked about using a chess clock. Has anyone tried this? Is it used in any competitions?

[joanBC]

I've been searching in Amazon for a 4 player chess timer  with no luck by now...

[Guy]

We've played with a hand of three tiles per person as it gives you opportunities to think ahead and therefore speed up the game.

[kothmann]

I've been searching in Amazon for a 4 player chess timer  with no luck by now...

I did a quick search on the App Store for iPad and found this:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/board-game-timer/id1059796958

Maybe I’ll give it a try myself—good idea!

This app allows arbitrary number of players.  It gives each player a fixed amount of time for all of their moves.  I like this better than “time per move” because there really are occasional turns where you need a couple of minutes.  But you should speed along on other turns to make up the difference.

It also has a “count up” timer.  Your group could agree that everyone gets, say, 20 minutes total, and each 30 seconds over that is a 1-point penalty at the end of the game.  That way, if there is a very important decision, you can take an extra minute, but usually you will be best off to just play.

Also just want to add my warm welcome to the Forum from rainy Philadelphia.  I love your flurry of posts—hope to see many more.

[corinthiens13]

We don't use a timer, but we always draw tiles at the end of our turns to be able to think ahead and then play faster 

[corinthiens13]

Here's how we rule it, with some adaptations to prevent conflicts and make it work with mega-carcassonne games :

At the beginning of your turn:

• Reveal your tile(s) drawn at the end of last turn
• If you have more than one tile (fortune tellers), choose the one you'll play
• If the tile contains a dragon icon and no volcano has been placed yet, discard the tile and draw another one
• If the tile contains a wheel of fortune, peasant revolt, hill or dragon icon, perform the corresponding action now (this is so you can't delay such actions by using special tiles)
• Play the tile or keep it for the next turn (don't discard it) and use one of your special tiles (halflings, German castles, abbey). In that case, you do not draw a tile at the end of your turn

If the stack is empty at the beginning of your turn:

• You are not allowed to use a special tile (halflings, German castles, abbeys)
• If you have a tile drawn during a previous turn, you may play a turn with it, otherwise, you skip your turn
• The game ends once every players used their tiles drawn from the stack

At the end of your turn:
Once you performed every of your turn's actions, including double and triple turn (message, 20 anniversary, builder, saint-Nicholas):

• Draw a tile and do not show it to other players
• Draw one additional tile for each fortune tellers you own
• If you played one of your special tiles (halflings, German castles, abbeys) and so you already have a tile left in hand (or more if playing with fortune tellers), do not draw any tile, you already have one

[Decar]

The Carcassonne World Championships (which are 2 player games, use the following rules):

In all games chess-clocks will be used. Each player may take up to 15 minutes for his own game - if he uses up all his time, then the player loses.
The player activates the other player’s clock as soon as he finishes his move - this means AFTER he calculated the points (own and from the opponent).

This is for a base game with no expansions. So they're suggesting 30 minutes total for 72 tiles.  So about 25s per tile.
I'd recommend making that 30-35s per tile for family games.

As for expansions, calculating scores can get convoluted, so maybe that needs to be increased.

[Decar]

There's an Android app called: The Game Timer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mitch3a.gametimer

I've got a couple of these, are are pretty fun: https://www.amazon.co.uk/DGT-Cube-6-Player-Game-Timer/dp/B004S56RJG

I dont think they sold well unfortunately.

[unclewill]

Ah that timer cube looks great! What a smart idea. Have you played a timed Carcassonne game with it?

[Decar]

I once played a 2 player game where we gave each other 10s a turn. It was havoc! And also fun 

[Meepledrone]

Sort of Speed Carcassonne?

[Decar]

Exactly, if it wasn't for the point scoring it would have been great.
I once played a game of go with 5s per turn, which was pretty amazing, the scoring is much easier though, as it only happens at the end of the game.  Nightmare when you capture a few stones though!