What defines "Mega-Carcassonne"?

[rfielder]

Is there a definition of when the game goes from Carcassonne to megaCarc?  In another discussion, the suggested limit was 200 tiles.

We have 210 tiles in use at this time.  Games take 2 to 2.5 hours for two people.  We are likely going to add the Gold Mines next time we play, for a total of 218.  That will be it for a while.  The bag was are using is one my partner made a long time ago for other purposes, so it has nothing about Carcassonne on the outside, but it works well and will hold a few more if needed.

We play on our dining room table - a very old wood monster that has four leaves stored internally.  We had it refurbished a few years ago, and the workers reported that the table was so old that parts if it were held together with horse glue.  It is much wider than a normal table, allowing you to sit two crowded adults or two comfortable childern at the ends.  The width makes it perfect for Carcassonne.

Who else plays megaCarc?  How many times are actually in use for a game?  How long do the games take?  What do you use for a table?

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=713.0

[coyote]

I haven't counted (maybe I should!) but we have about 200 tiles. Maybe just under. Our two-player games usually take about 2.5-3 hours.
We use all tiles, but hand-pick rules to use for each game, and some riles (Mage & Witch, Dragon, Tower) add more time to the game than others (Ferries, etc.)

Edit to add: We are also limited to the size of our table - so we have a house rule essentially stating that you HAVE to put a tile down if drawn. This forces "no holes" in the landscape, and causes the goods (Wine, Cloth, Wheat) to alter game play.

--Me

[rfielder]

We use all tiles, but hand-pick rules to use for each game, and some riles (Mage & Witch, Dragon, Tower) add more time to the game than others (Ferries, etc.)

How do the Mage & Witch add time?  We draw a tile, place the tile, place the Mage or Witch, and keep player.  Not sure why that would add any time?

Edit to add: We are also limited to the size of our table - so we have a house rule essentially stating that you HAVE to put a tile down if drawn. This forces "no holes" in the landscape, and causes the goods (Wine, Cloth, Wheat) to alter game play.

Sorry, but I am not clear on this.  Any tile drawn must be played.  Holes in the landscape are normal, and are perfect for monasteries and volcanoes.  Or towers.

Our rule is that a tile must sit on the table.  It can stick out over the edge, but if it won't sit by itself (in other words, if it will fall off), then it can't be played.  No overlapping tiles at the table edge.

[Paul]

We also use the table as the limit, albeit next megaCarc, even filling all the holes, the table has become too small. So, we're going to try the floor as suggested last year by other CarcassonneCentral members. I hope my back survives this!

For quite some time now, we've added a rule to help fill in the holes, which benefits (mostly) the player placing the tile:

If the player placing the tile scores no point this turn (from any source), that player gets 1 point for each side the tile placed is adjacent another tile on the board.

This allow a player to fill in a hole and get up to four points if it touches all sides.

 

[danisthirty]

Most of the games I play tend to have between 150 and 170 tiles although I generally play with just 100 to 120 if there's only 2 of us playing.

Fortunately my dining table is big enough to accommodate this many tiles without the edge being a problem. I have heard about people inventing house-rules however, whereby any features that reach the edge of the table are completed in the same way as an abbey would do provided they're not still open elsewhere!

[coyote]

How do the Mage & Witch add time?  We draw a tile, place the tile, place the Mage or Witch, and keep player.  Not sure why that would add any time?

Because htere are many different places to place either, like how badly you want to set someone back (potentially) or help yourself (potentially!). So that decision time there adds to the total turn time.

Sorry, but I am not clear on this.  Any tile drawn must be played.  Holes in the landscape are normal, and are perfect for monasteries and volcanoes.  Or towers.

Think of it this way - if you have a huge playing area - yes, you have to place a tile, but it can be on the outer reaches of the game. The way we play is that once we reach the end of the table, in all directions, we continue playing - filling in the holes. There are times where we cannot - and in cases like that, the player discards the tile, and 'loses' a turn. So by the time we're finished, usually there's a complete landscape - no open 'holes'.

[Rosco]

I haven't played my full megacarc yet. My wife won't play with more than about 120 tiles. Since my set currently stands at about 600 tiles, I really need another fanatic to play. And a patient one to explain all the fan  expansion rules.

I have most of the official ones then loads of fan expansions.

I also have a bunch of extra meeples too - 8 standard, phantom, mega, child, prostitute, super thief, sheriff and maybe something else I have forgotten

[Paul]

How do the Mage & Witch add time?  We draw a tile, place the tile, place the Mage or Witch, and keep player.  Not sure why that would add any time?

Because htere are many different places to place either, like how badly you want to set someone back (potentially) or help yourself (potentially!). So that decision time there adds to the total turn time.

Sorry, but I am not clear on this.  Any tile drawn must be played.  Holes in the landscape are normal, and are perfect for monasteries and volcanoes.  Or towers.

Think of it this way - if you have a huge playing area - yes, you have to place a tile, but it can be on the outer reaches of the game. The way we play is that once we reach the end of the table, in all directions, we continue playing - filling in the holes. There are times where we cannot - and in cases like that, the player discards the tile, and 'loses' a turn. So by the time we're finished, usually there's a complete landscape - no open 'holes'.

If the table is square or rectangular shaped, you could make it seemlessly. I.e. one end of the table has to match the other end, making it a flat-round world.
  If you have a long wooden pole or stick, you can use that to straighten the horizonal and vertial line of tiles (only need to do the edges).

 

[Guesclin]

Usually i play with my wife and brother in law. Sometimes with a friend who is pretty good at games.
We always skip the dragon, tower and plague cause they really dont like the meeples being exterminated sadly. Ussually about 180 tiles.

[Carcking]

For me MegaCarc is more about the number of expansions you include - and actually play the rules of, not just the number of tiles.

The largest game I ever played was at GenCon last year. It was 12 players (6 teams of two where you had to sit across the table from your partner), 1,000 tiles and 7 or 8 or more expansions - official and fan-made. There was a time limit of 4 hours. The tile bag was literally a pillow case. When the timer went off all play stopped and we went to final scoring. We had gone through at least 2/3 of the bag. My wife and I came out the victors!

At home we usually play with around 170 tiles and 3 or so expansions of some variety. I don't consider that a MegaCarc. There must be some cool in-between name for such a game. What's in-between Carc and MegaCarc?

[coyote]

I haven't counted (maybe I should!) but we have about 200 tiles. Maybe just under.

Okay, I was far, far off. With the addition of Bridges, Castles, and Bazaars that just arrived today, we are playing with 289 tiles. Wow.

[AlbinoAsian]

For us MegaCarc at its very core was about pushing yourself. Incorporating all the different elements and seeing whether you and the group could keep up with the craziness as you got your head around the order of play and the interplay between the expansions' rules. Back when we first called it MegaCarc (without even realising there were others using the same term) we had 3 major expansions and King & Scout. Then it grew as our collection grew. It was never about the amount of tiles. A completed game of MEGAcarc always left you with a great sense of achievement. Almost like it was a battle between the players and the game itself. If you made it through the game then everyone felt like a winner!

[Carcking]

@AlbinoAsian - 

[obervet]

For me MegaCarc is more about the number of expansions you include - and actually play the rules of, not just the number of tiles.
...
At home we usually play with around 170 tiles and 3 or so expansions of some variety. I don't consider that a MegaCarc. There must be some cool in-between name for such a game. What's in-between Carc and MegaCarc?

Since "mega-" is also the prefix for 1 million, you could use "kilo-" as a smaller large amount. KiloCarc? That sounds like "killer Carc." You might have to include the dragon, plague, and towers to really call it that, then.

[Whaleyland]

Wow! 13 people have voted in this poll thus far and I am the only one that prefers to play with a smaller set of tiles. That kind of surprises me. For whatever reason, I always consider Carcassonne a quick filler game. I don't like a game of Carc to go longer than an hour so I usually don't play with more than two large expansions and a small one, and even that's fairly rare. If I play Princess & Dragon, I play also with River II (but otherwise I don't ever play with a river expansion) = 114 tiles. That's pretty much the most I'll ever play with at one time unless I am intentionally doing a mega game. I'd say 90 tiles is my average. Usually either an 18-tile expansion or a 12-tile with a mini expansion (4-8 tiles).

Edit: LOL. Totally missed the question. I'll change my vote to Over 200 for a megagame, though I'd prefer it be worded in terms of large expansions. Anything over 4 large expansions for me qualifies as a mega game. A ton of vanilla tiles alone, even if over 200, doesn't qualify (except at conventions).