Carcassonne without meeples

[Meepledrone]

As announced on Instagram and Facebook, HiG will release a new version of Carcassonne without meeples.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbzeZu9qaFF/

German post:

Wir haben Neuigkeiten für euch:
Wir haben uns entschieden, unsere Carcassonne Spiele zukünftig ohne Meeple zu verkaufen. So sparen wir Ressourcen und können euch die Spiele zu einem kleineren Preis anbieten. Die Meeple wird es dann zusätzlich im Set zu kaufen geben. Somit habt ihr die Chance die Meeple direkt in euren Lieblingsfarben zu kaufen und seid nicht mehr auf die Standartfarben beschränkt.
Die meisten Carcassonne Fans haben bereits eine große Auswahl an Meeple zuhause, mit denen sie spielen können.

Translation into English:

We have news for you:
We have decided to sell our Carcassonne games without Meeple in the future. This way we save resources and can offer you the games at a lower price. The Meeple will be available in a set as well. So you have the chance to buy the meeple directly in your favorite colors and are no longer limited to the standard colors.
Most Carcassonne fans already have a large selection of Meeple at home to play with.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=5855.0

[gamgeefan2]

Kind of like Apple selling phones without chargers or even wired earbuds.  ;-)

[supertopix]

1.4.2022 :-)

[corinthiens13]

I like the idea! 

[Bumsakalaka]

I thought, that it's some of new variants. And it can be. In scoring phase, current player will earn all points of finished features. Strategy can be absolutely different and no stealing of features!

[corinthiens13]

I thought, that it's some of new variants. And it can be. In scoring phase, current player will earn all points of finished features. Strategy can be absolutely different and no stealing of features!

Merit for this idea! If you try it, please share a feedback 

[Bumsakalaka]

I thought, that it's some of new variants. And it can be. In scoring phase, current player will earn all points of finished features. Strategy can be absolutely different and no stealing of features!

Merit for this idea! If you try it, please share a feedback 

Good idea. Next weekend is meeting of Czech forum. So we can play test games there. Actually I like that idea also. But not tested it yet.

Odoslané z SM-A202F pomocou Tapatalku

[Meepledrone]

Keep us posted on the outcome!

[kothmann]

Strategy can be absolutely different …

That’s for sure!  I was trying to think about what the strategy would be.  Here is what I came up with…

Players will try to score every turn, because there is no point in building a big feature.  If a typical score is some number of points, say X, then first player scores X, next player scores 2X, next player scores 3X, etc.

If you fail to score on the nth turn, you miss out on n*X points.  So, the game is mostly about trying to keep your opponent(s) from scoring late in the game.  The player who fails to complete a feature on a couple of turns near the end will definitely lose.  This is pretty obvious, I guess.  How do you do that without also preventing yourself from scoring?

This seems like it should be similar to Nim in some sense?  At the end of your turn, you want there to be no features that can be completed (rare), or 2 features that cannot both be completed at the same time?  Or some configuration of features that makes it impossible for your opponent to end their turn with 2 features that cannot be completed at the same time?  Anyway, the point is that you don’t really care about how many points you get on this turn, you only care about how hard you are making it for your opponent(s) to score on their next turn?

Another idea, where the end of the game is not so dominant, would be to have something like this:

• First two scores recorded as usual.
• All subsequent completed features score the sum of the previous 2 recorded scores, unless the feature is a “monster”, which means it is worth more points than that sum, in which case you get the points for the feature itself.  A “monster” is skipped in determining the value of the previous 2 scores—that sum stays the same for the next player.

This way, if you can occasionally make a big score, you get ahead without sharing those points with your opponent.

Another idea is that you can see your next tile before playing your current tile.  That would allow you to know which features you could complete on your next turn and plan accordingly.

Regardless, please do share any play tests and have fun!

[PapaGeek]

I thought, that it's some of new variants. And it can be. In scoring phase, current player will earn all points of finished features. Strategy can be absolutely different and no stealing of features!

I’m not sure what HiG’s intentions are! Do you buy the tiles and meeples separately, then play by the current rules? Or, as some have mentioned here, do you play with no meeples on the tiles and whoever completes a feature gets the points?

The no meeples on the tiles idea really has my game addiction provoked! What is the difference in game strategy for a 2 player game vs a 4 player game?

I’m going to suggest a basic game this way next weekend!  OMG what happens when we add Inns and Cathedrals or Traders without the Builders?

[Meepledrone]

Ha ha ha!

This ad was HiG's April's Fool... Don't believe HiG will be selling Carcassonne without meeples.

In any case, it served as a spark for new variants.

[supertopix]

1.4.2022 :-)

[Meepledrone]

It seems he didn't notice this...

[corinthiens13]

Ooh, I didn't believe in any of last year's April fools, but this year I did...

Anyway, I still believe this would be a good idea 

[PapaGeek]

I’m still going to try the Traders on Steroids variant.  Just like whoever closes a city gets the tokens, no meeples on the tiles and whoever closes the feature gets the points.

We will only play once with just the basic game tiles, but it will probably be fun, or at least different!

You can ask my ex, I not just a fool on April first!