Carcassonne Central: Advent Quiz MMXXIII

[Meepledrone]

That was a rough start 
Let's see if I made more stupid mistakes on the easiest questions, not to mention the hard ones.

- The Grinch: It was just a soft start...
- Meepledrone: You don't have to be so hard on yourself.

[Meepledrone]

Question #6: After placing this tile, the Gingerbread Man wants to know how many points each player scores. Can you give him the answer?
 
Notes:
* This question only uses normal meeples. No large meeples were used.
* We are considering the current rules for non-square tiles (C2/C3). If you use the C1 rules, please indicate so.
* This is a mid-game scenario. The game goes on for a few more turns.

Answer #6: This tile completes a city with 7 square tiles, 2 triangular tiles sharing the same square space and 1 triangular tile alone in a square space. The city also has 3 coats of arms.

Depending on the rules applied, we will have two cases when dealing with the two triangular tiles sharing a space:
* C1: each triangular tiles is counted as an separate tile.
* C2/C3 (current default rules): the two triangular tiles are counted as 1 tile. In a nutshell, you score considering occupied square spaces, no matter if they contain one square tile, one triangular tile or two triangular tiles.

Let's see each case in turn, starting with the current rules:

C2/C3 rules

The city is scored considering the 9 tiles (the 7 square tiles, 1 additional tile for the 2 triangular tiles sharing a square space and 1 triangular tile alone in one another square space, that is, 9 occupied square spaces) and 3 coats of arms. The city is then worth 24 points ( (9 tiles + 3 coats of arms) x 2 points = 12 x 2 points).

Yellow has the majority in the city with two normal meeples against one belonging to both Blue and Red. So Yellow will be the only player scoring 24 points for the city.

Bottomline:
- Blue will score 0 points
- Red will score 0 points
- Yellow will score 24 points

C1 rules

The city is scored considering the 10 tiles (the 7 square tiles and 3 triangular tiles) and 3 coats of arms. The city is then worth 26 points ( (10 tiles + 3 coats of arms) x 2 points = 13 x 2 points).

Yellow has the majority in the city with two normal meeples against one belonging to both Blue and Red. So Yellow will be the only player scoring 26 points for the city.

Bottomline:
- Blue will score 0 points
- Red will score 0 points
- Yellow will score 26 points

[Meepledrone]

Question #7: The Snowman places this tile on Red's behalf, and he has the following questions:
a) Can the player activate a symbol to add a meeple from their supply to the city top right? (1 point)
b) Can the player activate a symbol to add a meeple from their supply to the city bottom center? (1 point)
c) Can the player activate a symbol to place a meeple from their supply in the city top right? (1 point)
d) Can the player activate a symbol to place a meeple from their supply in the city bottom center? (1 point)
e) Can the player move their meeple on the road into the city top right? (1 point)
f) Can the player move their meeple on the road into the city bottom center? (1 point)
g) Which actions from a) to f) can be performed to take control of the city top right, if any? (1 point)
h) Which actions from a) to f) can be performed to take control of the city bottom center, if any? (1 point)
i) How many points does each player score if Red tries to get the most points this turn? (1 point)

Notes:
* This question only uses normal meeples. No large meeples were used.
* Red has several meeples in their supply
* This is a mid-game scenario. The game goes on for a few more turns.
* Questions a) and b) refer to the first symbol below. Questions c) and d) refer to the second symbol below.
      
* In questions g) and h), "to take control" means "to gain the single majority."

Answer #7: This tile placement allows Red to activate one of the symbols on adjacent tiles in order to place a meeple on an uncompleted, unoccupied feature (first symbol below), or to add a meeple next to one of their meeples already placed on the board (second symbol blow). This means that Red could add a meeple to the city top right. This would allow the player to gain the majority in the city.
   

Moreover, Red has the single majority in the road just completed. The road connects to the completed city top right, which has its drawbridge up as a result, so the player cannot send the meeple into this city. The road also connects to the incomplete city bottom center, which has its drawbridge down as a result, so the player can send the meeple into this city.

Red will score 4 points for the road (4 tiles x 1 point per tile). If Red performs action a) and adds a meeple to the city, the player will have the majority in the city and would score 16 points for it ( (6 tiles + 2 coats of arms) x 2 points = 8 x 2 points). Yellow would score 0 points after losing the majority.

After scoring, Red could move their meeple on the road into the city occupied by Blue.

Notes:
* The actions triggered by symbols take place in 2. Placing a meeple meeple and moving a meeple into a city with drawbridge  that is down takes place after scoring, that is, at the end of 3. Scoring a feature. As a result, during a turn, you cannot use a drawbridge to move a meeple into a city and then add a meeple to it using a symbol.
* The player can activate only one of the two symbols due to a tile placement, even if multiple actions are applicable.
* In this scenario, the only way to gain the majority in the city bottom center would be to add a meeple next to the red meeple on the road and move both meeples to the city after scoring. This would not allow, however, to gain the single majority in the city top right, since the "add meeple" action cannot be performed twice in a turn.

Bottomline:
a) Yes, there is a red meeple in the city top right.
b) No, there is no red meeple in the city bottom center.
c) No, the city top right is already occupied and completed earlier this turn.
d) No, the city bottom center is already occupied although incomplete.
e) No, the drawbridge is up, since the city top right is already completed earlier this turn.
f) Yes, the drawbridge is down, since the city bottom center is incomplete. It is irrelevant the city is already occupied.
g) Only a) is possible and necessary to gain the majority in the city top right.
h) None, f) could be performed but to share the majority in the city bottom center so far.
i) The scoring is as follows:
Bottomline:
- Blue will score no points
- Red will score 20 points (4 points for the road + 16 points for the city).
- Yellow will score 0 points.
 

[corinthiens13]

So much suspense, that's thrilling 

[Meepledrone]

Question #8: Santa Claus places this tile on Yellow's behalf. The player has a hunch that they can complete the road and even receive extra points for the German cathedral. Here you are some questions:
a) Which ferries can be moved?
b) In order to complete the road and get the German cathedral extra points, what position changes should the player apply to the ferries?
c) How many points would each player score in this case? 

Answer #8: Yellow places this tile and can only change the first two ferries down the road:
* The top ferry (on the same tile as the blue meeple) can be moved, since it is directly connected to the road from the tile just placed.
* The left ferry (on the same tile as the red meeple) can be also moved, since it is directly connected to the road through the tunnel connected by red tokens when you follow the road from the tile just placed.
* The bottom ferry cannot be moved, since when following the road from the tile just placed you meet the ferry at the top first before going through the tunnel marked with yellow tokens.

In order to complete the road as Yellow would like, you must change the position of the ferries as follows:
* Top ferry: New position "-"
* Left ferry: "New position "/"

The following image marks (i) the completed roads in the blue and yellow colors accoding to the player with the majority in them, and (ii) the ferries moved in red. The black dots show the ends of the roads.



As a result the new road configuration will be as follows:
* The blue meeple would be on a completed 2-tile road.
* The red meeple would be on an incomplete 2-tile road ending at a tunnel not connected to another tunnel entrance.
* The yellow meeple would be on a completed road with 8 tiles, where one of the tiles is a German cathedral. Since the road ends at two segments on the German cathedral tile -it is actually a loop-, it will be scored as a 9-tile road (7 normal tiles + 2 road segments on the German cathedral tile). Note that the tiles with tunnel entrances contributing more than once to the road are counted only once.

All this being said, the scoring will be as follows:
* Blue will score 2 points (2 tiles x 1 point per tile)
* Red will score no points
* Yellow will score 18 points (9 tiles x (1 point for the road + 1 point for the German castle) = 9 x 2 points)

Bottomline:
a) The top ferry and the left ferry can be moved.
b) The position of the ferries should be as follows:
   - Top ferry: New position "-"
   - Left ferry: "New position "/"
c) The scoring would be as follows:
   - Blue will score 2 points
   - Red will score no points
   - Yellow will score 18 points


Note:

There are other options not so favorable to Yellow as illustrated in the image below. The roads completed in them do not for a loop ending at the German cathedral, so Yellow scores less points and the different scenarios affect the outcome for Blue as well. They are not the expected answers, but they are still valid:




>> Option A: An option consisting in moving the top ferry to a "-" position and the left ferry to a "|" position.

In this case, Blue would score 2 points for a 2-tile road and Yellow would occupy an 8-tile road, and would then score 16 points for it (8 tiles x (1 point for the road + 1 point for the German cathedral) = 8 x 2 points). Red would score no points, the same as above.

Bottomline:
a) The top ferry and the left ferry can be moved.
b) The position of the ferries should be as follows:
   - Top ferry: New position "-"
   - Left ferry: "New position "|"
c) The scoring would be as follows:
   - Blue scores 2 points
   - Red scores no points
   - Yellow scores 16 points


>> Option B: Another option consisting in moving the top ferry to a "|" position and the left ferry to a "/" position.

In this case, Yellow would occupy a 6-tile road, and would then score 12 points for it (6 tiles x (1 point for the road + 1 point for the German cathedral) = 6 x 2 points). Blue and Red would score no points in this case as both players occupy uncompleted roads.

Bottomline:
a) The top ferry and the left ferry can be moved.
b) The position of the ferries should be as follows:
   - Top ferry: New position "|"
   - Left ferry: "New position "/"
c) The scoring would be as follows:
   - Blue scores no points
   - Red scores no points
   - Yellow scores 12 points


>> Option C: Another option consisting in moving the top ferry to a "\" position and the left ferry to a "/" position.

In this case, Yellow would occupy a 6-tile road, and would then score 12 points for it (6 tiles x (1 point for the road + 1 point for the German cathedral) = 6 x 2 points).

In this case, Blue would occupy a 5-tile road with one segment ending at the German cathedral, so the player would score 10 points for it (5 tiles x (1 point for the road + 1 point for the German cathedral) = 5 x 2 points).

Red would score no points in this case.

Bottomline:
a) The top ferry and the left ferry can be moved.
b) The position of the ferries should be as follows:
   - Top ferry: New position "\"
   - Left ferry: "New position "/"
c) The scoring would be as follows:
   - Blue scores 10 points
   - Red scores no points
   - Yellow scores 12 points


>> Option D: Another option consisting in only moving the left ferry to a "/" position.

In this case, Blue and Yellow would share the same 6-tile road, and would then score 12 points (6 tiles x (1 point for the road + 1 point for the German cathedral) = 6 x 2 points) each. Red would score no points in this case.

Bottomline:
a) The top ferry and the left ferry can be moved.
b) The position of the ferries should be as follows:
   - Top ferry not moved
   - Left ferry: "New position "/"
c) The scoring would be as follows:
   - Blue will score 12 points
   - Red will score no points
   - Yellow will score 12 points

[Ainka-in-love]

Red will score 4 points for the road (4 tiles x 1 point per tile). If Red performs action a) and adds a meeple to the city, the player will have the majority in the road and would score 16 points for it ( (6 tiles + 2 coats of arms) x 2 points = 8 x 2 points). Yellow would score 0 points after losing the majority.

Road?

[Meepledrone]

- Meepledrone: Typo corrected! It should read:

...the player will have the majority in the city...

- Meepledrone: Thank you for pointing it out.
- The Grinch: You cannot be left alone for a second...
- Meepledrone:

[Meepledrone]

Question #8.5: Can you help The Grinch find the secret code encoded in this parchment? (3 points)

Answer #8.5: The expansion symbols map to their corresponding expansion numbers and the C symbol to 0 in this case.

0:
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:

Note:
- One symbol may represent a number with one (0-9) or two digits (10 or 11).
- Two adjacent symbols represent the figures of a two-digit number.

We can solve now each line in the parchment in turn:

>> Tower group + Tower group + Tower group = 69

This means that 3 x Tower Group = 69 ==> Tower Group = 69 / 3 ==> Tower Group = 23.

>> Tower group + Meeple group + Meeple group = 43

If we solve for Meeple group, we have 23 + 2 x Meeple group = 43 ==> 2 x Meeple group = 43 - 23 ==> 2 x Meeple group = 20 ==> Meeple group = 20 / 2  ==> Meeple group = 10.

>> Meeple group x Fairy - Fairy = 66

If we solve for Fairy, we have 23 x Fairy - Fairy = 66 ==> (23 - 1) x Fairy = 66 ==> 22 x Fairy = 66 ==> Fairy = 66 / 22 ==> Fairy = 3.

>> Meeple group + Shepherd group + Shepherd group = 30

If we solve for Shepherd group, we have 10 + 2 x Shepherd group = 30 ==> 2 x Shepherd group = 30 - 10 ==> 2 x Shepherd group = 20 ==> Shepherd group = 20 / 2 ==> Shepherd group = 10.

>> Meeple group + Shepherd group - Ghost = 19

If we solve for Ghost, we have 10 + 10 - Ghost = 19 ==> 20 - Ghost = 19 ==> Ghost = 20 - 19 ==> Ghost = 1.

We can also solve for Meeple now:

Meeple group = Meeple + Ghost + Ghost ==> 10 = Meeple + 1 + 1  ==> 10 = Meeple + 2 ==> Meeple = 10 - 2 ==> Meeple = 8.

We can also solve for the Tower piece:

Tower group = Tower piece + Tower piece + Meeple + Fairy ==> 23 = 2 x Tower piece + 8 + 3 ==> 23 = 2 x Tower piece + 11 ==> 2 x Tower piece = 23 - 11 ==> 2 x Tower piece = 12 ==> Tower piece = 12 / 2 ==> Tower piece = 6.

>> 3 x Meeple - Shepherd group - 2 x Sheep token = 10

If we solve for Sheep token, we have 3 x 8 - 10 - 2 x Sheep token = 10 ==> 24 - 10 - 2 x Sheep token = 10 ==> 14 - 2 x Sheep token = 10 ==> 2 x Sheep token = 14 - 10 ==> 2 x Sheep  = 4 ==> Sheep token = 4 / 2 ==> Sheep token = 2.

This Sheep token has 2 sheep, so each sheep is worth 1 unit ==> Sheep = 1.

We can now solve for Shepherd:

Shepherd group = Shepherd + 3 x Sheep token ==> 10 = Shepherd + 3 x 2 ==> 10 = Shepherd + 6 ==> Shepherd = 10 - 6 ==> Shepherd = 4. 

In order to obtain the answer, note that the Sheep tokens used in the final expression have 3 sheep, so they are worth 3 units.

The answer will be ( (3 x Meeple) + Fairy) + (Shepherd + (4 x Sheep token) ) - (Meeple + (3 x Tower piece) + Ghost) = ( ( 3 x 8 ) + 3 ) + (4 + (4 x 3) ) - (8 + (3 x 6) + 1) = (24 + 3) + (4 + 12) - (8 + 18 + 1) = 27 + 16 - 27 = 16.

Bottomline:
- The secret code is 16, which represented with expansion symbols would be written as

[corinthiens13]

Congratulation to the people who managed to solve this question!!! 

[Liambass]

The 2 different sheep tokens was evil!

[Meepledrone]

- The Grinch: I could hear the cogs turning inside your heads...
- The Grinch: Evil is my middle name!

[mtdv]

Congratulation to the people who managed to solve this question!!! 

Amen. I thought I had a clever answer here but I can't even blame the number of sheep.

[Meepledrone]

Question #9: Danisthirty places this tile with a crop circle on Yellow's behalf. The player has the following questions:
a) Can the player use the crop circle to remove meeples from the city before scoring the city? (1 point)
b) How many points does each player score from this tile placement during the game? (1 point)
c) Where does the Gingerbread Man move after the city is scored? (1 point)

Notes:
* This question only uses normal meeples. No large meeples were used.
* This is a mid-game scenario. The game goes on for a few more turns.
* All the cities not shown in the picture are also completed.

Answer #9: The placement of this tile completes the city occupied by Red and Yellow, and the winter garden occupied by Blue. The crop circle on the tile can be used at the end of this turn, so no action to add or remove a meeple can be performed to affect the city just completed.

The completed city has the Gingerbread Man so it will trigger its bonus:
* Red will receive 7 points (7 tiles x 1 point per tile x 1 knight)
* Yellow will receive 14 points (7 tiles x 1 point per tile x 2 knights).

Then the city scoring is performed as usual. Yellow has the majority with 2 meeples against 1 from Red. Therefore, Yellow will be the only player scoring 16 points for the city ( (7 tiles + 1 coat of arms) x 2 points = 8 x 2 points).

After the completed city is scored, the Gingerbread Man will move to another incomplete city. Since, there is none available, the Gingerbread Man will be left aside until the next gingerbread man tile is placed and there is an incomplete city to place it.

Additionally, Blue will score 9 points for the completed garden (1 point for the garden and 1 point for each adjacent tile).

Bottomline:
a) No, it is not possible to affect the completed city with the crop circle.
b) The scoring is as follows:
- Blue will score 9 points for the garden
- Red will score 7 points for the Gingerbread Man.
- Yellow will score 30 points (14 points for the Gingerbread Man + 16 points for the city)
c) The Gingerbread Man will be left aside.

[Meepledrone]

Question #10: The Grinch places this tile on behalf of Yellow. He has several questions for you too:
a) Which features may trigger the castle occupied by Blue? (1 point)
b) Which features may trigger the castle occupied by Yellow? (1 point)
c) What is the minimum and maximum number of points the castle occupied by Blue can be worth? (1 point)
d) What is the minimum and maximum number of points the castle occupied by Yellow can be worth? (1 point)
e) How many points does each player score if Yellow wants Blue to score the least points for their castle? Blue  will try to score as many points as possible, of course. (1 point)
f) When distributing the gold ingots, what sequence should be followed if Yellow would like to get as many gold ingots as possible? (1 point)

Notes:
* This is a mid-game scenario. The game goes on for a few more turns.
* The player sequence is Blue - Red - Yellow.
* No meeple is placed on the completed road.

Answer #10: The tile placed will complete two features right away:
* The city occupied by Red worth 6 points (3 tiles x 2 points per tile).
* The unoccupied road worth 7 points (7 tiles x 1 point per tile).

The completion of the city, will also trigger the completion and scoring of the castle occupied by Yellow. And the completion of the road will trigger the completion and scoring of both castles.

Also note that both the castles overlap each other's fief, so they trigger each other's scoring and both will be worth the same points.

Before scoring the features, we should notice that the fairy is next to  Yellow's mayor at the beginning of their turn, so Yellow will score 1 fairy point immediately.

Red will score 2 points for the city worth 6 points due to the ghosts (6 points - (2 ghosts x 2 points per ghost) = 6 - 4 points).

Both castles will be worth the same number of points, which will be chosen from the two possible options:
1) The value of the completed city that is in the vicinity of the castle occupied by Yellow: 6 points
2) The value of the completed, unoccupied road in the vicinity of both castles: 7 points.

Yellow cannot score points for their castle, so as requested in the question, the active player will take the lowest value, that is 6 points. So, the castle occupied by Blue will be worth 6 points as well.

This said, the castles will be scored as follows:
* Yellow will score 0 points for their castle itself due to the mayor. However the player will receive 3 bonus points for the fairy. The ghost next to the mayor will have no effect, since the mayor, in the absence of coats of arms in the castle, will not have the majority and will not score points for the castle.
* Blue will score 6 points for the castle.
 
Notes:
* Ghosts added to meeples affect the points scored by their owners, but do not affect the value of the feature they are in.
* All in all, one thing is the value of a feature itself -what neighboring castles will see and score- and another thing is what each player will score for their features, after considering the majority of the meeples occupying them, the ghosts added to those meeples and the fairy.

Regarding the gold ingots distributed after scoring, the players with the majority involved in the scoring will take them one at a time, starting with Yellow and then following the given player sequence.

So, the gold ingot distribution sequence would be as follows:
* Yellow doesn't take any gold ingot, since the mayor does not have the majority in the castle and cannot take any gold ingots.
* Blue doesn't take any gold ingot, since there is none in their castle fief.
* Red takes the gold ingot on the same tile as their meeple -the only one on the city tiles.
* No more gold ingots can be taken and there is one left placed on the tile with the garden.

As a result Red takes one gold ingot and Blue and Yellow can take none.

Bottomline:
a) The castle occupied by Blue may be triggered by the completed, unoccupied road, and by the castle occupied by Yellow.
b) The castle occupied by Yellow  may be triggered by the completed city, by the completed, unoccupied road, and the castle occupied by Blue.
c) 6 points for the castle occupied by Yellow and 7 points for the unoccupied road.
d) 6 points for the city/the castle occupied by Blue, and 7 points for the unoccupied road.
e) The scoring would be as follows:
- Blue will score 6 points for the castle
- Red will score 2 points for the city
- Yellow will score 4 points (1 point for the 1-point fairy bonus + 3 points for the scoring fairy bonus)
f) Yellow cannot take any gold ingots. The gold ingot distribution sequence is as follows:
- Yellow takes no gold ingot.
- Blue takes no gold ingot.
- Red takes one gold ingot.
- No other player can take the remaining gold ingot.

[corinthiens13]

Aaw, it seems like this is the end of my advent quizz winning streak 

Congratulations to current top participants!