My wife and I have just finished one of the most hilarious games of Carcassonne we've ever played. We hadn't intended to, but for some reason I've misplaced my standard 50-point scoreboard so I went and borrowed my daughter's Snakes and Ladders board instead (10 x 10 and numbered 1 to 100). I hadn't really thought about it at the time, but I wondered what it would be like to play the game where we actually moved our scoreboard markers down the snakes and up the ladders as we went, so this is exactly what we did!
I got off to an excellent start with a small city, normally worth 4 points. However, on our "scoreboard" there was a ladder on the 4 which meant I was already on 23 after just a few turns. After another small city and a 3-point road I was up to 30 and another ladder took my score up to 52! As she then spotted the opportunity to do so, a very wide grin crept across my wife's face as she completed a 3-point road of mine with her next tile. I dutifully moved myself along 3 squares and then... down the snake to 45! And this is how the game continued.
Although it was just a silly idea for a bit of fun really, and to ensure that I didn't take our game too seriously, it was actually very interesting as we were constantly striving to score very specific numbers of points either for ourselves or each other to ensure we'd hit ladders or snakes respectively. It made me view the game in a completely different way and there was a lot of very devious play, especially when my wife went out of her way to ensure that I landed on the 96 square as often as possible!
If you have a Snakes and Ladders board at home (as I imagine most people probably do) I'd recommend giving this a go just for fun. You cannot take it seriously so the winning is irrelevant but I really enjoyed it all the same! Photos below:
Our scoreboard showing final scores. Post-game scores were calculated in one go and all added on at once before acting on any snakes or ladders where we landed accordingly. My final score of 266 worked out very nicely as I got an unexpected bonus of 11 points from the ladder! Becky finished on 188 making me wish she'd picked up an extra 8 points somewhere along the way.
This is how the game finished before we'd calculated final scores. We used the basic tiles + River 1, Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders and The Phantom.
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