Carcassonne Inns & Cathedrals Expansion - Tile-Laying Medieval Board Game, Ages 7+, 2-6 Players, 45 Min Playtime by Z-Man Games

Great expansion. Makes the base game better with the additional tiles and rules without adding too much complexity. This is one of the best expansions.

What's new:- Full set of pink meeples (abbott and large meeple included) for an extra player- 5 large meeples that count as 2 meeples instead of one (helps when someone tries to steal your points by jumping on your road/city/farm, your meeple counts as 2 instead of 1)- 18 land tiles - the inns and cathedrals are like a "double or nothing" tile - roads with an inn somewhere along its course become worth 2 points per tile, unless left incomplete at the end of the game, then they all are worth 0 points (multiple inns/cathedrals do not add up to increase the points). The city tiles become worth 3 points (coat of arms also become worth 3 points - so not quite double the points) when a cathedral is present within the city, or if left incomplete are worth 0 points. Tiles are marked with a small faint meeple shadow (same as on the front bottom left corner of the box as seen in the picture) so you can keep the expansions separate after playing. The marking is very discrete and does not draw attention to itself. In fact, it took several sweeps of the board to sort out all of the expansion tiles.- Six 50 and 100 point tiles for easier scoring (50 on one side, and 100 on the other side of the tile)I would recommend buying this expansion before any other expansions, as that is how it is meant to be (hence "expansion 1"). Amazon messed up and actually sent us traders and builders (#2) when we ordered inns and cathedrals (#1). We kept the 2nd expansion and played it without the 1st expansion (the base game is still required in both instances). It was doable and still fun, but the scoring tiles would have made it much easier to keep track of points, since you end up scoring a lot more points with the expansions. Also, the 2nd expansion included a pink builder and pink pig that was useless to us without the first expansion that includes the full pink set.I liked the added risk factor that the inns and cathedrals brought (double or nothing). After becoming familiar with playing the Carcassonne base game, there seems to be less and less strategy involved after each play and it leaves you wanting more. This expansion pack added a great new strategic dimension that revived the game for me. As a side note, it does take a bit longer to play with each expansion (since you are adding tiles to be drawn with each expansion). We usually only play with one of the expansions at a time, but if we have the time both expansions make it more intricate and fun with so much going on. I would definitely recommend this expansion if you are looking to take your Carcassonne game play to the next level!

Having enjoyed the basic Carcassonne game, we decided to take up the difficulty a notch and add some novelty to the game. This game series is fantastic because of the expansion options. Based on Amazon reviews, I chose Inns & Cathedrals to be the first expansion set I would experiment with. I am happy with the end result. I am considering adding the Traders & Builders s expansion to my set, but I feel like this will make the game more like Catan. If you like Catan, that might be the better expansion to start with. Overall I think Inns & Cathedrals is the most logical step forward in the Carcassonne universe, and Traders & Builders would be next.When I ordered the item, I was concerned about two seemingly opposite issues. First, I wanted to make sure the art would match up with my Carcassonne base set. I have the original set with the newer art, not the older, classic art of the first editions. Second, I worried that the Inns & Cathedrals tiles would blend so well into the game that I wouldn’t be able to pull them out and separate them again. Fortunately, neither issue occurred. The art matches well and the tiles blend in seamlessly, however, the expansion tiles are each tagged with a tiny meeple shadow somewhere on the face of the tile so you can see which tiles are from the expansion set.Regarding actual game play, the addition of new tiles does take some getting used to but even beginning players will be able to figure it out. It adds a new dimension to the game and makes things more excited. The games don’t last much longer than the original game, I would say maybe 10-15 minutes longer on average, but I am not yet an expert on this expansion pack so I’m not sure how much time it will add to the game in the long-run. The addition of the “super meeple” is also fun.A note on packaging -- I think the packaging is somewhat wasteful, as you receive a fairly large box that contains a few sheets of tiles, a bag of meeples, and quite a bit of empty space.Bottom line: It’s a great expansion to the game, probably the first one that I would choose if you are looking to spice up your Carcassonne.