Carcassonne Hunters and Gatherers

# of players: 2-5
Playing time: 30-45 minutes
Published by: Rio Grande Games
cost: 16.20 (Time Well Spent)


This was one of our new games for Christmas. It has been a big hit with the 5 year old and the adults alike. In this game you are building the board putting it together like a jigsaw puzzle. Each tile has any combination of the three components in the game meadows, rivers and forests. Game play is simple on your turn you draw a tile and place it to build the board. Forests much match with forests, rivers with rivers and meadows with meadows just like a puzzle. You can then decide if you want to place a meeple on your tile or not. You earn points by having your meeple on completed forests and rivers and on the meadows at the end of the game.

This games is a definite improvement on the original Carcassonne. My 5 year old likes both games well but from an adults perspective this version is an improvement. The board is more divided without forming huge meadows (farms. It also has another level of complexity with some bonus cards. When you complete a forest with a gold nugget in it you get an immediate bonus tile. Some of these bonus tiles have special powers. The Meadows score in a creative way that is especially fun for the kids. In the meadows there are Woolly Mammoths, Deer, Aurochs and saber tooth tigers. The first three are worth points but every saber tooth tiger in your field eats one of the deer.

My 5 year old loves to play this game and asks to play it all the time. We got it less then a week ago and have already played it half a dozen times. This game also plays well as a two player game which is an important qualification for us. He has yet to win the game. He is yet to win the game and usually goes for the quick points instead of investing in larger points to be scored latter in the game. He also likes to just complete the forests and rivers even if it doesn't benefit him. This can add some randomness to the game.

I highly recommend this game. The manufacturers suggested age is 8 years old. I disagree with this age. I have played the regular Carcassone with several 4 and 5 year olds with very positive results. Give this one a try you won't be disappointed.