It has been almost 20 years since our family sat down to
play our first game of Carcassonne. We
were living in Colorado and on the weekends, we would venture to the kid’s
favorite mall, Colorado Mills.
This mall had all their favorite stores including a game store so even Robert was a happy camper. At Christmas we would stroll through the mall and waste an entire afternoon having fun.
Surprising the kids with something special was also part of the experience and that game store is where we purchased Carcassonne. We were looking for a competitive game, one that called for strategy to win and one that would grow with us.
When Robert pointed out Carcassonne, we all agreed and figured it would keep our interest because it had expansions. For 20 years it remains to be the best family game on our bookshelf that we still play.
They recently celebrated the Carcassonne 20-year anniversary by creating a new version for us faithful gamers. Robert brought this one home, another new favorite we all like.
Of course, nothing will ever outshine the original because it
changes every time you play. Carcassonne
is a tile-based game where you are building roads, rivers, and cities and
place farmers to rack up points.
This game holds many neat family memories; I cannot imagine a gathering where we do not play at least two or three games. Who am I kidding more like six or seven.
Carcassonne Expansions
The original game comes with multiple expansions and we have several. To begin I would recommend starting with the main box and then adding one expansion.From there play several games before buying more as each expansion will increase your game playing time. The average game with one expansion takes about 45 minutes for two or three people.
Preparing for Carcassonne Tournament
Gaming in our home is what I call an experience and for years I have watched Robert play in addition to preparing for game tournaments. I have always encouraged him because hobbies are good to have. He is definitely the original gamer in the family who converted the rest of us.When he mentioned that Carcassonne also had a game tournament it sparked my interest. Not just a spark y’all more like a flame where I said, “we should do this.”
So, we have decided sometime in the future we will participate in a Carcassonne tournament. For now we keep playing, having fun and smiling back at all those neat memories.
Gaming to me is a positive activity especially if you select challenging games where strategy is necessary to succeed. We also like that for one or two hours we can decompress and focus on having fun.
But when I look back at all those neat memories I can see how gaming also pushed our kids to
increase their ability to think and with each win their self esteem grew as they matured.
Carcassonne is not your traditional game; it is however the best family game. One
that you will treasure and play for generations.
Be the good,
Carole
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