Monday, 29 April 2013

Age Down Adaptation: Carcassonne



It's the tile placer game where you, in the most readily available versions make a countryside of towns, fields, roads and monasteries, or rivers, forests and pastures. You place workers and based on the levels of completion, size, ad little symbols on the tiles that make up of each landmark you get points.

I'm not sure if it's the first tile placement game but I’m pretty sure I’d be at least close in claiming that. It's a pretty simple game a great gateway game and in terms of returns on your money, if you buy the big box version it's well worth it.

As an adult it can be a little...bland after awhile but still a great way to get friends who aren't necessarily into games to play.
With that in mind it is absolutely a game that can be played with smaller kids.
At first, with my girls it started out as a puzzle game, and it still is for my youngest. Match the roads, cities, fields, make sure the walls meet up and so on. Gets them to look turn the pieces and make them fit, I believe most puzzles work on hand eye co-ordination and spacial awareness.

My four year old is now able to place her workers, understanding she gets points for a bigger city, and a longer road, she's building on the towns and even trying to surround her monasteries with tiles when she can. I'm scoring but she counts the tiles for me which is working on her numbers.
Next stage is to work on placing workers in fields and understanding how they score for each town they supply. And having her score for her own towns and such.
And as far as the base game goes this is about the sun of the game and it's mechanics. As they're older they'll get to thinking about strategies to maximize their own points, and limit their opponents where possible.
There are expansions, many of them and they all add differing levels to the game, each of which could be used to build on to the game with the kids too, expanding their understanding and their learning with each new set of rules. I've never tried to run more than one expansion at a time but conceivably it can be done and it's sure be an interesting game.
This one is definitely adjustable for the small folk and enjoyable. The game states age 8+ I states that from about 3+ you can start getting your money back out of this one as a family game that the wee ones can grow with and with a big box there's quite a bit of game play before it's gets too same-y or boring for the adults.

No comments:

Post a Comment