Hans im Glück and Klaus-Jurgen Wrede have done it again with their smash hit Carcassonne. This time it's the discovery of the new world, America. The tiles are fresh, crisply screen- printed and amazingly better than any previous incarnation of Carcassonne. Using a fall template these map tiles have the appearance of being CG or computer generated, whereas the original tiles appear to be hand drawn. There have been many subordinate games to the original, Ark Of The Covenant, Discovery, Hunters And Gatherers etc. but sadly Hans im Glück has not expanded on any other off-shoot, leaving them somewhat bland in comparison to the grandeur of Carcassonne and all it's expansions. I hope this time they see the light and expand on this one too. I bought 2 copies with the intention of maybe keeping one at the house, and one in my travel bag, but now I think perhaps I'll combine the two games for a bigger map.

This version expands on the basic game by adding a few new scoring features, and on improving old standbys. Instead of a 72 tile base this game gives you 95 tiles. Instead of a start tile (or starting spine AKA the River) you get the east coast of America with the settlements, of Plymouth, New York and Jamestown to get you started. You, the explorer place your tiles against the east coast starting spine, and work your way westward. You also have to keep wary of your progress as there are 2 surveyors who can bump your meeples off a feature before you finish them loosing yourself some points. As you move along and close a feature, and after you score it, you get to move one of the new meeples, the Surveyor. Again as I said if they have both passed you, then your lagging meeples are scored and returned, all except those left behind as a fur trapper, they act like farmers from the original. That being said farms in this game are more like cloisters from the original, once you've surrounded a farm with 8 other tiles, you get 9 points and your farmer back. Roads are worth 1 point per tile, and 1 point per trading post along the way. Settlements (which look more like forts) are scored like castles and instead of pennants they are British Union Jacks that are worth an extra 2 points per. One other bonus, if you score a feature in which the same column stands a surveyor, you get 2 extra points. So the surveyors, can not only get your stuck meeples back, he can give you extra points too!!!!

Other than these few changes the game is relatively easy to comprehend. The instructions however, do point out a "Starter Tile Background" but there is no DISTINCT starter tile as in the original, so don't beat yourself up trying to look for it, I already did and, there's none there. All in all this a fresh new look for a game that sells out almost every printing, I think this one is going to sell out fast too, 5 stars, I now only need purchase Carcassonne the City, and I'll have all incarnations of this game, so that has to tell you something. Enjoy this one I did, and remember you can't pass GO if you don't play the game!