I have been playing Carcassonne for a while, and enjoyed the original up until the dragon expansion, and then it all went down hill from there.

This version is the best I have see so far, as it makes you adjust your game plans in many different ways, and with so few people to put on or pull off the game, it makes for some very interesting choices on how to play.

I really enjoyed how simple yet fun with some advanced concepts this game was.

Faster playing, less strategic, more tactical, and with somewhat less confrontation between players, this is a quick, simple addition to the Carcassonne family of games.

Experienced Carcassonne players may find this game "too simple", as there are fewer strategic choices than in the original game, but the variety of scoring opportunities and the tight budgeting of follower placment keep the game interesting. Players new to Carcassonne -- or those in the US who are still using the old field scoring rules -- will appreciate the straightforwardness of the scoring process. Scoring is now by follower (no majority rules), rather than by feature, and occurs only during the game (no end-game scoring). Follower turnover is also much faster (which is good thing since each player now has only 4, rather than 7) because features can be scored regardless of whether they are complete (though incomplete features score less). Scoring is always optional (completed features need not be scored) but players must now choose between placing a new follower, and scoring one already on the board.

Far from being a replacement for Carcassonne, or even an improvement, The Discovery simply adds a new member to the family: the focus here is on faster, more tactical play; the new dynamics created by the opportunity to share, rather than steal, high-value features; and the tradeoff between scoring and placing new followers.

Despite obviously emanating from the greater Carcasonne universe, the rule changes to this version are enough as to force a whole new thinking of strategy. A lot of the stuff that would work to win previous versions would be useless here (eg, there are no "quick points", and you can't steal land or cities or roads from another player...), so it's kind of disorienting. It's really a whole new game that breathes life into this wonderful series.

But the question is, does this new Carcasonne stand on its own as a great game? For me the answer is absolutely. Although the rules are simple, there are a lot of implication that will take many plays to really figure out.

As for Carcasonne's cutthroat side (ie, kicking someone off of their feature by carefully placing followers), that's basically gone. That makes this game a little nicer, but it does not mean there's less strategy. Because multiple followers on a feature each get points, you are motivated to try to "get on board" someone else's feature, if that feature is proving to be a very valuable one.

You can also get points for incomplete features (ie, even before the end of the game), so that completely changes things.

So for me it seems obvious that the only people who might not like this game are those that have played the previous versions of Carcasonne and don't want to see major changes. For anyone playing this game without having played the previous versions, there's no doubt that they will say it is a great game. And it is.