Carcassonne: South Seas
South Seas – Clear blue waters flow effortlessly around seemingly countless islands all connected by a sophisticated network of bridges. It is here that the busy people who inhabit this heavenly paradise frolic around to gather the gifts granted to them by nature. Fish from the sea, bananas from the islands’ trees – the bridges are crowded with shell collectors showing off their latest find. From time to time, even merchant ships will dock at the island in search of cargo; the islander that supplies the merchants with the wares they seek is well rewarded for their trouble.
The players take turns placing land tiles on the table. These tiles create Bridges, Islands, Sea Regions and Markets, on which the players may place their Islanders in order to collect the various Wares. At the end of each turn, the active player may choose to deliver Wares to a Ship in order to score points. Once all of the Land tiles have been placed or all the Ships have been supplied with Wares, the game is over and the player with the most points is crowned King of the South Seas.
User Reviews (3)
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I know what you are saying, another Carcassonne… really? why? That or possibly you are rejoicing but based on there being very few reviews so far I’m gonna say it’s the former. But before you just dismiss the newest version of the tile laying game let me tell you why you may just want to take a peek.
In this version of the game instead of roads, fields and cities there are bridges, fishing and islands where instead of points you collect resources: bananas from completed islands, fish from enclosed fishing areas or if a piece is placed with a fishing boat within it, shells from the completed bridges.
These resources are then traded to the new mechanic of merchant ships with varying demands and points accordingly. Keep your ships after you give them the goods and in the end count them up along with bonuses much like regular Carcassonne.
Final thoughts:
What I like: The wooden components are great quality and the new shipping adds a new dimension to the game for both new players and veterans.
What I dislike: Not enough tiles, there are times when markets come out and there is no way you will be able to surround them based on certain tiles already being out and only being two of or one of those kind in whole game.
Who it’s ultimately for: Carcassonne fans, new gamers, casual gamers, avid gamers, family gamers.
Who it’s ultimately not for: Non-Euro fans will likely want to sit this one out. Though the theme is great, it’s still just a tile laying euro at the end of the day.
Over the past few months I have been quite absent from the hobby. Distracted by the real world and the virtual one, but recently I began attending a gaming club formed by a friend and my interest in all things cardboard has been rekindled. Thus, with an approaching birthday, I requested things of a ‘gamey’ nature and I was thankfully provided with much in the way of new cardboard and plastic, and thankfully only a little meat!
Enter stage right: Carcassonne Around the World: South Seas. One of the newer offshoots of the much praised intellectual property, and considering the setting the namesake is merely there to tie in to the cash-cow of its elder bretheren!
The game plays very close to the formulae laid down by the original, draw a tile, place a tile to build, extend or complete a feature, place a meeple and hopefully score ye them points! But this is where the similarity ends. In the South Seas variant the tiles feature sea instead of fields, islands instead of cities and wooden walkways instead of roads.
These all come with symbols of wares on them. Bananas for the islands, Fish for the seas and Oyster/Clam shells for the walkways, because now, instead of just moving your meeple down a scoring track things are done a little differently. At any given time there are four boat tiles, drawn randomly from a pile, with varying ammounts of wares on them and a point value. When you complete a feature you now gain those goods in little wooden form. Tiny wooden bananas, fish and shells, which you then use to buy yourself a ship and rake in the points from said vessel.
A new level of strategy is present also as you only have four meeple Islanders at your disposal to gather your ‘nanas, fish and shells but you can, instead of placing an Islander, take one back on any of your turns, effectively abandoning their unfinished developement. This can be played with great timing to effectively ditch a claim that’s going nowhere and jump on another, more lucrative one, instead of waiting for the duffer to be completed!
Bananas and shells are awarded when the islands and bridges respectively have been completed, the fish however are a tad diferent. If an area of sea with a fisherman islander (laid down like a farmer from vanilla) is entirely encircled by islands and bridges then that islander receives a fish for each icon on the fenced area, However, if a tile is played that features a fishing boat then the present fisherman (men) receive all of the current icons but at the cost of losing one of the higher value icons for future fishing. This means that successive boats could be played on an incomplete fishery and whittle down the fish turn by turn. Good for you if you want to rack up the fish, annoying if someone uses it to crash your perch-party and dangles a line in your pond as you’ll be seeing less of those fish you worked for!
The winner of the game is the one with the most points gained from their boats purchased with the wares and bonus points, one for every three wares they have left over at the end.
Carcassonne Around the World: South Seas really surprised me. I LOVE Carcassonne, it remains to this day one of my most played games as I like the simplicity with which it can be taught, the ease of play and the overall look of the game, but now it has been ousted from my affections by an exotic young upstart! The tactile element of the wooden wares tokens, the Islander meeple in their shorts, the look of the tiles, which look more vibrant and colourful, to the new scoring system removing the scoring track, which was one of the only things I wasn’t keen on from vanills.
Carcassonne Around the world: South Seas is a fantastic game for a varied group and for players of any age, My six year old got it within three or four turns, and I happily recommend it.
9/10.
I love the game “Carcassonne” and this game promises to put a quirky twist on the game giving a variety of players the chance to build a island chain connected by bridges. Collect Shells, Fish, and Bananas then put them on ships. Earn Points. Have FUN!
The basic concept is the same as “Carcassonne” so if you have played “Carcassonne” picking this one up will not be to hard.
PS: I have not played it yet but it looks and feels like a very good game.