Carcassonne: Wheel of Fortune
2-5
8+
30+
A clever tile-laying game. The southern French city of Carcassonne is famous for its unique Roman and Medieval fortifications. The players develop the area around Carcassonne and deploy their followers on the roads, in the cities, in the cloisters, and in the fields. The skill of the players to develop the area will determine who is victorious.
This game is very similar to the original Carcassonne, but it adds the wheel of fortune, which gives players new options and adds fun to the game. It is a stand-alone game, not an expansion.
All expansions for Carcassonne are compatible with this game.
User Reviews (2)
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This set can treated both as an expansion to the Carcassonne game and as an alternate starting set. How does it suit these two roles?
As an expansion it is very big (71 new tiles) and it adds a new starting area – the wheel in a form of 4*4 tile. Unfortunately it is pretty incompatible with both versions “River” expansions (unless you use the “Mini expansion” along with them (as it allows connecting the source of the river to a road).
As an alternate starting set it is OK. But is it really better than the standard version of the starting set? I doubt so. The wheel adds a new mechanics: basically generating random events that benefit or punish all the players for certain deeds (e.g. having followers in certain structures). To be honest – the events are not totally random: by memorizing the frequencies of tiles that cause the wheel rotation a player may prepare somewhat what could possibly happen in the nearest future.
One more mechanics addition: players may put their followers as fortune-tellers on the wheel to score points when the wheel stops pointing at the appropriate meeple. But it should also be taken into account that as more and more expansions are added to the game the wheel spins more and more rarely which makes fortune-tellers not a great investment.
All in all: for the startup I recommend a basic set instead, and for an expansion I can recommend the Wheel to collectors only.
Everything that can be said about Carcassonne can be said about this variation. It’s an alternative core set.
The wheel doesn’t add much to game, but if you like a little more random action, then you might like it. For the most part, it just gives you a few chances to score a few extra points from time to time.