Overview

Carcassonne: The Castle is a two-player tile-laying game set inside the walls of the medieval city of Carcassonne. Designed by Reiner Knizia and published by Hans im Gluck / Rio Grande Games, it uses the Carcassonne tile-laying mechanic but with unique rules tailored for head-to-head play. Players draw and place tiles within a pre-built castle wall border, claiming features with followers to score points. The game introduces keeps, wall tiles with special scoring bonuses, and a distinct scoring track built into the castle wall itself.

Components

• 1 Castle wall border (forms the playing area and scoring track)
• 60 land tiles (including start tiles placed along the wall)
• Followers in two colors (typically 7 per player)
• Keep markers (1 per player)
• Wall tiles (special bonus tiles placed on the scoring track)
• Scoring markers

Setup

1. Assemble the castle wall border to form the rectangular playing area. The wall also serves as the scoring track.
2. Place the start tiles along the inside of the castle wall as indicated.
3. Place wall tiles face-up on designated spaces along the scoring track.
4. Each player takes their followers and keep marker.
5. Shuffle the remaining land tiles and place them in face-down stacks.

Turn Structure

On each turn, a player:

1. Draws a tile from the face-down supply.
2. Places the tile inside the castle walls, adjacent to at least one already-placed tile. Only paths (roads) need to connect matching edges; other features (houses, towers, fields) may be placed adjacent to different features.
3. Optionally places a follower on the just-placed tile, on an unclaimed feature (path, house, tower, or field).
4. Scores completed features if any features were completed by the tile placement.

Actions

Tile Placement: Tiles must be placed inside the castle boundary, adjacent to existing tiles. Paths must connect to paths, but other feature types (houses, towers, fields) do not need to match at edges.

Place a Follower: After placing a tile, a player may place one follower from their supply onto a feature on that tile. A follower cannot be placed on a feature already claimed by any follower. Followers are returned to the player’s supply after the feature they occupy is scored.

Complete Features:

• Paths: Complete when both ends are terminated by a square, a starter tile, the castle wall, or when the path forms a closed loop. Score 1 point per tile the path crosses. If the path includes at least one fountain, score 2 points per tile instead.
• Houses: Complete when fully surrounded on all sides by other features or the castle wall. Score 1 point per tile in the house.
• Towers: Complete when fully surrounded. Score 2 points per tile in the tower.

Contested Features: If both players have followers on a completed feature, the player with more followers scores. If tied, neither player scores.

Keeps: When a player completes their first house, they place their keep marker. The keep marker advances to each subsequently larger house they complete. The keep size matters for end-game scoring.

Wall Tiles: As players advance along the scoring track, they may land exactly on a wall tile space. When this happens, the player takes the wall tile, which provides special abilities such as: doubling the score of a completed feature, gaining bonus points at end of game, taking an extra turn, or other special effects.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

During the Game: Points are scored immediately when features are completed:

• Paths: 1 point per tile (2 per tile with fountain)
• Houses: 1 point per tile
• Towers: 2 points per tile

End of Game: The game ends when all tiles have been placed or no more tiles can be legally placed.

Final Scoring:

• Incomplete features score reduced points (typically 1 point per tile regardless of type).
• The player with the largest keep scores bonus points equal to the largest number of contiguous empty spaces on the board.
• Wall tile bonuses are applied.

The player with the most points wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Unlike standard Carcassonne, only paths need to match at tile edges; houses, towers, and fields can be placed adjacent to any feature.
• The castle wall acts as a boundary for tile placement and as a terminator for paths.
• Wall tiles must be claimed by landing exactly on their space on the scoring track; they cannot be collected otherwise.
• If both players have equal followers on a completed feature, neither scores (unlike standard Carcassonne where both would score).
• Keep markers only advance to larger houses, not smaller ones completed later.
• The game is strictly for 2 players only.

Player Reference

Feature	Completion Condition	Score
Path	Both ends terminated (square/wall/loop)	1 pt/tile (2 with fountain)
House	Surrounded on all sides	1 pt/tile
Tower	Surrounded on all sides	2 pts/tile
Incomplete (end)	Game ends	1 pt/tile
Keep bonus	End of game	Points = largest contiguous empty area