Mer and I tried adding the (free, came with the game) river expansion pack to the basic Carcassonne game. The river pack adds 12 river cards – one spring card (where the river starts), one pond card (where the river ends), and 10 river cards. It adds more interest to the game, especially where farmers are concerned, because it creates a boundary to the fields, which adds complexity to the strategy.

I felt as if I was winning throughout the whole game. I managed to take over a castle that Mer had spent a lot of time building, and I managed to get an extra farmer in the main field of the game, so I had two big point-scoring opportunities. It turns out that my confidence was misplaced. I won by three points. If Mer had gotten any one of four different cards that I drew, she would have won. One of the cards she needed was the penultimate card drawn (I got it) – at that point she had a 50/50 chance of winning. It’s weird how you think you are in control of a game and then start sweating it as the points are tallied. I’m looking forward to trying this game with three people sometime. I think that would add complexity without making it simply a land-grabbing game (I fear that four or five people make the game about playing any piece you can any time that you can).