- BGG rating
- 6.9
Rules assistance for Carcassonne: The Gold Mines
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–6 players
- 8+
- Complexity 1.8/5
Rules assistant for Carcassonne: The Gold Mines
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Carcassonne: The Gold Mines is an expansion for Carcassonne released in 2012 for 2–6 players and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and its main mechanics are Area Majority / Influence and Tile Placement.
About the game
In Carcassonne: The Gold Mines, a small expansion for Carcassonne, eight landscape tiles showing a gold bar are mixed with the other tiles being used in the game. Whenever a player draws one of these tiles during play, he or she places the tile according to the normal rules, then places one gold bar on this tile and one gold bar on any adjacent tile, whether orthogonally or diagonally adjacent. He or she may then place a follower as normal on the tile placed this turn. Whenever any feature is completed – whether on the same turn or a later turn – and one or more tiles of the completed feature have gold bars on them, these bars are distributed among the players involved in the scoring. If one player has a majority of followers on the completed feature, he or she collects all of the gold bars available; if two or more players are tied in the number of followers present, then gold bars are distributed among those tied players, going clockwise from the active player. At the end of the game, any unclaimed gold bars are removed from the board before final scoring. Each gold bar is worth 1-4 points depending on how many bars a player has collected. Part of the Carcassonne series.
Designers
Publishers
- Devir
- Enigma (Bergsala Enigma)
- Giochi Uniti
- 999 Games
- MINDOK
- Rio Grande Games
- Lautapelit.fi
- Filosofia Éditions
- Z-Man Games
- Hans im Glück
Questions and answers
Carcassonne: The Gold Mines supports 2–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The catalogue lists Carcassonne: The Gold Mines for ages 8 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Carcassonne: The Gold Mines has a complexity rating of 1.8 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Carcassonne: The Gold Mines belongs to these categories: Territory Building, Medieval, and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Area Majority / Influence and Tile Placement. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Carcassonne: The Gold Mines are: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Carcassonne: The Gold Mines as an expansion for Carcassonne. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Carcassonne to use it. Check that your edition of Carcassonne is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.