Tabletop Game - Carcassonne. Amazon

"Carcassonne. Amazon" – is your favorite game, but in the setting of the Brazilian jungle and with new rules. Now you can explore the jungle in search of rare wildlife, gather fruits, and travel down the river in fast boats to the mouth. Earn victory points and become the best pioneer of South America! This version of the game is completely standalone, suitable for both newcomers and fans of other games in the series. The new version offers more interesting mechanics and slightly more complex rules.

Features of the expansion and new mechanics
So, what innovations await players already familiar with the original in the new "Carcassonne. Amazon"?

First, instead of the usual roads, fields, and cities, the new tiles feature villages, jungles, and river tributaries. In the jungles, you may find symbols of animals and fruits, and on the river, a special boat symbol. The starting point of the game is a special double-sided starting tile measuring 2x4 squares, from which the mouth of the river extends. At the beginning of the mouth, each player has a boat of their color. These boats will advance throughout the game and will earn points both at the end of the game and during gameplay. The river itself expands with special river tiles and double tiles.

Players have only four meeples and two stands, serving as farmers from the classic version.

A slight change has affected the rules for placing tiles – initially, tiles cannot be placed further than where the river has advanced from the starting tile. This simultaneously adds strategy, creates an atmosphere of players moving deeper into the jungle along the river, and guarantees that you won't block the river with your tiles during the game.

Points are earned a bit differently, too.

The tributaries replace the familiar roads. Tributaries earn the same number of points, but for each fruit symbol, you will receive one additional point. You may also find a boat symbol on the tributaries – when placing your meeple on such a tributary, your colored boat immediately moves one segment downstream. This also happens on your turn when you are not placing either a meeple or a stand.

Villages have replaced cities. The principle remains the same, but with one addition – fruit symbols on village tiles also earn you one additional point.

Stands now replace farmers in fields. Each player starts the game with two stands, which can only be placed in the jungles, and they remain there until the end of the game. Each animal in the jungle where a stand of the player is located earns them one point.
The boat mechanic allows players to earn additional points, but this requires maintaining leadership. As soon as the river extends with regular or double tiles, the leaders of this race receive points: the absolute leader gets one point for each caiman and piranha depicted on the just added tile, while the second player only gets points for piranhas. At the end of the game, when counting points, leaders also receive decent dividends – being the first is very beneficial!

About the original
"Carcassonne" – is a wonderful tabletop game for 2-5 players with amazing gameplay, where all players literally build a bright and cute map of the terrain. It is one of the most famous games in the world, loved by players of all ages. The game has received numerous awards and high ratings. What is the secret of success? "Carcassonne" is distinguished by its original tile-placement mechanic, vividness, simplicity of rules, and depth of gameplay, charming design, the theme of building your kingdom, recognizable subjects, and much more... Many different versions and expansions have been released in this series of games. Today we will dive into the "Amazon"!

How to play?
In the original tabletop game "Carcassonne" (named after an ancient French fortress and province), players take turns building the "map" of a medieval kingdom using special tiles. Each tile can contain various objects: fields, roads, cities, monasteries. Each time you complete the "map," you can place one of your subjects on the tile you added, and it is important to consider where exactly you decide to place it. A subject can become a robber on the road, a knight in the city, a monk in the monastery, and a peaceful farmer in the field, and it should be noted that all these objects earn different amounts of points! There's plenty of room for a strategic genius to shine!

Who won?
As always, the player with the most points at the end of the game wins. The end of the game occurs when the last tile is placed on the board… If you are not yet familiar with "Carcassonne," then essentially you will need to try to manage your resources as effectively as the situation allows (this will require exceptional attention and concentration). You have plenty of options – you can explore different areas, decide whether to capture them or not, take a risk and try to complete an object or take a quantity of explored lands, and you can even attempt to seize foreign territories… You have plenty of options wrapped in a simple and engaging family game.

"Carcassonne. Amazon" – is a standalone game and is not compatible with expansions from other versions. The basic version of "Carcassonne" is not required.

Components: 
- 80 land tiles
- 4 double tiles
- Start field
- Mouth tile
- 25 explorer tokens
- 10 stand tokens
- 5 boat tokens
- Point counting track
- Game rules

Game duration: from 35 minutes
Number of players: from 2 to 5