Customer Reviews

Rio Grande Games Carcassonne Big Box # 2

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This set includes all of the individual expansion sets to the game Carcassonne. This provides two great advantages: Price and Storage.

First, I calculated the difference of the list price of each expansion set individually and the "Big Box", and it comes out to a 25% savings. (This does not take into account any discounts). Plus, note that these games are NOT sold by Amazon, but by third party resellers and do not have free shipping, so I would add another $10 for the extra shipping, which, if you factor everything in, comes out to about a 40% discount for buying everything in the "Big Box" instead of separately. Pretty good.

Second, and more importantly for me, the box is a single box (instead of 6 different boxes) and it is well organized inside. I don't want all the clutter of 5 or six different packages. This keeps them all together, which is nice! There are 5 different storage places in the box where you can put the tiles that go to each of the expansions. This makes it easy to play the original game alone, and then add the expansions as you see fit.

I had never played the original game when I bought the "Big Box", but I decided to buy this anyway because of all the great reviews that I read. I am really glad that I did. I love the original game, and the expansions are making it more exciting and are reinvigorating game play when we add the new tiles.

The pieces (and the box) are of high quality, and this makes the games a lot more fun to look at, and fun to handle. Nothing looks to be poor quality.

Another reason I like this game is that two players can play this game alone, and sometimes it is hard to find games like that. You typically have two owners of a game and a third person who plays less often and is always at a disadvantage.

Also, the game doesn't last too long. You are not going to get bogged down for hours, and you can "get a game in" before you go to bed, or before you go out.

Note: you also may see some other "Carcassonne" games: "Carcassonne: The Castle", "Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers", "Carcassonne: The City", and "Carcassonne The Ark of the Covenant". None of these games is an expansion set to Carcassonne, they are each individual standalone games. Therefore, don't worry that they were not included in the "Big Box", because they shouldn't have been.

If you're looking for hours of fun that doesn't get "boring", this is the game for you.

Okay, enough with the pitch :) We play a lot of board games--we're sort of fanatics--and usually we get tired of a game after a while. Carcassonne is unique in the respect that every time you play the game, your objectives can be different (particularly with the expansion packs) so it doesn't get old.

Family fun for almost everyone, Carcassonne is a game that engages logic and imagination. A game can last for several hours (depending on how many expansion packs you want to put into the mix) or you can play a quick game without losing the overall impact or any of the fun (which is unique in the board game arena--where you usually have to "cut" rules or objectives to play a quick game). This game is also unique in the fact that multiple people can play--or just a pair of people can play in an equally engaging way. There aren't many two player games out there, and quite a few other games become dull when less than 3-4 people play together. That's simply not the case here.

The set itself is enviable for anyone who has the basic Carcassonne set, or has purchased the expansion packs seperately, and I appreciate that everything is kept together in one neat little box. If you're considering the basic Carcassonne set, spring for the "Big Box" and you won't regret it.

This would make a great gift for board game and puzzle lovers of all ages (probably from about 8 or 9 on up--though younger kids love to watch and "help"). It would also be a unique gift for readers of fantasy, and those with good imaginations (or that need a little imagination exercise :).

Overall, this is a highly recommended product. In fact, I can't think of a bad thing to say about it. The first time I played it, I was hooked. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Decided to get this game upon reading interesting reviews on another gaming website. I had never played this game before, so was torn between having to purchase either the basic + few expansions OR the big box. Having now played a few weeks, me and my wife are extremely glad that we purchased the big box.

I would'nt agree with the other review of the big box having too many expansions making it complicated, less fun or what not. Maybe they are of younger age group or having growing kids at home. I dunno... We are in the adult age group and would have been bored, only wanting more had we purchased just the basic pack. The big box has a good number of expansion packs.

Also completely disagree with other review that had me worried that the box was physically big and would be hassle to lug around. Yes the box is big, but we just ziplocked all the tiles and the pieces on our fall-vacation across the country (we had them in our carry-ons on our flight). So just use your imagination if you plan to carry it around.

Another plus point is that it's a great game for even two players and we also had lots of fun playing with our friends as group of 4.

Overall we have had lot's of fun for the past few weeks and thumbs up for Carcassonne and the big box.

I bought the base game, and it has ended up being our favorite. It is a great two player game for my husband and I, AND it has been a great game for when we have more than 2 players (our guests also liked the game). It doesn't get old, but I decided to buy the Big Box Edition to add a little more variety to the base game for us. I like having the big box for the organization of tiles that this box gives you. This is our most played game, and I highly recommend it, especially if you need to find a good 2-player game.

Carcassonne is a great game and I've definitely enjoyed it. However, the Big Box set is a bit of a waste unless you know you are a hard core player. I would start with the standard Carcassonne set and expand from there. It seems more expensive, but we ended up not using most of the expansion packs anyway. The standard seems to be where everyone has the most fun.

Thank you Rio Grande!!! This is a FANTASTIC game and this collection FANTASTICALLY updates and clarifies the rules! I have slowly collected the various Carcassone expansions throughout the years. The problem was figuring out how the expansions interacted with each other (Does the Dragon eat Tower Pieces? ect...). After researching the expansion interactions on-line, I only got more confused! This game, originally from Germany, has exchanged manufacturers along the way. The scoring rules have also changed (pretty signifantly) as well. So on Carcassonne online forums you will find contrasting information on the "correct" way to score the end game.

Anyway, this box stores each expansion in it's own slot. The scoring tiles (50/100) and the starting tile are grouped in their own slot. The "Trader and Builder" tokens have there own slots respectively. The "Meeples" and other wooden pieces share two large storage areas and come with zip-lock baggies for separation. The underside of the box colorfully maps out where each expansion should go back to when finished playing. The rules are EXTREMELY well detailed and in full color. The tiles are marked (with tiny symbols) so you know which expasion each tile belongs to. The scoring board kind of locks in on top of the plastic tile storage container so that things don't shift around if you are taking the game to your friends house.

I gave 5 stars but there are some things to point out: The box seems unnecessarily LARGE. There is a lot of dead area that isn't used. They include "The River" (not my favorite expansion) but no specific storage slot for thse 12 tiles. This is disappointing because as I mentioned there is definately space to have included a slot for these. They could also have made some slots for future expansions or expansions they decided not to include (the Count, The King and Scout etc..). All in all I can't complain.

For anyone starting out this is definately the way to go. For those of you who have collected the various expansions throughout the years I highly reccomend upgrading to this product. For me it was worth the investment.

This is a great game. Unlike some reviews I think the big box is the one to get. The expansions add depth to the game that gives some additional variability. You can play with none, or a different expansion each game, or multiple expansions at the same time.

My only negative to note is that the picture on Amazon is not the box you get. This thing really is A BIG BOX. It is the biggest board game box I've ever seen. Come on, they could have kept the same functionality and organization and made this box 1/4 the volume size (there is tons of empty space). Not only is there the environmental impact, but now I have to store this monstrosity. They must have done this on purpose to truly make it the BIG BOX - I can think of no other reason to do so.

If you like Carcassonne, this is the box for you.

I'm assuming you already know about Carcassonne. Why else would you be purchasing an $80 game that includes 8 expansion sets? It is a great game, works well with 2 players and works well with more players. You can play a game in just an hour (more depending on how many expansion sets you use).

Here are the reasons you should be getting the Big Box as opposed to all the expansion sets separately

PROS
* Cost. ~$80 for the Big Box, ~$110 for everything a la carte.
* It has most of the expansion sets (River II instead of the original River; no Tower or Catapult).
* All the pieces are subtly marked indicating which expansion it belongs to
* Summary rule book. Very nice to have everything in one place.

NEUTRAL
* Rio Grande now uses the new/european rules where two-piece cities score 4 instead of 2 and the farms are scored differently at the end. These rules are supposed to be a bit more balanced and easier to understand.

CONS
* This box is way too big. Most of it is wasted space. However, each expansion set has it's own cubbyhole so it is easy to mix and match and separate the various expansion tiles.
* It is missing the nice cloth bag from the Traders & Builder expansion set.

This is a very good value for the amount of expansions you receive in the box as well as the base game. It is a tile placement game that is different each time you play it. The box is set up to easily organize each of your expansion which is very nice. If you, like me, have a group of people who like nerdy board games (like Arkham Horror, Runebound, Settlers of Catan, Android, etc.) and those who like the regular board games (like Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, etc) then this can be a good bridge game. It's easy to learn but allows for a lot of strategy. With so many expansions in the box, it will be very hard to play this game into the ground also. It will stay fresh and fun for a long time to come.

I was introduced to this style of board game with "Settlers of Catan" - if you love Settlers, you'll probably love this game. Before I start, I just want to say that I love both games equally: though similar in style and modular structure, the gameplay is very different. I'm definetly comparing apples and oranges here but I consider the two games a good pair. I'm kind of aiming this at folks who've played Settlers but not tried Carcassonne.

Carcassonne has the same durable tiles and wooden game pieces with the same easy to learn rules that at first make the game seem simple but the more you play, the deeper the strategies become.

Carcassonne is a nice alternative to Settlers for when there are only two players (Settlers requiring 3 at least) or when time is in short supply. Depending on the speed of people's decision making, a basic game (without expanions) can take rougly a half hour to play. Because once the tiles have been used, the game is over - whereas in Settlers, it's whoever gets to 10 points, which can be slow going at times depending on resource allocation.

Carcassonne keeps players on their toes a bit more than Settlers due to the fact that the board is constantly being added to, the game constantly evolving. Because the board is not layed out at the start, players are not stuck to one strategy at the start. Instead, the board starts with one tile and each player takes a turn adding a tile and optionally placing a game piece, making for an ever-evolving playing field. Too often in Settlers a bad set of starting town placements can make the rest of the game extremely difficult to win (though this can be a fun challenge in its own way). With my group of friends, this can lead to some sore losers and the end of our game playing for the day. ;)

Personally, I had never played Carcassonne and started right off by purchasing the Big Box - and I don't regret it. It's a money-saver, for one, and the various combinations of expansions make this a highly replayable game. The Big Box keeps all the expansions organized and easily seperated, each with their own compartments, which is nice for long-term storage but not as good for portability. If we're travelling, we just seperate all the tiles into ziplock bags and the whole thing bundles to the size of a large shoe.

After playing with the various expansions (Traders and Builders is my favorite) I have a hard time playing without them - they add a lot of life to the base game. Now if only they'd do a Big Box of Settlers... ;)