Select Expansions: Decide what tiles to include and what expansions to play, and collect the following components:

[In the lists below, some expansions have been broken into separate components where the rules do not require that they be played as a set or where their components are found in several expansions.]

• All tiles from the basic game
• Any combination of river expansion tiles (from "The River", "The River II", or the "Mini Expansion") that includes exactly one spring, exactly one lake/end tile and, optionally a single branch and a second lake/end tile.

  [Combined River & River II rules throughout are inferred, and incorporate options for many popular variants.]
• Inn on the Lake tiles
• Cathedral tiles
• The king token
• The robber token
• All tiles with trade good symbols (as a set); the trade goods tokens
• Tiles with a Cathar symbol or Siege tiles (as a set)
• The count piece and all 12 Carcassonne City tiles
• The fairy piece
• The dragon piece and all tiles with a volcano or dragon symbol (usually along with the fairy)
• Tiles with a magic gate symbol
• Tiles with a princess symbol
• Tiles with the tower space
• Cult place tiles
• Fair tiles, the catapult, and the measuring board
• Any other basic tiles (without special abilities) from any other expansions

Each player takes:

• 8 normal followers
• 1 large follower
• 1 wagon follower
• 1 mayor follower
• 1 pig figure
• 1 builder figure
• 1 barn figure
• 10/9/7/6/5 tower pieces for games with 2/3/4/5/6 players
• 1 abbey tile
• 1 of each type of catapult token (knockout, seduction, target hurling, and catch)

Once tiles become mixed up, players may refer to the tile manifests if they wish to determine what expansion they belong to (this is not as hard as it sounds; except for some river tiles, none of the tiles in one expansion is found in any other, and later expansions often have distinctive symbols).

Prepare playing pieces: Each player takes his pieces , and his abbey tile, and his catapult tokens, and places one normal follower on the scoring track (keeping 7). Set aside the king token and the robber token. Set aside the king token and the robber token. Set aside the king token and the robber token. Set aside the fairy piece and the dragon piece. Set aside the fairy piece and the dragon piece. Set aside the fairy piece and the dragon piece. Sort and set aside all trade good tokens. Set aside the catapult and the measuring board

Prepare tiles: Place the starting tile face up in the middle of the table; Discard the starting tile; Discard the starting tile; Discard the starting tile; place the assembled City in the middle of the table, with the count in the castle district of the City; place the spring tile face up in the middle of the tableplace the spring next to the City with the river leading away from the City, set one lake/end tile (with a volcano, if in use) and the branch tile aside, face up, and shuffle the remaining river expansion tiles and place them face down; shuffle all other tiles in use and place them in a concealed supply (in a bag, tower dispenser, or face down piles or stacks).

Play: Play in a series of turns (below), drawing tiles, beginning with the branch tile, then face down river expansion tiles, then the face up lake/end tile, then from tiles in the supply until all tiles have been drawn, then proceeding to final scoring (below) .

Turns: Before his turn, the player Before his turn, the player Before his turn, the player scores (see table) if he has followers on the tile with the fairy, and may retrieve one of his imprisoned followers from one other player by transferring points (see scoring table) to that player. . . The player’s turn then then then consists of a number of steps, in order:

1. The player must draw one land tile or take his abbey tile and place it.
• Any tile drawn from an expansion not in use is discarded; another is drawn in its place.
• At least one edge of the new tile, and all edges of an abbey tile, must abut and align with a previously placed tile.
• Each feature at the edge of a tile newly placed non-abbey tile must be continued on any adjacent tiles.
• Cult places can never be adjacent (orthogonally or diagonally) to more than one cloister; cloisters to more than one cult.
• The abbey tile may not be selected for placement (and a normal tile must be drawn instead) if its placement requirements cannot be met. If a drawn tile's placement requirements cannot be met, the tile is revealed and then discarded face down, and a new one is drawn in its place; a new tile blindly selected from the tiles set aside at equalization, randomization and reduction and placed in the supply.
• A river tile may only be placed so that it extends the river from a single adjacent river tile. A tile may not be placed if it could prevent any subsequently drawn river tiles from meeting this requirement.
• If the tile completes (see 3) a city the player takes one trade good token corresponding each trade good symbol in the city. If the completed city that covers more tiles than any other completed city, he takes the king token.
• If the tile completes (see 3) a city the player takes one trade good token corresponding each trade good symbol in the city. If the completed city that covers more tiles than any other completed city, he takes the king token.
• If the tile completes (see 3) a city the player takes one trade good token corresponding each trade good symbol in the city. If the completed city that covers more tiles than any other completed city, he takes the king token.
• If the tile completes (see 3) a road that covers more tiles than any other completed road, he takes the robber baron token.
• If the tile has a volcano symbol, the dragon is placed on it, and any set-aside dragon tiles are shuffled into the supply.
• If the tile has a dragon symbol and the dragon is not yet in play, the just-drawn dragon tile is set aside face up and a new tile is drawn in its place.
• If the tile has a princess symbol, and there are already followers in the city the tile adds to, then the placing player may [BigBox rules still say "must"] select one follower (of any player) to remove from that city and return to its owner and skip step 2. If the removed follower was the last of the player’s in the city, and his builder is there, it is also returned.

2. The player may either: deploy one figure into a feature on the land tile just placed (if the dragon isn’t already on the tile because of volcano placement), or one follower to any tile on the board if the just-placed tile has a magic gate symbol; or occupy any unoccupied tower with a follower; or place a tower piece on an unoccupied tower or tower space and take a prisoner, and possibly exchange, one follower; or move the fairy to any tile on which he (already) has a follower (even if player has no pieces left or legal placements for them); or, place a barn, on a just-formed junction of four field segments in a field without a barn. 

   Then, if the just-placed tile has a dragon symbol and the dragon is on the board: starting with the tile-placing player and continuing until the dragon is moved six times or can no longer move, players take turns moving the dragon orthogonally to tiles that do not contain the fairy and have not yet been visited by the dragon this turn, returning all figures, except barns, on visited tiles to their owners.
• The player may only deploy one piece, which must come from his supply.
• Previously completed features and tiles occupied by the dragon are off limits to all figures and the fairy.
• Carcassonne City tiles are off limits to all pieces, except barns, and effects in this step.
• Figure deployments to features are limited to the following:
• a normal or large follower (a "knight") or mayor or wagon or builder in a city;
• a normal or large follower (a "thief") or wagon or builder on a road;
• a normal or large follower (a "farmer") or pig (or barn) in a field;
• a normal or large follower or wagon in a cloister or abbey (a "monk"), or cult place (a "heretic").
• The player may only place a pig or a builder in a feature where he as at least one follower.
• The player may only place a pig or a builder in a feature where he as at least one follower.
• The player may only place a pig or a builder in a feature where he as at least one follower.
• The player may not deploy a follower to a field, city or road segment if that segment connects to a segment, on any tile, no matter how far away, that already has a follower or barn in it.
• Fields are limited by city and abbey walls, and roads, and rivers.
• Roads are limited by intersections (not bridges, tunnels, or roundabouts), and buildings (cloisters and cult places, city and abbey walls, and houses), and volcanoes.
• Cities are limited by their (own) walls and abbey walls.
• Followers may be taken prisoner from the tile occupied by a tower to which a tower piece was added, or any from orthogonally positioned tile within range of the tower, where the range of a tower is equal to its height in tile widths. If the just taken-prisoner belongs to a player who has imprisoned some of the current player’s followers, the current player may exchange the just-captured follower for an imprisoned follower of his choice.
• For all purposes, followers on towers are "on the tile" containing the tower; towers are not part of any feature.

3. If, through the placement of the land tile, cloisters, abbeys, roads or cities are completed, or a farm with a barn and followers is formed they are now scored (see table) in an order determined by the current player.

   [The order for multiple features is not specified in the rules, and only matters if the count is in use.]
• Roads are complete when both ends connect to an intersection, volcano, building, or wall. Cities are complete when the city is completely surrounded by city or abbey walls, and has no empty spaces. Cloisters and abbeys and cult places complete when completely surrounded by tiles. (Farms are never "completed".)
• Before scoring a completed feature (not farms), starting with the player to the current player’s left, each player has one opportunity to transfer any number of his followers from the appropriate quarter of Carcassonne City, unoccupied by the count, to the feature to be scored.
• Points are awarded (see table) to:
• The player with the most, or players tied for the most, followers (including wagons) in a (scored) feature, with the large follower counting as two normal followers, and with the mayor counting as one normal follower for each pennant in the city.
• The player who has a follower on the tile with the fairy in a scored feature.
• After scoring a feature, all figures in that feature, except barns, are returned to their owners. A just-returned wagon may be immediately re-deployed to any uncompleted feature connected to the just-scored feature (subject to all normal rules of wagon deployment).
• If the just-scored feature was a cult space or cloister, followers in cult places or cloisters in any adjacent (orthogonally or diagonally) tiles are returned to their owners without scoring.
4. At the end of his turn:
• If as the result of the player’s tile placement, the aggregate of scored features result in points being awarded only to other players, he may put one follower in any quarter of Carcassonne City. When he places a follower in this way, he may then move the count to any quarter.
• The player may retrieve one of his followers from each city containing a Cathar (or siege) tile if there is a Cloister or abbey tile adjacent to a Cathar (or siege) tile in that city. If the removed follower was the last of the player’s in the city, any builder there is also returned.
• If the just placed tile was a fair tile, the player chooses one of his tokens and then each player, starting with the current player launches the selected type of token, after which all tokens are returned to their owners:
  • After each knock out token is launched, any followers hit by the token or by followers hit by the token are returned to their owners.
  • After each seduction token is launched, and if it comes to rest on a tile, the launching player may exchange any of his followers, including one already on the board, for the linearly nearest of his opponents' followers, which is then returned to its owner.
  • After all hurling tokens are launched, the player whose token lands linearly closest to the just-placed fair tile scores points (see table).
  • Catch tokens are launched at the player to the launching player's left over the measuring board placed between the two players. After each token is launched, the launching player scores if he launches over the measuring board and the receiving player misses; the receiving player scores if he catches the token or he does not touch the token and it does not cross the measuring board.

If the just-placed tile extended or completed a feature that contained the placing player’s builder, or is the volcano/lake tile (from "River II"), the player must take one complete additional turn (each of the above numbered steps in order).If the just-placed tile extended or completed a feature that contained the placing player’s builder, or is the volcano/lake tile (from "River II"), the player must take one complete additional turn (each of the above steps in order).If the just-placed tile extended or completed a feature that contained the placing player’s builder, or is the volcano/lake tile (from "River II"), the player must take one complete additional turn (each of the above steps in order).

Final scoring: After completion of the turn in which the last tile is drawn, the game ends and all fields and all incomplete cloisters, abbeys, cult places, roads, and cities are scored (including unoccupied features).

[The order in which features are scored, is not specified, and is currently irrelevant.]

• Before any features are scored, in player order, beginning with the player to the left of the one who placed the last tile, each player may transfer one of his followers from the appropriate quarter of Carcassonne City, unoccupied by the count, to any final-scoring feature. This continues until no further followers can be transferred in this way.
• Points are awarded (see table) to:
• Players with the follower majority (see 2) in scored features.
• The player who has a follower on the tile with the fairy, in a scored feature.
• The player with the king token.
• The player with the robber token.
• Players with the most (or tied for the most) of a type of goods token.
• Players with barns in fields.
• As features are scored, all figures on them can be removed from the board.

Points are awarded to during the indicated game stage according to the table above for each of the indicated scoring elements, subject to any indicated conditions or modifications.

• A "-" indicates that the element is not scored at that stage.
• Base scores for each element are indicated in regular type. For elements with more than one base score, only one will apply. For split base scores, both always apply.
• Modifiers, indicated in italics, are cumulative and applied in the order listed (multiplication after addition and subtraction), with negative totals treated as zero.
• Turn points are awarded during step 3 of the turn, *except for turn-start turn-start turn-start fairy scoring and prisoner ransom, and, and, and catapult scoring (step 4).
• Final points are awarded during final scoring (at the end of the game).
• ^{^}Carcassonne City is not a city for scoring purposes and followers there score no points; it does score for adjoining fields and barns and the king, however.