Z-Man Games Press Release - Essen Game Previews - CARCASSONNE SOUTH SEAS - Something Special: Collecting Wares.

From the Z-Man Games Website

Carcassonne South Seas is part of a new series “Around the World” that will allow you to discover the world in all its magnificence. While we do not know what new regions will be discovered next, we know that there will be different aspects that what you are used to in Carcassonne.

What is different with South Seas?

Contrarily to traditional Carcassonne, in South Seas you do not score points when you complete a Bridge/Island/Sea Region/Market. Instead, you gather the Wares depicted on the tiles. Bananas on the Islands, fish in the Seas, shells on Bridges. Markets give you Ship tokens, but we will get back to those later. 

A completed Bridge will give you shells. You gather the number of shells you see on the tiles that constitute your Bridge. In this case, the completed Bridge will give the player 4 shells.

 

A completed Island gives you bananas. You will gather the number of bananas depicted on the tiles that form your Island. In this case, the player would receive 4 bananas for completing the Island.

 

A completed Sea Region will give you fish. You will reel-in the number of fish you see on the tiles that complete your Sea Region. In this case, two tiles have 2 fish, and one tile has 1, for a total of 5 fish.

Ok, so what do I do with all these shells, bananas, and fish?

You gather Wares throughout the game, in order to get points. At the end of your turn, you can choose to deliver Wares to a Ship. Once the correct wares have been delivered to the ship, the player who delivered the Wares wins the boat. Ships are worth a certain number of points. 

 

  

Didn’t you say something about Markets?

In Carcassonne South Seas, Markets are the equivalent of Monasteries. However, they are not scored as they would be in a normal Carcassonne Game. You will still have to surround the Market tile with 8 tiles in order to score points, however, the points will not be scored immediately. Completed Markets will give Ship tokens. When you complete a Market, you will receive the Ship token with the highest value, without having to pay the Wares depicted on it. You essentially get it for free, with a little hard work!

There are many more new aspects to discover in Carcassonne South Seas, but we do want to let you discover them on your own. Carcassonne South Seas is one of the games that will be premiering at Essen October 24th.