Unlike Words With Friends, which is fairly constant, my Carcassonne playing has slowed right down lately. I think I’ve only got one game on the go right now, but I finished a brilliant game over the weekend.

Carcassonne

I wonder if we'll ever get any expansions?

I was feeling fairly confident at the mid-game stage, but near the end of the game my cunning opponent closed off some castles and put his peeps to work in the fields. With one straight road piece left, the game would hinge on who got it. If he got it, he could neutralise my largest field, if I got it I could make sure his peep was wasted.

I got it, right near the end of the game.

I still wasn’t sure who would win. If you’ve played the game, you’ll know that there’s nothing more tense than watching the numbers tick up once all the tiles have been played. I watched, I held my breath, I won by one solitary point.

Phew.

It’s a brilliant game, ported to the iPhone with great care, so why am I not playing it much? There’s a simple answer. It requires a huge amount of concentration and planning. It makes your brain work far more than something like Words With Friends, where it’s hard to plan more than a move or two ahead. In Carcassonne you’re constantly watching what everyone is doing, trying to play the odds, making important decisions almost every turn, thinking through the whole game. It wears me out. There’s only so much I can take.