First Edition

2000-2014

It all began with an idea…..

During his travels through the south of France in the late 1990s, writer/creator Klaus-Jürgen Wrede was aiming to do research for a book about the crusade against the Cathars of medieval times. Seeing the landscape, he fell in love with the countryside, the swinging roads, and one of the fortressed cities in particular: Carcassonne.

Once he returned home, he quickly made a prototype for a game. After going through some changes to keep the game simple, Klaus-Jürgen sent the rules and pictures of the game to publisher Hans im Glück. Dirk Geilenkeuser received the materials on his desk and saw the potential for a great game. After reviewing the (hand-made!) prototype from Klaus-Jürgen, the game was greenlit in May of 2000, with an aim to have it ready by October of that year.

Doris Matthäus made the artwork, including the iconic front of the box, and it was Brend Brunnhofer (founder of Hans im Glück) who added the now-iconic Meeple as a play figure to the game.

Released at the Spiel game convention in Essen (Germany), Carcassonne was an instant hit! It was immediately picked up for distribution in other languages, such as Dutch and English. Winning the coveted Spiel des Jahres prize in 2001, it has not stopped growing in popularity since.

From this page, you can browse the Carcassonne Museum’s wide collection of base games in the original (C1) art style. If you’re not sure which version you have, please check below and find out!

You’ll find that all pictures on this site are pictures of actual boxes in our collection. If you have a box that is not on here, do contact us and we’ll be able to tell you which you have. It could be one that is still missing from our collection!

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