Gamehelpcarnac

CARNAC – Rules Summary

Overview

In the region of Carnac, thousands of megaliths stand in mysterious formations. In this game, players build new fields of stones by erecting and tilting megaliths to form dolmens.

Goal

The player who creates the most dolmens by the end of the game wins. A dolmen is a group of at least three symbols of the same color showing upward, connected orthogonally (not diagonally).

Setup

Choose a board section (recommended: medium for first games).

Place all 28 megaliths in a common supply.

Each player chooses a color.

Sit opposite each other along the long sides of the board near your symbol.

The oldest player starts.

Turn Overview

On your turn, you react to your opponent’s last move.

On each turn you face one of three possible situations:

(i) Tilt and place

You tilt your opponent’s last-placed upright megalith, making it lie flat on two adjacent empty squares. The original square becomes empty again.

Then you place a new megalith upright on any empty square (with either color facing up).

(ii) You could tilt a megalith but you decide not to tilt it.

If you choose not to tilt, your opponent immediately places a new upright megalith on any empty square, and your choice repeats.

(iii) You have no way of tilting the megalith your opponent just placed.

In this case, the last placed megalith remains standing and it's your turn placing a megalith upright.

Placement & Tilting Rules

Placing:

Megaliths must always be placed upright, standing on one of their short square sides.

Either color may face upward.

Once placed, megaliths can only be tilted, never moved or removed.

Tilting:

A megalith is tilted onto two adjacent empty squares (not diagonally).

It may not extend beyond the board.

Once tilted, it remains lying and cannot be moved again.

The square it stood on becomes empty.

End of the Game

The game ends when:

All 28 megaliths have been placed, or

No more empty squares remain.

Then count all dolmens:

Each distinct dolmen of a color counts 1 point.

The player with the most dolmens wins.

In a tie, the player with the largest dolmen wins.

Further ties are decided by the next largest dolmen.

Strategy Tips

Only the color visible from above counts for scoring — check from a “bird’s-eye view.”

The number of dolmens matters more than their size. Large connected dolmens can actually reduce your score.

Sometimes it’s wise to show your opponent’s color upward — it may stop your dolmens from merging, or prevent theirs from combining.