Primer:
You can join other players in Carcassonne on Windows Phone by checking this thread, by following @opticon9 on Twitter, or by contacting Xbox gamer tag "range is good" (without the quotes) directly.
Intro:
Carcassonne is a fun Xbox game for Windows Phone that allows for online play between 2-6 players. Unfortunately, the online matchmaking system is atrocious: players have to be logged in simultaneously searching for an online game (afterward everyone can play asynchronously, so this unintuitive restriction is just a problem at the start). It makes it nearly impossible to find an online match randomly. I hope we can use this thread to coordinate online play. People who want to play can come here and decide a time to rendezvous online and start some games. I will edit this thread continuously so that the next 'match time' is constantly updated and displayed for everyone to see. See below for the next match times as well as a guide on how to play Carcassonne online.
Next Match Times:
4 February, 6:30pm Mountain Time (US & Canada) [Time Converter]
River II expansion = on
Number of players = 6
Notes = to be played in real-time until completion (I.e., set aside approximately 60-90 minutes)
A Guide to Playing Online
When you are joining an online game, you must have the exact same settings chosen by the game creator in the sense that if the game creator creates a public match with the River expansion selected, the game seeker must also choose that option before searching for the game or the game will now show up. Seemingly the number of players chosen does not have to match, but I've found this to be finicky and had better luck if they did. That is, if the game creator chooses a 4-person game with the River expansion, when you are searching for a public match to join, you should search specifically for a 4-person game with the River expansion.Here is a step-by-step guide to create or join an online match. Note that I have been able to successfully start online matches with my family members by both having them join public matches I created, or by specifically inviting them using their gamer tags (they must go to the Notifications center of the Games app on their phone, click the tile saying that they have been invited to play Carcassonne, and then it will take them directly to the game lobby, but remember that the game creator must have the game lobby open on his or her screen).
How to Create an Online Match:
1. On the home menu, click "Play Online: custom match"
2. On the bottom left of the next screen choose whether you want to use The River II expansion or not: tap to turn it on (looks like a river running through a field) or off (it's a greyed out C). Ignore the "Coming soon..." to the bottom right; that is for additional expansion packs that are not yet available.
3. In the top-middle of the screen, tap on the "Select players: configure player selection"
4. On the lower half of the next screen are six slots (one of them should be you). Depending on how many players you want in the game, click the plus-sign (+) to add a player. It will take you a screen that has your "Friends list", displaying all of your Xbox friends (even if they don't have the game Carcassonne). You can invite friends that you know have Carcassonne and want to play at that specific time (if you do this, the invitation will go to the notification center of their Games app on their phone and they can click a link from there), or you can simply keep all seats as 'public' and just tell your friends to join a public match (I think this works better. To do this swipe up to go down and click the "Open for public" tile under the Public column. Do this for however many players you want in the game.
5. Once you've finalized the player slots, in the top-middle of the screen tap on "Invite: proceed to lobby" and then instruct your friends to join the game (see "How to Join an Online Match" below). Make sure they choose the same settings you chose (i.e., number of players and River expansion pack)
6. Once all the players are in, select "Go: start the game" and the game will be started.
7. Now you can both play at your own leisure. You can play in real-time or asynchronously by simply tapping the gears (settings) icon to the right of the gameplay screen and clicking on "Save/Quit". This allows you to come back and play the game whenever you want. Your opponents can also play at their leisure and whenever you resume a game, it will update with their move.
How to Join an Online Match:
A. If Receiving an Invitation
1. Open up the Games app on your phone and swipe left or right until you arrive at the "notifications" area.
2. You should have a notification informing you that you have received a game invite. Tap on it. On the bottom of the next screen, tap on 'play' and it will take you directly to the game lobby in Carcassonne.
B. If Joining a Public Match
1. On the home screen tap on "Quick Match: join a public online match"
2. On the bottom left of the next screen choose whether you want to use The River II expansion or not: tap to turn it on (looks like a river running through a field) or off (it's a greyed out C). Ignore the "Coming soon..." to the bottom right; that is for additional expansion packs that are not yet available.
3. On the bottom right of the screen is the "Number of players". Tap the red guy to the right to increase players; tap the red guy to the left to decrease players. Make sure you choose the exact same options as those chosen by whoever set up the game (i.e., if the game creator chose a 3-player game with the River expansion on, make sure you choose the same; although I've found that I've been able to join 6-player matches even when searching for 2-player matches, I've found this to be hit or miss--often it cannot find a match I know exists unless the parameters I am searching for match the game creator's parameters).
4. On the top-middle of the screen, tap on "Start Search: with the following parameters".
5. It should then take you to the game lobby where you can see your gaming name next to the game creator's name and any other players. Your work is now done (you can even leave the app while waiting for the game to start--see below). Once all players are joined in, it is up to the game creator to select "Go: start the game". Once the game creator does this, the game will load up and you can now play.
n.b., If you get an error that the game was not found, it probably means that the game creator was not logged in waiting for you. The game creator needs to be in the game lobby, actively waiting. If their screens time out, it may not work. If this is the case, just try again.
C. Waiting in the Lobby for a Game to Start
Especially when trying to organize a 6-player game, as is the case in life, many players do not arrive in the lobby at the same time. I've found that it usually takes 10-15 minutes for all 6 players to get in the lobby, but sometimes takes much longer. If you are not the game creator, though, the nice thing is that you don't have to sit in the lobby waiting for the game to start (assuming that you've all agreed to play an asynchronous game, rather than a real-time game). Once you have taken a seat in the lobby you can switch apps or even play other games in Carcassonne while you are waiting, and then come back to play at your leisure.
1. To switch to other apps while waiting for the lobby to fill up, simply tap the Windows key (home).
2. To stay in Carcassonne but switch to a different game, simply tap on "X Main menu: Stay in current match" in the upper right corner. This will take you back to the menu where you can start a new game, continue a game, play online, join a quick match, etc.
3. To go back to the game, (return to Carcassonne if you switched apps) from the Carcassonne main menu tap on "Continue: Local and Online matches". If the game hasn't started yet it will be listed under "Pending". Find the game and tap on it to return to the lobby. If the game has started while you were way, it will be listed under "Online matches."
n.b., The aforementioned are relevant to all players except the game creator. Remember that the game creator must have his phone on, screen illuminated, waiting in the game lobby for other players to join. If he or she isn't doing this, players who haven't joined yet cannot join. The game creator is able to temporarily leave the lobby of a pending game and can return to it in the same fashion as listed in the steps above, but for people to be able to join the match the game creator must be in the lobby waiting for them.
Resuming an Online Game:
Setting up an online game is the only tricky part. Once you are in a successfully set-up online game, you can play in real-time or asynchronously (i.e., at your leisure).
1. To play asynchronously, just tap the gears (i.e., settings) icon on the right side of the screen and tap "Save/Quit". Then you can exit the app.
2. To resume a game, open up Carcassonne and at the home screen tap on "Continue: local and online matches". On the next screen, scroll down to select the game. You can see what players are in the game and what time you last saved it.
You can join other players in Carcassonne on Windows Phone by checking this thread, by following @opticon9 on Twitter, or by contacting Xbox gamer tag "range is good" (without the quotes) directly.
Intro:
Carcassonne is a fun Xbox game for Windows Phone that allows for online play between 2-6 players. Unfortunately, the online matchmaking system is atrocious: players have to be logged in simultaneously searching for an online game (afterward everyone can play asynchronously, so this unintuitive restriction is just a problem at the start). It makes it nearly impossible to find an online match randomly. I hope we can use this thread to coordinate online play. People who want to play can come here and decide a time to rendezvous online and start some games. I will edit this thread continuously so that the next 'match time' is constantly updated and displayed for everyone to see. See below for the next match times as well as a guide on how to play Carcassonne online.
Next Match Times:
4 February, 6:30pm Mountain Time (US & Canada) [Time Converter]
River II expansion = on
Number of players = 6
Notes = to be played in real-time until completion (I.e., set aside approximately 60-90 minutes)
A Guide to Playing Online
When you are joining an online game, you must have the exact same settings chosen by the game creator in the sense that if the game creator creates a public match with the River expansion selected, the game seeker must also choose that option before searching for the game or the game will now show up. Seemingly the number of players chosen does not have to match, but I've found this to be finicky and had better luck if they did. That is, if the game creator chooses a 4-person game with the River expansion, when you are searching for a public match to join, you should search specifically for a 4-person game with the River expansion.Here is a step-by-step guide to create or join an online match. Note that I have been able to successfully start online matches with my family members by both having them join public matches I created, or by specifically inviting them using their gamer tags (they must go to the Notifications center of the Games app on their phone, click the tile saying that they have been invited to play Carcassonne, and then it will take them directly to the game lobby, but remember that the game creator must have the game lobby open on his or her screen).
How to Create an Online Match:
1. On the home menu, click "Play Online: custom match"
2. On the bottom left of the next screen choose whether you want to use The River II expansion or not: tap to turn it on (looks like a river running through a field) or off (it's a greyed out C). Ignore the "Coming soon..." to the bottom right; that is for additional expansion packs that are not yet available.
3. In the top-middle of the screen, tap on the "Select players: configure player selection"
4. On the lower half of the next screen are six slots (one of them should be you). Depending on how many players you want in the game, click the plus-sign (+) to add a player. It will take you a screen that has your "Friends list", displaying all of your Xbox friends (even if they don't have the game Carcassonne). You can invite friends that you know have Carcassonne and want to play at that specific time (if you do this, the invitation will go to the notification center of their Games app on their phone and they can click a link from there), or you can simply keep all seats as 'public' and just tell your friends to join a public match (I think this works better. To do this swipe up to go down and click the "Open for public" tile under the Public column. Do this for however many players you want in the game.
5. Once you've finalized the player slots, in the top-middle of the screen tap on "Invite: proceed to lobby" and then instruct your friends to join the game (see "How to Join an Online Match" below). Make sure they choose the same settings you chose (i.e., number of players and River expansion pack)
6. Once all the players are in, select "Go: start the game" and the game will be started.
7. Now you can both play at your own leisure. You can play in real-time or asynchronously by simply tapping the gears (settings) icon to the right of the gameplay screen and clicking on "Save/Quit". This allows you to come back and play the game whenever you want. Your opponents can also play at their leisure and whenever you resume a game, it will update with their move.
How to Join an Online Match:
A. If Receiving an Invitation
1. Open up the Games app on your phone and swipe left or right until you arrive at the "notifications" area.
2. You should have a notification informing you that you have received a game invite. Tap on it. On the bottom of the next screen, tap on 'play' and it will take you directly to the game lobby in Carcassonne.
B. If Joining a Public Match
1. On the home screen tap on "Quick Match: join a public online match"
2. On the bottom left of the next screen choose whether you want to use The River II expansion or not: tap to turn it on (looks like a river running through a field) or off (it's a greyed out C). Ignore the "Coming soon..." to the bottom right; that is for additional expansion packs that are not yet available.
3. On the bottom right of the screen is the "Number of players". Tap the red guy to the right to increase players; tap the red guy to the left to decrease players. Make sure you choose the exact same options as those chosen by whoever set up the game (i.e., if the game creator chose a 3-player game with the River expansion on, make sure you choose the same; although I've found that I've been able to join 6-player matches even when searching for 2-player matches, I've found this to be hit or miss--often it cannot find a match I know exists unless the parameters I am searching for match the game creator's parameters).
4. On the top-middle of the screen, tap on "Start Search: with the following parameters".
5. It should then take you to the game lobby where you can see your gaming name next to the game creator's name and any other players. Your work is now done (you can even leave the app while waiting for the game to start--see below). Once all players are joined in, it is up to the game creator to select "Go: start the game". Once the game creator does this, the game will load up and you can now play.
n.b., If you get an error that the game was not found, it probably means that the game creator was not logged in waiting for you. The game creator needs to be in the game lobby, actively waiting. If their screens time out, it may not work. If this is the case, just try again.
C. Waiting in the Lobby for a Game to Start
Especially when trying to organize a 6-player game, as is the case in life, many players do not arrive in the lobby at the same time. I've found that it usually takes 10-15 minutes for all 6 players to get in the lobby, but sometimes takes much longer. If you are not the game creator, though, the nice thing is that you don't have to sit in the lobby waiting for the game to start (assuming that you've all agreed to play an asynchronous game, rather than a real-time game). Once you have taken a seat in the lobby you can switch apps or even play other games in Carcassonne while you are waiting, and then come back to play at your leisure.
1. To switch to other apps while waiting for the lobby to fill up, simply tap the Windows key (home).
2. To stay in Carcassonne but switch to a different game, simply tap on "X Main menu: Stay in current match" in the upper right corner. This will take you back to the menu where you can start a new game, continue a game, play online, join a quick match, etc.
3. To go back to the game, (return to Carcassonne if you switched apps) from the Carcassonne main menu tap on "Continue: Local and Online matches". If the game hasn't started yet it will be listed under "Pending". Find the game and tap on it to return to the lobby. If the game has started while you were way, it will be listed under "Online matches."
n.b., The aforementioned are relevant to all players except the game creator. Remember that the game creator must have his phone on, screen illuminated, waiting in the game lobby for other players to join. If he or she isn't doing this, players who haven't joined yet cannot join. The game creator is able to temporarily leave the lobby of a pending game and can return to it in the same fashion as listed in the steps above, but for people to be able to join the match the game creator must be in the lobby waiting for them.
Resuming an Online Game:
Setting up an online game is the only tricky part. Once you are in a successfully set-up online game, you can play in real-time or asynchronously (i.e., at your leisure).
1. To play asynchronously, just tap the gears (i.e., settings) icon on the right side of the screen and tap "Save/Quit". Then you can exit the app.
2. To resume a game, open up Carcassonne and at the home screen tap on "Continue: local and online matches". On the next screen, scroll down to select the game. You can see what players are in the game and what time you last saved it.
Last edited:
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