Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm a big fan of Carcassonne, and after many years of hiatus, I started playing again and decided it was time to own my own copy of the game. I won't review the game itself or the expansions, you can get those reviews on the individual product pages. I will convey my thoughts on whether or not the Big Box is right for you. While the fifth Big Box came with the base game and four full expansions, Big Box 6 (2017) is more in line with previous Big Boxes, combining the first two and arguably best full expansions, plus a number of mini expansions. In fact, this box is identical to Big Box 4, adding to it the River and the Abbot mini expansions, both of which now come packaged with the base game. The remaining mini-expansions are difficult to obtain on their own (at least in the US). So, Big Box, or Base + Inns & Cathedrals + Traders & Builders? Well let's assume that you don't already own a version of Carcassonne, because if you do, the big box may not be worthwhile. Even though there's new artwork, older versions and newer versions are still compatible to play with each other. The Big Box is only a few bucks more than the base + first two expansions, and if you're a completionist or a collectionist, then you'll probably enjoy the other mini expansions that come with the box. This is a good start to building your collection. It's also a good means to itself. That is, you could do just fine buying the contents of the big box and no other expansions. The only downside to the big box is that the box is, well, big. It's really big. Perhaps unnecessarily big. This is nothing new. It's the same size as all previous big boxes and the same complaint pops up each time. That said, I don't regret purchasing the big box, even if I'll pursue a smaller tile box for storage and transport. For the record, all contents of the Big Box, plus more expansions should be able to fit nicely into the base game's box, especially with custom inserts. But for me, the few extra bucks (it was around $4-5 at the time) for all of the extra mini-expansions seemed worth it over buying expansions separately. But if you just want to buy everything piecemeal and spread the cost out over time, or you just want a simpler version of the game without all of the added complexities of the expansions (I do recommend at least one of the first two expansions, if not both, after that I can understand now more expansions just make the game more complicated), then the big box may not be for you.