I've always been curious about Carcassonna since it seemed to be one of those ubiquitous games like Catan or Agricola. It turns out the base game is seriously underwhelming.

Each player plays a single random tile during their turn. They feature roads, monasteries, cities and fields that can be claimed by placing "meeples" (person-shaped tokens) which come in a limited supply. Completing a project gives you back the meeple. A road needs 2 ends/villages, a monastery needs to be completely surrounded and a city needs closed walls.

There is very little in the way of strategy. When and where to place meeples. And sometimes the opportunity presents itself to block your opponents or leech of their work. But because you only get a single random tile it's all very... random.

I guess it's popular because it's simple. No big board, tons of pieces or settting things up. All advantages that are irrelevant to a digital game. So yeah, meh.