Carcassonne Monastery Rules: When Is a Monastery Complete?
Monasteries (also called cloisters in older editions) are one of the simplest features in Carcassonne — but the completion condition still trips people up.
How Monasteries Work
Completed monastery: All 8 surrounding tiles are placed → score 9 points → return your meeple
Incomplete at game end: Score 1 point for the monastery tile + 1 per surrounding tile that was placed. (e.g., 5 surrounding tiles = 6 points)
Common Questions
"Do diagonal tiles count?"
Yes. All 8 surrounding positions count — including the 4 diagonal ones. This is what makes monasteries score up to 9.
"Does it matter what's on the surrounding tiles?"
No. Any tile in any orientation counts. The surrounding tiles can have cities, roads, fields — it doesn't matter. Just fill the 8 spaces.
"Can I place a meeple on a monastery on a later turn?"
No. You can only place a meeple on the tile you just placed, on the turn you placed it. If you place a monastery tile without a meeple, it's unoccupied forever.