When do you get your meeples back in Carcassonne?
When the feature your meeple is on is completed and scored. Then it goes back to your supply. Farmers are the exception: fields only score at the end, so farmers stay on the board all game.
The rule:
In Carcassonne, you get a meeple back when the feature it’s on is completed and scored, which can happen on anyone’s turn; farmers are the exception and stay on the board until the end of the game.
Each player has 7 meeples to place. Getting them back is how you keep playing.
- Roads, cities, monasteries: when the feature is completed, it scores and every meeple on it returns to its owner’s supply. That can happen on anyone’s turn.
- Fields: farmers stay until the end of the game.
- No early pickup: you can’t take a normal meeple back whenever you like.
- Abbot exception: with the Abbot mini-expansion, you can take your abbot back early and score it right away.
Example:
Your traveler is on a road. Ben places a tile that closes both ends. The road scores during Ben's turn, you take the points, and your meeple goes back to your supply.
Why players argue about it:
Players think a meeple only comes back on its owner's turn, or that they can pick one up any time. It returns whenever its feature is completed, whoever placed the tile.