Catan

3–4 players 120 min 1995 10+ 7.1 (142,070)

Light

Heavy 2.3/5

About this Game

In CATAN (formerly The Settlers of Catan), players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine which resources the island produces. Players build structures by 'spending' resources (sheep, wheat, wood, brick and ore) which are represented by the relevant resource cards; each land type, with the exception of the unproductive desert, produces a specific resource: hills produce brick, forests produce wood, mountains produce ore, fields produce wheat, and pastures produce sheep. Set-up includes randomly placing large hexagonal tiles (each depicting one of the five resource-producing terrain types--or the desert) in a honeycomb shape and surrounding them with water tiles, some of which contain ports of exchange. A number disk, the value of which will correspond to the roll of two 6-sided dice, are placed on each terrain tile. Each player is given two settlements (think: houses) and roads (sticks) which are placed on intersections and borders of the terrain tiles. Players collect a hand of resource cards based on which terrain tiles their last-placed settlement is adjacent to. A robber pawn is placed on the desert tile. A turn consists of rolling the dice, collecting resource cards based on this dice roll and the position of settlements (or upgraded cities—think: hotels), turning in resource cards (if possible and desired) for improvements, trading cards at a port, possibly playing a development card, or trading resource cards with other players. If the dice roll is a 7, the active player moves the robber to a new terrain tile and steals a resource card from another player who has a settlement adjacent to that tile. Points are accumulated by building settlements and cities, having the longest road or the largest army (from some of the development cards), and gathering certain development cards that simply award victory points. When a player has gathered 10 points (some of which may be held in secret), s/he announces this and claims the win.

Mechanics

Hand Management Hexagon Grid Modular Board Chaining Income Market Network and Route Building Variable Set-up Dice Rolling Trading Take That Hidden Victory Points Race Random Production

Game Details

Player Count: 3–4
Play Time: 120 min
Age: 10+
Year: 1995
Publisher|Publishers: Albi, Hobby World, Korea Boardgames, 999 Games, asmodee, Brain Games, Kaissa Chess & Games, Lautapelit.fi, MIPL, NeoTroy Games, Devir, Filosofia Éditions, Galakta, Swan Panasia Co., Ltd., Tilsit, Brädspel.se, Broadway Toys LTD, Enigma (Bergsala Enigma), SuperHeated Neurons, Spilbræt.dk, HaKubia, Giochi Uniti, Smart Ltd, Mayfair Games, Grow Jogos e Brinquedos, Paper Iyagi, Piatnik Distribution, Stupor Mundi, Vennerød Forlag AS, danspil, Ísöld ehf., Hanayama, Super Impulse, 64 Ounce Games, Astrel Games, KOSMOS, BGA Plus, Capcom Co., Ltd., Catan Studio, Competo / Marektoy, Descartes Editeur, Dexy Co, Eurogames, GP Games, Ideal Board Games, Igroljub, IntelliGames.BG, L&M Games, Laser plus, Logojogos, Ninive Games, Rozum, Top Toys, TRY SOFT
Designer|Designers: Klaus Teuber
BGG Rating: 7.1 / 10 (142,070)
Complexity: 2.3 / 5
BoardGameGeek Rank #: #615