Catan board game
This includes the seafarer’s expansion, Traders and Barbarians, cities and knights and an expansion to increase the player numbers. The game has been released in a number of countries and there have been many expansion packs released. Other Versions, Editions or Expansions Available?
#Catan board game how to#
This video is very helpful on the how to play Catan……… Points are earned by players building settlements, having the longest road and largest army with the winner being the first person to reach ten points. There is a Knight card, a Road Building card, a Year of Plenty card, a Monopoly card and a Victory point card. The game has development cards and these can be played before or after a turn. Players can then either continue to build structures such as roads or even grow their settlements using resources. Players then roll the dice and pick up a resource card if the number corresponds to a number that their settlement is on. Throughout the game, players have to collect resources including wood, brick, sheep or stone in order to grow their are then given resource cards which are selected based on hex tiles that are adjacent to the settlements they have placed.
The box contains the tiles, wooden settlements, cities and roads as well as cards, tokens, dice and a wooden robber pawn. The board is set up using the hexagonal tiles, all of which are laid out in a honeycomb shape before surrounding them with water tiles. It takes around ten minutes to set the game up. There is not a strenuous amount of skill involved but there is a focus on making strategic decisions throughout the game. While it is a strategy based game, it can help if players have experience in this but it is simple to learn. Skill – ComplexityĪs Catan the board game is suitable for players as young as ten you might think that it’s a very easy game to play but in reality, it has an average rating in terms of complexity. They include:Ĭertain expansion packs can be layered for even more complexity, but keep in mind that if you want to play with more than four people, you’re going to need the extension pack for each expansion pack.This is a game that is ideal for families where younger children require a relatively simple introduction to the world of strategy based games.ĭespite it involving a significant amount of strategy, it is fairly easy to learn. There are several other Catan expansion packs I have yet to purchase (“yet” being the operative word). It’s definitely fun when we want to switch things up, but I’ll admit that we still often stick with the base game alone-it’s that fun. I’ve also purchased the Catan Seafarers expansion, which introduces boats into the game! With it, you can sail to and settle new islands-a new way to earn yourself those sweet victory points. Obviously, this is great for playing with a bigger crowd, but it does extend gameplay significantly. Personally, I invested in the Catan Extension that lets you play with five or six people by making the game board larger. The base game of Catan has near endless replay value, but if you want to add even more complexity to the game, there are a number of expansion packs you can buy.
I own the Catan 5 to 6 player extension, as well as own expansion pack. This can be done by refusing trade deals, repositioning the robber, and cutting off their settlements from expansion-and I speak from experience when I say that grudges often carry over from previous games. Things can get intense fairly quickly in Catan, with players ganging up on each other to sabotage whoever they believe to be winning. Of course, no board game is complete without a little bit of rivalry. It keeps everyone on their toes, because you never really know who’s in the lead. However, if you choose to buy development cards, you can keep them hidden, stashing away secret victory points that can allow you to silently overtake other players. Some strategies, such as building settlements and cities, can be tracked by your opponents, so they know exactly how many victory points you have. Speaking of which, there are numerous ways that you can earn the 10 victory points needed to win, which keeps things interesting. When this happens, you’re forced to rely heavily on alliances and trading-or find alternate routes to victory.
#Catan board game manual#
(The manual provides a few “easy” layouts for beginners, but as you get more confident with the game and want a challenge, the board can be laid out randomly.) The number tokens get placed randomly, as well, which can make it quite challenging to get certain resources. What makes it so special? For one, the board, which is made up of hexagon-shaped tiles, is arranged in a different layout every time you play.