When I was in college, I was introduced to the Settlers of Catan. This was the game of choice among my friends at the time, and we spent countless hours in dorm rooms, on band and choir tours, and at friends’ houses playing, hoping that we wouldn’t roll 7s, and getting angry when someone gave up and traded to benefit our opponent. Catan was high on the list of games that I wanted to review, but in light of the passing of the game’s creator, Klaus Teuber, I wanted to write this review as soon as possible. To say that this game was revolutionary was an understatement. People like me were into board games in the days when Axis and Allies, Risk, and Monopoly were the heavier mainstream games. Catan presented something different. It allowed players to build their own little community, deciding which resources to focus on while requiring high levels of interactivity between the players. It was a game that could be played with people who didn’t play board games as a norm, and I have experienced many instances where a first time player has been able to win. While the game itself is brilliant and a lot of fun to play, its impact has been widespread far beyond Catan itself. Catan launched a renaissance in board gaming, both in creating a foundation for how future board games would look and play, but also in showing that board games were a viable and desirable form of entertainment that many people could participate in. The activity could provide a very social alternative hobby to screen based television and video gaming. I am grateful for Teuber’s innovation and trailblazing as it has allowed for me to have a medium for some great experiences as well as strengthening many of my relationships.
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Short Explanation of How to Play
In Settlers of Catan, you compete with other players to score 10 points. The bulk of those points are acquired through building settlements and cities, but there are are other ways to get those points. To build anything, you need the requisite number of resources: wood, brick, wheat, sheep, and ore. You get those resource cards by having a settlement next to a resource when that resource’s number is rolled, so choosing where to place settlements requires players to consider both what resources they want as well as which numbers have a higher probability of being rolled when rolling the two dice. Finally, trading can happen every player’s turn, so that is a vitally important mechanic as it helps players acquire what they need and don’t have, but also, makes the game very social as players compete to make the best deals with one another.
Why it Works/Doesn't Work For Our Family
What Worked: Quite simply, my son refused to try it. We have Catan Jr., and he thought that was complicated enough for him. I was able to play the game with my daughter, and she enjoyed the game very much.
What Was Challenging: The greatest challenge I ever see with Catan is that it requires a minimum of 3 players with the standard rules, though Asmodee has released a two player variant that could work for players who want to use it. (There are additional two player variants that have been created by players that are floating around the internet).
Why it Works/Doesn't Work With Friends
This is one of the classics. It works because it is one of the greatest games of all time. It is a game we know and love, and is always a great experience for us.
Teacher's Corner
This game is an excellent game for many economic principles. First, this game is great for resource management. Players need to acquire different resources to build the things they need to grow their island community. If someone rolls a 7 and players have 7 or more cards, they lose half of their cards, so they have a massive incentive to be efficient with the cards they have in their hand. Diversifying resources is important for players to get what they need. Also, cost benefit analysis and free trade are excellently depicted here as players can trade with one another, or trade 4 of one type of card for any card from the bank (or 3 for 1 or 2 for 1 if they have trading ports at the edge of the map). The economics of the game are more authentically represented than Monopoly, and allows players numerous choices in their approach to the game.
Overall opinion, rating, and recommendation
6 year old son - Was not interested in playing it. He has played and enjoyed Catan Jr., but said that was hard enough for him to play, and did not want to play the regular version.
9 year old daughter - My daughter loved playing this. She had a good experience figuring out where to place her roads, settlements, and cities, and getting more points for doing so as we went along.
Mine - I will rate this game Heavy Family. It worked best with my daughter who was older, but my son did not play it. This is a game that kids can grow into. It can be a little challenging and overwhelming for younger kids, so the Catan Jr. variant which uses similar mechanics but simplifies them may be an appropriate choice to teach the game to younger kids. This has been a VERY popular board game when I have played with adults who were not board game players as a hobby. This is one of the oldest board games on my shelf and it is not going anywhere.
Games with similarities with this one at each rating level:
Casual Family: Ticket to Ride
Heavy Family: Catan Jr (Simpler Variant than the original Settlers of Catan)
Casual Adult: Carcassonne
Heavy Adult: - Power Grid
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