Home is the nicest word there is.
It’s time to finally tackle the classic – the Catan rules & reference!
You know, I’ve never owned a copy of Catan. I know it’s a classic, and I know it pretty much single-handedly kicked off the modern phase of board gaming, but it doesn’t hold any nostalgic significance for me; I was into tabletop gaming long before German board games started appearing in the 90s, so by the time I got around to playing this one (when it was known as Settlers of Catan), it didn’t seem that exceptional. This shows you what I know – it’s sold something like 35 million copies!
In fact my preferred entry in this series is the Catan Card Game, which I find more entertaining than the boardgame and often gets taken on weekends away.
However much you enjoy it, no one can deny the impact that Klaus Teuber’s design had on the gaming world. Its economic game play – it seems straightforward now but was revolutionary at the time – opened the floodgates for hundreds of thousands of ‘Euro’ games and allows us, to this day, to enjoy a schoolboy snigger at the phrase ‘wood for sheep’. If there’s one game that deserves the adjective ‘classic’, this is it.
There are a gazillion expansions and perhaps I’ll one day get around to summarising them all, but this rule and reference gives you the base game and the 5-6 player expansion rules.
Great to see a take on the classic Catan! I agree that while it’s a gateway game for many, the initial board setup can sometimes make or break the experience, especially when playing with people new to the game. A lopsided resource distribution can lead to a runaway leader and a frustrating time for others. We’ve found that using a fair Catan map generator helps a lot in creating a more balanced and competitive game from the start. It ensures everyone has a fair shot and the game is decided more by strategy than by a lucky starting position. It really helps keep the game fun and engaging for everyone at the table.