Catan—More than a Board Game
Tensions are high and everyone is extremely focused, which simply means everyone is close to winning the game. Relief hits me as I roll a 3 and acquire the ore resource card I’ve been patiently waiting to pick up for 3 rounds. I combine that ore with a wool and grain resource and draw a development card. As I look at the card, my heart begins to race. While keeping a poker face, I pass the dice to the next player knowing I can win on my next turn if nobody else wins before me. Fortunately for me, play advances twice without any action and only the roll of the player on my right remains before I get to announce my victory. As the player before me rolls the dice, a smirk begins to form on her face as she picks up her resource cards, places 5 of them in the pile and announces that she is building a city which gives her the victory. Everyone else sighs, groans, and rambles on about how close they were to winning. Despite having a higher than normal price tag and being slightly tedious to learn at first, Catan is an addicting board game with endless replay value that will give you and your family and friends hours of entertainment. Developed by Klaus Teuber, The Settlers of Catan was first published in 1995 and was renamed to only Catan in 2015. Catan has become one of the biggest board games to originate from Europe, appearing in TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory. The game is designed for 3-4 players, however, 5-6 people can play if the expansion is purchased and 2 players can easily play with a little ingenuity and creativity. As indicated by the instructions, the recommended age for Catan is 10 or older, probably due to the small pieces used in the game. The island of Catan is unsettled and contains five major resources (grain, lumber, ore, brick, and wool), which are produced on their corresponding terrain hexes. Being the first settlers of Catan, you must place your first settlements carefully in order to get the most resource production so you can expand and grow faster than your opponents. In order to do this, you look at the placement of the terrain hexes and their corresponding number token value, and place your settlement accordingly. The closer you are to the number 7 (but not including 7), the greater the odds are that you will get a resource from that particular spot when the dice are rolled. After placing your first two settlements, a player’s turn consists of three parts. First the player rolls the dice to determine the resource production. Everyone, even those who didn’t roll, takes a resource card for each settlement that is next to the corresponding dice roll. For instance, if a 5 is rolled and you have a settlement on an ore terrain hex that has a 5 on it, you would take one ore card from the pile. If you don’t have that number, you get nothing for that roll. The second step involves trading with other players in order to acquire resources you might be short on. The final step involves purchasing items …show more content…
They had many questions, most of which I could answer. However, some questions delayed the game while I searched the manual for answers. At times the wording in the manual wasn’t the greatest so we had to compromise on what we thought the rule should be. This resulted in games which lasted closer to 90 minutes. It wasn’t until 2-3 games later that we all felt comfortable enough playing the game without constantly referring to the manual, which in the end resulted in games lasting just short of one hour. When you are first learning Catan, it is imperative that you be patient and take time to read the manual if you have any doubts on a rule. The new terminology and gameplay can be frustrating, but that same new gameplay is what makes the game so unique.
Simply put, Catan is an addicting game. Our family generally allots time for 3-4 games per week so we can have our family bonding time. Approximately one year ago we purchased Catan, and despite having at least 20 other games to choose from, we almost always play Catan, every night we do
Tensions are high and everyone is extremely focused, which simply means everyone is close to winning the game. Relief hits me as I roll a 3 and acquire the ore resource card I’ve been patiently waiting to pick up for 3 rounds. I combine that ore with a wool and grain resource and draw a development card. As I look at the card, my heart begins to race. While keeping a poker face, I pass the dice to the next player knowing I can win on my next turn if nobody else wins before me. Fortunately for me, play advances twice without any action and only the roll of the player on my right remains before I get to announce my victory. As the player before me rolls the dice, a smirk begins to form on her face as she picks up her resource cards, places 5 of them in the pile and announces that she is building a city which gives her the victory. Everyone else sighs, groans, and rambles on about how close they were to winning. Despite having a higher than normal price tag and being slightly tedious to learn at first, Catan is an addicting board game with endless replay value that will give you and your family and friends hours of entertainment. Developed by Klaus Teuber, The Settlers of Catan was first published in 1995 and was renamed to only Catan in 2015. Catan has become one of the biggest board games to originate from Europe, appearing in TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory. The game is designed for 3-4 players, however, 5-6 people can play if the expansion is purchased and 2 players can easily play with a little ingenuity and creativity. As indicated by the instructions, the recommended age for Catan is 10 or older, probably due to the small pieces used in the game. The island of Catan is unsettled and contains five major resources (grain, lumber, ore, brick, and wool), which are produced on their corresponding terrain hexes. Being the first settlers of Catan, you must place your first settlements carefully in order to get the most resource production so you can expand and grow faster than your opponents. In order to do this, you look at the placement of the terrain hexes and their corresponding number token value, and place your settlement accordingly. The closer you are to the number 7 (but not including 7), the greater the odds are that you will get a resource from that particular spot when the dice are rolled. After placing your first two settlements, a player’s turn consists of three parts. First the player rolls the dice to determine the resource production. Everyone, even those who didn’t roll, takes a resource card for each settlement that is next to the corresponding dice roll. For instance, if a 5 is rolled and you have a settlement on an ore terrain hex that has a 5 on it, you would take one ore card from the pile. If you don’t have that number, you get nothing for that roll. The second step involves trading with other players in order to acquire resources you might be short on. The final step involves purchasing items …show more content…
They had many questions, most of which I could answer. However, some questions delayed the game while I searched the manual for answers. At times the wording in the manual wasn’t the greatest so we had to compromise on what we thought the rule should be. This resulted in games which lasted closer to 90 minutes. It wasn’t until 2-3 games later that we all felt comfortable enough playing the game without constantly referring to the manual, which in the end resulted in games lasting just short of one hour. When you are first learning Catan, it is imperative that you be patient and take time to read the manual if you have any doubts on a rule. The new terminology and gameplay can be frustrating, but that same new gameplay is what makes the game so unique.
Simply put, Catan is an addicting game. Our family generally allots time for 3-4 games per week so we can have our family bonding time. Approximately one year ago we purchased Catan, and despite having at least 20 other games to choose from, we almost always play Catan, every night we do