Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan is a multiplayer
board game invented by
Klaus Teuber, first published in 1995 in
Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. under the name Die Siedler von Catan.
Settlers is perhaps the first
German-style board game to reach any degree of popularity outside of Europe. It has been translated into Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Icelandic, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish from the original German.
Encyclopedia
Settlers of Catan is a multiplayer
board game invented by
Klaus Teuber, first published in 1995 in
Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. under the name
Die Siedler von Catan.Settlers is perhaps the first
German-style board game to reach any degree of popularity outside of Europe. It has been translated into Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Icelandic, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish from the original German. The standard game and its many expansions are available from Mayfair Games in the
United States, from
Capcom in
Japan, Kosmos and 999 Games in the
European Union, and Devir in
Brazil. Computerized versions also exist for the PC and mobile devices such as the Nokia N-Gage. Also, Microsoft recently announced at the August 2006 Leipzig games convention that a version of
Settlers will soon be available on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 along with other German board game adaptations.
Teuber's original design was for a large game of exploration and development in a new land. Between 1993 and 1995 Teuber and Kosmos refined and simplified the game into its current form. Unused mechanics from that design went on to be used in Teuber's following games,
Entdecker and
Löwenherz. The game's first expansion,
Seafarers of Catan is an expansion of the board game [i]
Settlers of Catan [i] for three to ...
, adds the concept of exploration, and the combined game is probably the closest game to Teuber's original intentions.
Like many games released by Mayfair, the English-language version of the game has different artwork to the German original.
Gameplay
The players in the game represent the eponymous settlers, establishing a colony on the previously uninhabited island of Catan. The island itself is laid out randomly at the beginning of each game from hexagonal tiles representing five types of resources: ore, grain, wool, lumber and brick.
As players establish towns and cities on the island, each settlement can receive resources for its adjacent hexes . The resources, represented by cards, can be used to build more roads, towns, or cities, and to obtain development cards for later use. Various achievements, such as building a town or establishing the longest road, grant a player one or more victory points. The winner is the first player to accumulate ten victory points.
Players are allowed to trade among each other the resources they have produced, and to trade "off the island" for a hefty price. It is difficult for any one player to produce all the resources necessary for progress, so astute trading is the strategic heart of the game. Player interaction is further complicated by the presence of a robber, which is used to steal from other players and hinder their production of resources. There is no combat. Apart from moving the robber, refusing to trade, and cutting off building routes, there is no way to harm other players.
Settlers of Catan has rapidly become popular in part because its mechanics are relatively simple, while its dynamics are quite complex. At a recreational level, the game is well-suited for family play. No one gets eliminated, and players who are behind can strive towards quantized goals that are within reach, such as building a city in a certain space. Home games generally take between one and two hours to complete.
The layout of the board and restrictions on building allow for a player to be boxed in through poor play or bad luck. Also, given the random component of board layout, it's possible for players to gain a monopoly on certain resource, and demand steep trade rates from other players.
The Settlers of Catan series
The manufacturers have released a wide variety of
Catan-related products. Some of these require the base game to play, others are separate standalone games:
Official expansions
- The Settlers of Catan , Original release of the basic four-player game.
- The Settlers of Catan: 5–6 Player Expansion
- The Seafarers of Catan , replaces one large island with several smaller islands separated by sea
- The Seafarers of Catan: 5–6 Player Expansion
- Cities & Knights of Catan , players must defend Catan from barbarians and build a variety of city expansions using new commodities
- Cities & Knights of Catan: 5–6 Player Expansion
- Die Siedler von Catan: Das Buch zum Spielen , Settlers of Catan: The Gaming Book, a German book about the game, with scenarios and mini-expansions
- Catan 3D Collector's Edition , the original game with Cities & Knights for 3–4 players with hand-painted 3-D tiles and playing pieces
- Die Siedler von Catan: 10 Jahre , Settles of Catan: 10th Anniversary Edition, gold box edition of basic game with plastic pieces based on the 3D Collector's Edition
- Die Siedler von Catan: Atlantis: Szenarien & Varianten , a German boxed set of Atlantis: Scenarios & Variants
- Die Fischer von Catan , The Fishers of Catan, adds shores which produce a sixth resource, fish. Published in the German magazine Spielbox.
- The Great River of Catan , adds a triple-hex river to the game. The German edition was given away at the October game fair in Essen, Germany in 2005 and is included in the Atlantis boxed set; the English edition was published in Games Quarterly in 2006.
- Catan Event Cards , replaces the dice with a deck of cards for resource production and events. The German edition was included in the Atlantis boxed set.
- Die große Karawane , "The Great Caravan", a new add-on scheduled for distribution at the 2006 Essen Spiel.
Official variants
- Historische Szenarien: Alexander der Grosse & Cheops , two historical scenarios that use pieces from the basic game and some new rules
- Die Siedler von Nürnberg , a Catan game set at the foundation of the city of Nuremberg
- Historische Szenarien II: Troja & die Große Mauer , two historical scenarios that use pieces from the basic game and some new rules
- Starfarers of Catan , an adaptation of the Settlers concept to space travel and colonising planets
- Starfarers of Catan: 5–6 Player Expansion
- Settlers of the Stone Age , set in the Stone Age
- Kampf um Rom , "War for Rome", a historical adventure game, scheduled for German release on September 30, 2006.
Official spinoffs
- The Settlers of Catan: The Card Game , a two-player game using themes from Settlers of Catan but with very different and competitive gameplay
- Handel & Wandel , Trade & Change, expansion cards for the card game
- Politik & Intrige , Politics & Intrigue, expansion cards for the card game
- Ritter & Händler , Knights & Merchants, expansion cards for the card game
- Wissenschaft & Fortschritt , Science & Progress, expansion cards for the card game
- Zauberer & Drachen , Wizards & Dragons, expansion cards for the card game
- Barbaren & Handelsherren , Barbarians & Traders, an expansion set for the card game
- Künstler & Wohltäter , Artists & Benefactors, an expansion set for the card game
- The Settlers of Catan: The Card Game: The Expansions , a collection of the expansions in English. Originally collected the first five, and now collects the first six expansions.
- Starship Catan , a two-player game using themes from Starfarers of Catan but with very different gameplay
- The Kids of Catan , a simplified game for small children.
- Catan Adventures
- , set around a prehistoric settlement. Players are individual settlers hunting and gathering, with characteristics affecting success.
- , two- to four-player game to build up a single city in which players leverage land value and a taste of eminent domain to achieve superiority in constructed buildings
- Die Siedler von Catan , a German novel by , in hardcover and softcover
Licensed adaptations
- Das Wasser des Lebens , The Water of Life, a promotional adaptation of Settlers of Catan for the Scottish distillery Glen Grant.
- The Communication in Catan , a promotional adaptation of Settlers of Catan for the French telecommunication company Alcatel.
- The Settlers of Canaan , a licensed version of Settlers of Catan with additions to fit themes from the Old Testament by .
- The Settlers of Zarahemla , a licensed version of Settlers of Catan with additions to fit themes from the Book of Mormon by .
, a licensed version of the series based on
MegaMan Battle Network series of
video games, all published by
Capcom.
- , based on the original Settlers.
- , a portable version, also based on the original Settlers.
Awards
2005- Games Magazine Hall of Fame
1996- Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board Game
1995 ...
Game of the Year
References
External links
