Settlers of Catan Review

Welcome to Catan! Link to heading

(Like some of my other tabletop reviews this was originally posted on Boardgaming.com almost a decade ago! I’m reposting here as I liked writing these and might well add a few more if there’s interest)

As one of a handful of new settlers on this newly colonised island, your goal is to build and expand, using your resources to become the dominant individual on the island.

Like many others who have written reviews of this great game, Catan was what I consider to be my first ‘real’ introduction to the wonderful world of board gaming, so it felt right that it should also be one of the first reviews I posted on the site!*

*Fun fact, this was actually the second review I wrote on boardgaming.com after my Battlestar Galactica review

Let’s take a quick run through how the game works…

Gameplay

The game kicks off with the players randomly creating the board (although quick start options are provided for first time plays, and a cheaper cut-down version of the game also exists which doesn’t include the modular board). This results in a random placement of different resource-generating hexes, each with different numbers on them.

Each player then takes turn placing a first town and road, before then building a second town and road (the placement of these first settlements can be crucial for the players strategy as the game goes on…)

After collecting starting resources, the game then starts…

Each turn two dice are rolled, with whatever number comes up generating resources on each of the tiles with the rolled number on them – if a player has a building (town or city) attached to that tile, they gain resource of that type (Brick, Granite, Wool, Grain and Wood). On their turn, a player can use any resources they hold to build (for example a road can be built using 1x brick and 1 x wood resource) if they are short on a particular resource they can barter with other players to gain what they need.

Players build roads out of their villages to allow them to expand and build more villages, which can eventually be upgraded to cities. Players score victory points for villages and cities built, as well as being able to gain additional points for having the longest road or largest army.

Gameplay continues until one player reaches 10 victory points.

Whilst this is incredibly simple, it makes for a very enjoyable game, the bartering element is particularly good, and adds an element of tactics to the game as some players gain dominance over particular resources.

Components As mentioned, there appear to be different versions of Catan out there, but the components in the ‘full’ version are excellent. The board pieces are very well made and go together nicely – without much worry of it slipping apart as you play – the cards are all of a good quality, and the little wooden pieces that make up the roads, towns and cities are just lovely.

Play time A typical game of Catan takes about 30-60 minutes, although it’s worth bearing in mind that you’ll probably want to play it again straight after… It’s a classic for a reason!

Summary Catan is a classic ‘Eurogame’ – it’s simple enough that almost anyone can pick the game up in a few minutes, but has a wonderful play mechanic that makes it possible to play with a wide range of strategies whilst also being just random enough to keep things interesting.

The modular nature of the board also makes the game infinitely re-playable – the board is different every time you play so no two games are the same.

This game is surely the definition of a ‘gateway game’ – that much should be clear from the number of users who, like myself, were dragged into the world of board games after playing this! For this reason alone a copy of Catan should sit on every gamers shelf, even if only to be brought out to play when non-gamer friends visit (although I’d be amazed if that was the only time it came down from the shelf!)

Closing Comments Link to heading

The quintessential gateway game - everyone should have a copy of The Settler’s of Catan in their collection…

Cover image credit: Shamelessly borrowed from the official Catan website - you should pay them a visit, it’s great!