CATAN Original

Me and my husband enjoy playing board games and we were not new to Catan, in fact, it has been one of our favorite games since we got into the board game world. We already owned the "Settlers" and "Rivals" versions of Catan and when we learned of the Black Friday deals on board games, we decided it was the time to have our own version of this game as well (especially since we used to play with some friends and their copy, so us recently moving into another city also played as a factor to buy it). As for the game itself, Catan offers a great balance between strategy and competitive gameplay. While luck is almost always a factor in boardgames and Catan is not the exception (dice rolling involved), the game feels more guided and affected by your strategy and decisions rather than by luck, which is good, since this makes the game more compelling and adds weight to the decisions that you make throughout the game. There is also a trading component that allows you to interact with the other players, which is great for stirring some fun arguments and debates. While this game has a competitive approach, it doesn't pit the players against each others through direct confrontation (which is welcomed if you are not looking for an aggressive game where everyone ends up mad at each other), it plays more like a race in which you need to focus on your strategy while keeping watch of the opponents and overall it is extremely fun. It has simple enough mechanics for beginners, but they are also very compelling for more experienced players, specially when you start to play with the randomized board map. It is not a surprise that this is still regarded as a classic game even though it came out a long time ago. The materials and details of the cards, boards and pieces are excellent. It is worth mentioning that one of the "settlement" wood pieces was chipped when we opened the box. While this didn't affect the use or gameplay experience and understanding that there are errors expected in manufacturing processes, we still decided to send a note to the customer service address provided by the game developers (not through Amazon) and they responded very quickly and efficiently, and within a week or so we received a replacement piece on the mail, so extra points to the customer service. Even if you are not looking to get deep into the board game community, Catan is a must if you enjoy playing games with friends or family. And even if you plan to further try more games, most likely you will always be glad to revisit this wonderful game.

Catan is one of our favorite games to play with our friends and family. We've even purchased some of the expansions for it. Catan mixes strategy, luck, and persuasion to deliver a fun (and sometimes vengeful) experience. Make sure what happens in the game STAYS in the game or else friendships will be destroyed! I kid, but really, games can get really intense. Play time: ~1.5-2 hours Learning curve: Steep at first; but easier as you play Value: 5/5 Overall, this will continue to be one of our go-to's for board games.

I got introduced to this game when it was called "Settlers of Catan" over 7 years ago now. Its an awesome family game. The game by itself can accommodate 4 players. If you buy the expansion set, you can have up to 6 players total. Depending on how you play (fast or chit chat, fun) a game can go from 30 mins to 2 hours. But I tell you, the ones we enjoy the most are the ones that take a long time because they are the challenging ones. The game is interesting because you arrange the hexagonal pieces differently for each game, so each game is different. ON top of that, you place numbers on it (from 2 to 12) so when a dice is rolled, if you have a city or house around it, then you get that resource. There are 5 resources that you need to Build things - such as Road, house, cities, and each item may have points associated with it. You need 10 points to win the game. For example, a house is 1 point, but a city is 2 points - but you cannot build 5 cities. Each time dice is rolled, and if you get that resource, you can save it later - we allowed hiding the resource card (put face down), so you can keep your strategy a secret and its up to others to figure out what you may be planning. If you do not get the resources you need, you can trade when its your turn - but you must trade before the roll of the dice (I think). We play this as a family including 4 and 5 year olds that have now grown up and are masters of this game... The game needs to be played with strategic focus, but dont underestimate the 4 or 5 year olds after they have played this game a few times. We have worn out the old game board, and so purchased this one.. Its one of those things that we do when family gets together. Overall, this is an awesome game.

Bought this as a gift for a friend. He loved it!

One (if not the main) of my favorite board games ever!

We are 50+ years old and have dinner and game night on Friday nights with friends. This has been our go-to game now for 5 years. You can only play with up to four players with the basic box, so we also have the expansion pack, which allows up to six players. The game board and pieces are of great quality, and you can store the 6-player expansion pieces in the basic game box. It takes a bit to learn to play. When we first explain the rules to new people, they feel overwhelmed, but once you start to play, it all comes together. It does take a long time to play, so make sure to set aside a few hours. I also recommend getting the Seafarer's expansion. That provides many additional scenarios which keep the game exciting even when played once a week for five years! If you do get the expansion pieces, look closely, and you can see that the pieces are marked with a very faint "+" to make it easy to separate them back out from the base game (see picture). My husband didn't notice that and wrote "CE" (for Catan Expansion) on the back of the expansion pieces, which was unnecessary.

THRILLING game! Have never failed to have a good time playing. It’s always a hit! At first, I thought it was going to be game with a fantasy plot but I was very wrong! Catan is like the farmers monopoly but more interactive with every turn, and not as long of a game time. Pros: I don’t think I’ve ever played a boring game! Basic rules are fairly easy to understand and get the hang of after your first game or two. You can play casually or get deep into strategy. Offers a fun and lighthearted but competitive plot. Perfect for small groups. Cons: There are smaller game play rules that can be tricky to remember, but the game will still flow without them. The quality of the set I received felt a bit flimsy and some of the printing came off of the pieces as I popped them out of their cardboard holders. You can only play with 3 or 4 people unless you have the expansion pack. Overall, I recommend this game and bring it to a lot of game nights. On a separate note: the makers of the game seem to keep making different variations (ex. Starwars, settlers, 3D, new energies, etc). This feels a tad gimmicky to me but I know it’s had a massive following over the years so maybe it’s what the market wants!

I love the new artwork used in this edition, especially the cover art on the outside of the box. Some of the writing on the pieces is easier to read, as well. The packaging/organization inside the box is different, and I have mixed feelings. I like the dividers, but there is still a ton of wasted space. The box really doesn’t need to be as big as it is. There are two medium-sized spaces, roughly the right size to hold a shelf of resource cards, but only one is large enough, so we cram both shelves into one, and the second has almost nothing in it. They stopped using plastic bags to keep each player’s pieces, and I miss that. They have yellow cardboard boxes instead, which are fine, I guess, but they really should be color coded to the pieces inside so you know what you’re grabbing before you open it. The cardboard might also tear at some point while trying to open it. The number tiles vary in font size according to how likely the number is to be rolled. Also unsure how I feel about that. The differences are minor and shouldn’t affect game play, but all the pieces look really good! Overall, it’s still the same great game I love, with some new artwork that feels right. Overall, my favorite version so far.

The CATAN Expansion Traders & Barbarians for 5 to 6 players is a great addition if you already enjoy the base game and want to bring more people into the experience. It keeps the core fun of CATAN intact while adding more variety and replay value through different scenarios and gameplay variations. What makes it especially enjoyable is how it expands the game without making it feel overly complicated. It still has that familiar trading, building, and resource management feel, but with new twists that keep things interesting over repeated play sessions. With more players involved, the board becomes more dynamic and competitive, which adds to the excitement. It is especially worth it when found on a good sale price, since expansions can sometimes feel a bit expensive at full cost. Getting it at a discount makes it feel like a much better value for the amount of gameplay it adds. Overall, it is a fun and worthwhile expansion for fans of CATAN who want to include more players and add variety to their game nights. It delivers a good balance of familiar mechanics and new content that keeps the experience fresh.

Story: I awoke one morning on the island of Catan, at the time I didn't know I was on some island in the middle of nowhere. After walking around all day, I ended up strolling down a hill, towards the sunset, hoping it would take me away from the madness of hexagon terrains covered with fields, forests and mountains. People were all around trading their beloved sheep for a piece of grain, or a chunk of rock for an entire tree. ​ Hiding behind one tree that someone had just given away for a brick, was a robber. Dressed in grey, he was waiting patiently, and I soon found out what he was awaiting for as two hopeless pillocks came along and rolled a couple of dice along the ground. They rolled a 7, and quickly the robber came flying out and smashed them both over the head with a tree branch and rode one of their sheep off in to the sunset. I don't know what was more bizarre, the sheep riding robber, or the fact two people just stopped to roll a couple of dice in the middle of a path as if it was a normal day, and as if they hadn't got anything else better to do. Further on in to my journey, I discovered more people, building roads, Knights hitting people and taking things to give to other people, and others begging for ore... I carried on walking to get away from this crazy world, but I was trapped on an island of pure insanity. The only way off, wait for the Seafarers to bring their boats, and even then they would take me to more madness. It's fine though, 'Scotty, one to beam up'. ARGH! No wait, it's more madness in space. I just saw a Klingon Robber smash someone's skull in to steal their Oxygen! - - - - ​ Review: The game known as Catan, or to the more experienced a tabletopper, Settlers of Catan. Created by Klaus Teuber, he's created many more versions since he first started this back in 1995, which include Star Trek and Game Of Thrones. It's sold millions upon millions of copies and remains one of the best board games that too many people still don't know about. This is a trading game that's easy to learn for 3 or 4 players, but could end up making you hate dice more than ever, but you'll still be playing it for years. It can be turned in to a 5 or 6 player game with the expansion, and that's a joy in itself. You build the board by creating a hexagon seascape, and fill it with an island using 19 hexagon pieces of different types of terrain that provide resource. Of course, when you play your first game of Catan, you'll use the standard rule names for resource like lumber, grain and wool. It'll soon turn in to wood, wheat and sheep. The classic line of course while trading is "Do you have wood for sheep?" It even went as far as The Big Bang Theory in an episode called The Recombination Hypothesis. Make sure you look that one up if you haven't seen it. The innuendos are incredible. On setting up the game, you have a nice looking island with different land masses like mountains, forests, and even one tile that has a desert. This really is a dirty place because it's the original home of a robber. More on that entity in a moment. Each tile gets a number. This can be set up from the Game Rules and Almanac you get with the game, or you could be really daring and mix up all the tiles before placing them down, and that goes for the circular numbers which are placed on each tile as well. Mixing them up seriously creates a challenge, and always makes for a different game every time and gives it more longevity. Now the board is ready, everyone takes their coloured pieces which consist of 15 roads, 5 settlements and 4 cities, and also have a Building Cost card which comes in very handy. Try and play the game without fiddling with your game pieces. Apart from playing the game properly, you'll be building things with them every chance you get. To kick off the game, choose the starting player who puts down a settlement and a road in between the terrains (on the corners of the hexes), or even on the edge of the island near the sea if you wish. Then players go clockwise. Once it gets to the last player, they take their turn and then have another turn and then placements go anti-clockwise so everyone ends up having two settlements and two roads on the board. On the players second placements, whatever the settlement is touching for example, two forests and a pasture (which will soon be called sheep), you'd get two wood cards and a sheep... I mean wool card. These cards can be used to build things, as long as you have all the required cards, which you collect, trade and spend throughout the game. Important rules, each settlement placed at the start has to have their road placed next to that piece so it's always a good idea to observe the board before placing anything, and also settlements/cities cannot be next to each other, there is a two space rule for all settlements/cities. That becomes very clear and easy from the first game. After placing all the pieces, the game begins with the throw of the dice by the player who first put down their settlement and road (who is also the last person, which is fun). When the dice land, whatever number comes up, players with settlements touching terrain of that number get the resource cards. Later on, when players have cities, any city touching a terrain would get two cards. It's quite a simple game, but the dice decide your fate more than anything. Great fun though. When it's a players turn, after doing the rolling and getting resource phase, trading can take place. It's only between the current players turn and everyone else. Players cannot trade with each other if it's not their turn. Let's talk about that dirty Robber. This originally sits in the desert, but once a 7 is rolled, or if someone uses the Knight Development Card, it can be moved and placed on any number on the board, which blocks that number until the robber is moved to another one. So if the Robber is placed on a '5', if anyone has a Settlement or City next to that terrain with that covered number, they wont get any resource cards connected with it until it's moved. It's evil, especially if you get a game where the 7 comes out constantly, and it does happen. By the way, whoever places the robber and puts it on a number that's connected to another players Settlement or City, they can steal a random card from them, if two people are next to that terrain, the robbing player chooses only one person to steal from. Like I said though, evil. Every player has a Building Cost card to show what you need to build roads, more settlements, cities, and development cards which can end up putting anyone who buys them in a strong position. These development cards hold such things as Knights, when used can move the robber on the board to a new number, usually someone you want to block and/or steal a card from. Handy tip about the Knight card, you can use it before rolling when it comes to your turn, always fun to steal someone's card before things really kick off. There are also Monopoly cards which gives you the power to say any resource and every player gives you ALL of what they have of that resource. There are cards that give you Victory points, which gets you that little bit closer to winning the game, and these are revealed as soon as you have 10 points to be victorious, but never shown until the end. All development cards can only be used once, and you can't use a development card as soon as you buy it unless it's the Victory point card that gets you to your 10th point. Yes, 10 points, that's all you need for victory, to be the lord of the sheep and master of bricks. The King of wheat and a God of the forests. It doesn't sound much does it? 10 points. Good news, everyone when they set up the game starts on 2 points for having two Settlements, which are worth a point each. Get a City to replace a Settlement, it's worth 2 points, so you're aiming to get as many Settlements and Cities on the board as possible. But games can go on for an hour or two before there is a victor, and even longer if you have the 5-6 player expansion. It's brilliant. Winning is earnt through strategy, but every roll you want certain numbers to give you the resource to build what you need. It doesn't always work out as you plan. Other things that can get you the 10 points are the bonus missions. If you have the longest road, you claim the Longest Road card which is worth 2 points, and also the Largest Army card, also worth 2 points, for anyone who has the most Knight cards. This can take time, they're only available when someone has a road length of five, and three Knight cards. They can be taken though from anyone who manages to get more, meaning they lose the 2 point advantage and the new player gains it. I think having these cards puts you on more edge than anything. Having a Settlement or City at one of the Harbours is brilliant and gives a player a huge advantage. There are regular harbours that you can trade three of your resource cards for one different resource card, this is known as Maritime Trade. There are special harbours where you can trade two specific resources for one different card. If you manage to have a settlement next to the wheat for example, and wheat is doing really well for you, and you build a settlement next to a harbour that can trade two wheat for a different resource, you're laughing all the way to the bank. The less you can trade for what you want is a path to winning Catan. ​ There are all kinds of different versions out now, along with expansions. There's even a card game called Struggle For Catan, and a brilliant little dice game that wont take up 2 hours of your life. If you're a veteran at board games like me, growing up with games like Cluedo and Monopoly, you'll appreciate this game for the rest of your life. It's an amazing game and there's a reason why it's still going strong after 25 years. Don't just sit there... Game!

I received the Settlers of Catan Family Edition. Its not similar to the The Settlers of Catan. Its still good. but not what is shown in the picture.

I miei figli l’hanno regalato ai amici inglesi,che ci ha piaciuto a tutti i ragazzi e anche ai adulti che giocano insieme ed É molto contenti. É un gioco coinvolgente che unisce tutta la famiglia,anche se c’ è qualcuno che non partecipa comunque si unisce per stare insieme e seguire la vincita dei partecipanti.

The quality of this board game was immaculate !! Just i had to put up a replacement ticket because of 1 missing piece. Other than that, if you want quality product and value for money product then definitely buy from r and r producer. Loved the game but had to replace it.