The Settlers of Catan
by Mayfair Games
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Toys and Games Reviews of The Settlers of Catan
Customer Review: Just discovered this game & already love it.
Summary: 5 Stars
I was at a retreat with a group recently and stumbled across this game as a few guys were setting it up to play. They let me in and I was soon fascinated. It has some of the strategy elements of very well known games like Risk or Monopoly, but it is completely different.
Basically, the first one to gain ten points wins. You gain a point for building a settlement, two for a city and there are some bonuses for capturing certain cards. A key quality that is different to this game is that the board is a series of six sided puzzle pieces (all the exact same shape) that can be randomly arranged in any order to create a unique experience for every game. This makes strategies like going for the orange set in monopoly or going for South America in Risk untenable because the resources you need will have a slightly different set up in every game.
On top of that, little chips are placed on every resource on the board, which have numbers ranging from 2 to 12. If you own a settlement or a city touching a resource with the chip on it that matches the current dice roll, you receive resources. For example, suppose you own a city that touches a wheat field on the board, and the wheat field has a 6 chip on it. Every single time a six is rolled on the dice (in any combination 4 & 2 or 3 & 3 or 5 & 1), you receive two wheat cards. You can then use your cards to buy roads, settlements, cities, or other items in the game.
Sometimes you have to be creative in bartering with other players or in swapping cards you don't need for cards you do need. (roads cannot be built with wheat, but wheat can be converted into brick or wood for roads).
As the game progresses, the need for specific resources (wood, ore, brick, wheat, sheep) shifts because there are limits to the number of settlements you can build (5). So you cannot win by just building settlements. You must upgrade some of them to cities. Those upgrades require different kinds of cards than the purchasing of roads or settlements. For example, a road is built by spending a brick and a wood card. Cities are built by converting a settlement on the board with two wheat and three ore. Cities are limited as well. Different quntities of resources are required for different point holding items. So as you complete the number of settlements you can have, you need to upgrade to cities, which require different resources.
You can only get resources that you have a settlement nearby, or by trading or stealing from opponents. So the game essentially revolves around where you build your roads. Roads enable you to build settlements. Settlements can be converted to cities, which gives you a chance to win because of the points.
Because the board always changes, you have to be creative in your strategy, which is a fantastic twist to this game in my opinion. When I walked up to play for the first time, they had the board set for a certain number of players. When I joined, they expanded the board and added another color. The flexibility of the game didn't alter the quality at all.
Although I do not own this game yet, it is at the top of my list for things I plan to purchase. I think in some ways it is better than a war game like risk because you don't have the ruthless factor of having to completely eliminate your opponent. Although you can make it fairly miserable for opponents if you beat them to resources that are critical for advancing your own settler's vision.
I heartily recommend this game.
Customer Review: Settlers of Catan, a great game for friends and family.
Summary: 5 Stars
Settlers of Catan is a very dynamic board game which offers tons of fun, and is also a good way to teach basic economics.
The board game is made up of 19 hexes arranged roughly in a circle. There are 6 different types of hexes. 5 of them produce resources while the 6th (desert hex) does not.
Each hex has a number token placed on it. Using 2 dice, when the number of a hex is rolled, settlements located on the vertices of that hex will produce resources.
Using the 5 types of resources, players aim to build roads to expand and build more settlements, which in turn can be used to acquire more resources, and later upgrade their settlements to cities. Cities will produce 2 resources for the hex they are situated on.
Each settlement is worth 1 point, and each city is worth 2. The goal is to emerge victorious with 10 Victory Points.
There is another way to acquire resources, and that is through trading. Players can: trade with each other, trade via a port, trade through maritime trade.
Trading with other players benefits those involved but sometimes, they may not have what you need, or simply don't want to trade to you. In this situation, using a port, where a settlement of city is located enables players to trade 2 or 3 of the same resource for the resource desired. Trading through maritime trade is the most costly, because the ratio is 4:1.
In addition to building, players can spend resources to purchase Development Cards. The cards have different effects, which range from earning an additional Victory Point, building 2 roads at no cost, taking all of a specific resource players hold (Monopoly), to using the Knight Card to move the Robber to a different hex and steal a resource from a player whose settlement or city is built upon.
There are two other ways to acquire points. The first is via The Longest Road. The player with The Longest Road earns 2 extra Victory Points. The second is via The Largest Army. This involves purchasing Development Cards, and using the Knight Card more than any other player (minimum of 3 Knights must be played).
While there is no limit to the number of resources players can hold, there is a safe maximum amount to hold on to. The magic number is 7. When a 7 is rolled, (the most frequently rolled number) all players who hold 8 or more cards must discard half, rounded down. The turn player then moves the robber to a hex and take a resource card from a player whose settlement is built on. The robber also prevents that hex from producing any resources. This game mechanic enables lagging players a chance to stifle the lead of others and catch up.
The arrangement of the hexes, number tokens and ports can be changed each time (shuffle face down for randomness) to offer a different board layout so the game is never quite the same. The learning curve isn't that steep, but it takes a keen trader and strategist to come out on top.
In my experience, this game is most enjoyable with 4 players (there is an extension set to allow 2 more players to play). Play time is generally about 1-1.5 hours. It is a great way to interact with friends and family members, alongside snacks, drinks and with a sports event or movie playing in the background.
If you're leaning on the fence, on whether to purchase, check out the tons of images online for Settlers of Catan.
Thanks for reading. I hope you found this review helpful.
Customer Review: Settlers of Catan compared with Chess and Monopoly
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll start by saying that I grew up playing (and loving) Monopoly, Chess, and a slew of card games among other board/outdoors games that aren't similar to this game (Boggle, Scrabble, Taboo, Scattergories, jigsaw puzzles, etc.). I definitely come from a game-playing family. I see aspects of Monopoly and Chess melded into Settlers of Catan as one, cohesive and fantastic, board game. Settlers of Catan is an awesome game for people who enjoy strategy and enjoy the suspense associated with not knowing who will win until the end! (I still love Monopoly and Chess and hold them in high esteem.)
Key Differences:
MONOPOLY: It was always pretty easy to determine the winner well before the end of the game based on property holdings and cash-in-hand, this is not the case with Settlers of Catan. You begin the game with one free settlement ("house" equivalent in Monopoly), one city ("hotel" equivalent in Monopoly), and two roads. Unlike Monopoly, there are no set "property blocks" in this game. You place your pieces and build roads between them. This is how you built more settlements and cities! It takes thought and strategy since you can block your opponents and/or try to build on resources that fit your needs.
CHESS: If you wish, you can anticipate your opponents next move and plan in advance, this is not the case with Settlers of Catan. The next move can be guessed, but not necessarily likely depending on what resource, development, and/or progress cards you hold. Players may know the NUMBER of cards you have, but not their contents (unless you show them). You win the game by attaining "victory points." At some point, the game usually becomes neck-and-neck between a few players. You never know who will get the necessary number of victory points, or if the underdog comes back with one or two strategic moves!
OTHER POINTS TO CONSIDER:
1. The board game is comprised of puzzle-like pieces (hexagons). You put together the board game each time, shuffling the hexagons, and laying them out in new, unique orders each time. In my opinion, this is great. Every time you play the game, you start out with a new layout. So every time is different and ever-changing. (Imagine playing Monopoly and shuffling around the properties before each game, you never know where anything will land and no one has an advantage going into it!)
2. Similar to Monopoly, you start off with building a settlement, which you can turn into a city, and later a Megalopolis. Only 3 Megalopolis' can be built, however, and this is one competitive/strategic angles of the game.
3. You start off the game with one "free" settlement, one "free" city, and two "free" roads. Later on, you will have to purchase those items with the resources that you earn from your lands where you build your settlements and cities. So, this game is definitely based on strategy. HOWEVER, the game runs off the roll of the die. You never know what numbers will be rolled, and therefore you don't necessarily know if the properties you chose to develop will return any resources.
4. There are "expansion packs" for the game. The expansion packs add new dimensions to the game with new possibilities and new threats. I don't think they are required for advanced players and I highly recommend starting off with one. I've only tried the Knights expansion pack so far, but I cannot wait to try others!
Customer Review: Clever gameplay; a good edition for families
Summary: 4 Stars
4.5 stars. I'll discuss the gameplay first and then present my thoughts specific to this edition.
If you aren't already familiar, Settlers of Catan (SoC) has been around since 1996. The idea is to populate the board with settlements in order to collect more and more resources. These resources you use to build even more settlements. Resource collection is determined by the random roll of the die. Some numbers roll more often than others, so some resources will be collected more often than others. Players may also purchase "development cards," which provide the card-holder with various advantages. The game is over when a player has 10 victory points, which may be obtained through constructing settlements or obtaining certain development cards.
The gameplay is very clever on numerous levels. First, every player is involved during every turn. Players may collect resources on other players turn if the right numbers are rolled, which demands the attention of every player at all times. Second, the game is very open-ended, which allows for a tremendous amount of variation in strategy and play. The board changes every game so you're never playing the same game twice. Many strategies may be employed to reach 10 points, and its not uncommon to switch strategies mid-game to respond to other players. Third, the game rules are complex enough to keep the "hard-core" gamer amused while at the same time simple enough to bring the whole family to the table. Enough luck is involved so that an inexperienced player can easily stay within two or three victory points of more experienced players.
Regarding this edition, I think that families will enjoy the interlocking tiles more since the board is easier to set up and tear down. The disadvantage is that you're limited to four players, and even with four players the board becomes congested very fast. Nevertheless, its ideal for families---and I imagine that this is the target consumer for this edition. An even easier version to play with is the edition simply titled "Catan," though I can't tell whether its sold on Amazon.
My only complaint is that while SoC does contain a good mix of luck and skill for the casual gaming family, the more competitive gamer may sit in quiet misery if the dice fails to roll in his or her favor a reasonable percentage of the time. Whether choosing board position at the start, being unable to move the robber off that valuable spot, or staring at disbelief at why [insert number] has yet to be rolled, its not uncommon to get annoyed when Lady Luck isn't smiling on you. Worse yet, someone who really didn't invest in particularly brilliant strategy might be raking in victory points like there's nothing to it.
Finally, a warning: devices like the robber, as well as certain strategies (e.g., blocking with roads) can make the game pretty cutthroat. In a competitive crowd, a player without thick skin might leave the table annoyed. Though very enjoyable in its own right, SoC isn't a party game where laughs will smother out the soreness of losing. So be mindful of who you're playing with, and play accordingly.
But don't take the aforementioned criticism/warning too seriously. Play SoC a few times with friends or family and you'll quickly see why Klaus Teuber's game remains popular to this day. Forget Monopoly---buy SoC and see what a real board game should look like.
Customer Review: A fabulous step up from Monopoly
Summary: 5 Stars
Settlers of Catan is a great light game with more thought required than your average Monopoly game but far less than say with Caylus.
The basics:
1. The board is made up of hexes that form an island. Each player is playing a settler of the island and starts off playing placing settlements (or settlements and cities if playing by tournament rules) at the corners of these hexes and placing roads along the sides of the hexes.
2. At the start of each turn, the dice are rolled. As long as a 7 isn't rolled, everyone who has a settlement or city adjacent to a hex that has the # that was rolled collects the appropriate resource. (Settlements give 1 of that resource, cities give 2 of that resource.) If a 7 is rolled, the robber is activated and the roller of the dice gets to move the robber to a new hex, which shuts it down (doesn't produce resources while the robber is there) and allows the person to steal a resouce card from anyone who has a settlement/city adjacent to that hex.
3. After collecting resources, people can offer trades of resources to the active player (whomever rolled the dice) or the active player can trade them in to the bank at a 4:1 ratio (trade in 4 of the same resource to get 1 other one back) or use a port (generally offers either 3:1 trades or 2 of a specific resource:1). The active player can then buy settlements, roads, cities, or bonus cards (give extra pts., resources, or ability to move the robber without having to roll the dice). The dice are then passed on to the next player who becomes the active player.
4. The game is played to 10 pts. Settlements = 1 pt. each, cities = 2 pts. each, plus some bonus cards and special circumstances (ex. having the longest contiguous road on the board is worth 2 extra pts.).
5. The game is for 3 or 4 players but you can get an expansion that will allows up to 6 to play it.
It is a really light game that is a lot of fun. The board is not fixed, so for each new game, you can "build" a new island with different configurations. It's a great social game that I've played in a tournament setting as well as with my nieces as it is very easy to pick up. Unlike Monopoly, which just drags on, this has a clear end point (10 pts.), which isn't hard to acquire. Even if no player will trade with you, you can always trade with the bank or a port, so there is never really a situation of being denied a resource (just a question of how economically feasible it is to get said resource). It isn't as deep as a game like Caylus and doesn't take anywhere near as long to play.
Bottom line: If you're looking for something a bit more engaging than Monopoly, this probably is the game for you. It still allows luck to play a factor (w/ dice rolling) but doesn't generally dominate the outcome of the game. It offers a lot of player interaction and is great for both new and seasoned gamers.