The Settlers of Catan
by Mayfair Games
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Toys and Games Reviews of The Settlers of Catan
Customer Review: A awesomely addicting game
Summary: 5 Stars
This game has solved our family's love/hate relationship with board games. Because it's not always clear who's winning until the final play, everyone can stay interested in the game even if they're not having much success. Catan plays a little faster than your Monopoly-type game (though inevitably longer than the single hour they tell you it will take on the box). Using resources and trade instead of money and keeping your armies in card form takes out the cutthroat nature of most domination games. The result is a competitive and addicting strategy game that actually comes to a peaceable conclusion as opposed to an abrupt end as the board flies across the room.
The game doesn't make sense until you've played it once through, so you have to just give it a try before declaring it too complicated. Once you get it, the basic premise and rules of the game mimic a feudal society to a surprisingly realistic degree. And it's not nearly as hard as the long instructions make it seem.
If your intended playing group is more than four, buy the 5-6 expansion pack. It's worth it. You do eventually get tired of Settlers of Catan. But you're more likely to realize suddenly that it's four in the morning and you've played three games straight without stopping for so much as a food break (true story). And, surprisingly, it's easier to forget who won, which never seemed possible before in our family.
Customer Review: A fun casual game
Summary: 4 Stars
Settlers of Catan is that critically acclaimed board game, and for a reason. Game play is intricate enough for adults, but simple enough that children can play and have a good time.
A short description: Settles of Catan centers around four "countries" attempting to settle the mythical island of Catan. Players build settlements and cities through the island, vieing for resources to build their civilization. To get these resources, players take turns rolling dice. If the number on the dice corresponds to location on the board you have a settlement built next to you claim one of that resource. Trading and long term strategy is critical to win in settlers, but there is a large dose of luck in getting good dice rolls as well.
The game is won when a player has achieved 10 "victory points." Something determined by number of cities/settlements, as well as a few other special conditions.
This is a fun game for all, and requires a fair bit of strategic thinking, but it isn't as intense mentally as a game such as chess. For true strategy fans I'd say this game might be simplistic. In fact, I am really not a fan of the dice rolling mechanic used to distribute resources, because it you can lose completely to unlucky dice rolls early in the game (the most critical stage).
If you don't take it too seriously, and just want some fun, this game is great.
Customer Review: Great Game for Everyone!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was amazed I had never heard of this game until now. A friend of ours recommended it while visiting, so we ran out and purchased the game right away. That night we played until 1 AM in the morning. This game is fun!
The instruction book is rather large, but the gist of the game is on the first two pages. My 8-year old daughter picked up the game right away and now wants to play all the time. I really like the fact that the game play is different every time. It is definitely a strategy style game and take a few games under your belt to start developing your own strategies.
Our edition came with extra plastic bags for all the pieces. And everything fits nicely into the box. The game board, at first, fit very tight into the surrounding edges. I found that if I took some of the hex pieces and just rubbed the edges on the table to flatten out the nubs created when punching them out of the cardboard that it fit nicely into the surrounding pieces. You might want to do that too.
If you like playing games, this is a must. This is our new 'family game night' game to play. For two players, the game play lasts 30 minutes to an hour. You can figure that for every extra person play, it will add about 30 minutes or so to the game play.
You can't go wrong buying this game!
Customer Review: Stick with the 3rd Addition
Summary: 3 Stars
We are avid players of Settlers (and love it), but this newest addition has some flaws that make us wish we would have bought the 3rd addition. We have had the game for about 8 months, and the interlocking border (instead of the regular hexagon pieces in the 3rd addition) have never fit right. It takes three people to get everything into place, and even then the border warps and the pieces pop out. They interlock like a puzzle piece, and they are starting to wear out, so we have finally given up on getting everything together correctly. If you were worried about the 3rd addition getting bumped and jumbled, you simply had to set up the game on a tablecloth or piece of fabric. This newer addition is impossible to setup correctly, especially as it ages.
Also note you cannot use your old expansion packs with the newer addition, as the pieces are different. You now have to pay for all the newer versions of the expansion packs, how convenient.
We still love this game and will play it regularly, it just seems the "advancements" were not tested or well planned. It is also bothersome that they made the newer additions incompatible with the old expansions, you can easily spend $150 on this game and the expansions, and you would expect that investment to last... it is a board game after all!
Customer Review: Really Fun For Grade School through Adult Age
Summary: 5 Stars
Part of the appeal of Settlers of Catan is its complexity, so the rules are a bit long but once you learn how to play it's very fun.
The game board of Settlers is a series of nineteen hexagons surrounded by interlocking water pieces to contain the hexagonal pieces. On each hex is a picture of a field of grain, a forest, a filed with sheep, hills or mountains. Each hex represents a different resource and each has a number on it. When you roll a number and have a settlement on that hex with the corresponding number, you get the resource on that hex.
Each player gathers resources to build cities, settlements and roads in order to get ten points to win the game.
It is a great game because the game board is set up differently for each game. It is fun to find the best places to set up your settlements and cities in order to get the most development cards to build those cities, settlements and roads.
It is really best to just sit and read through the few pages of rules before you play and then it will be easier to understand and begin the fun of playing.
It is also a terrific game because although it is complicated at first, once you learn the game it is enjoyable for grade school age all the way to adults.