Games - Settlers of Catan

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	Games - 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. (Kosmos) 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 Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Icelandic, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, and Swedish 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.

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, adds in the concept of exploration, and the combined game (sometimes known as "New Shores") is probably the closest game to Teuber's original intentions.

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-shaped game pieces, or "hexes," representing five types of resources: ore, wheat, sheep, wood and brick. (A key appeal of the game is that since the game board is laid out randomly for each game, two games are unlikely to ever be the same.)

As players establish towns and cities on the island, each settlement receives resources for its adjacent hexes. The resources, represented by resource cards, can be used to build more roads, towns, cities, or to obtain chance cards that can be used at any time. Various achievements, such as building a town or establishing the longest road, grant each 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 an hour to complete.

The game is also well-suited for tournament play. Luck plays a significant role, but players with a deeper understanding of the dynamics and strategies usually defeat weaker players in spite of the vagaries of chance. However, when coupled with the probabilities inherent in dice rolling and a good strategic competitiveness, even the more experienced player can be beaten. When played competitively, Settlers showcases the heights of adaptive analysis, which the human mind does best. Correct strategy is not absolute, but depends heavily on what the other players are doing. To play well, one must consider the nested ramifications of each decision one makes.

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 (1995) — Original release of the basic four-player game.
* The Settlers of Catan: 5–6 Player Expansion (1999)
The Seafarers of Catan (1997) — replaces one large island with several smaller islands separated by sea
* The Seafarers of Catan: 5–6 Player Expansion (1999)
Cities & Knights of Catan (2000) — players must defend Catan from barbarians and build a variety of city expansions using new commodities
* Cities & Knights of Catan: 5–6 Player Expansion (2000)
Die Siedler von Catan: Das Buch zum Spielen (2000) — "SoC: The Book of Playing" — A German book about the game, with scenarios and mini-expansions
Catan 3D Collector’s Edition (2005) — Original game (with Cities & Knights) for 3–4 players with handpainted 3D hexagon tiles and playing pieces
Die Siedler von Catan: 10 Jahre (2005) — "SoC: 10th Anniversary" — gold box edition of basic game with plastic pieces based on the 3D Collector’s Edition
Die Siedler von Catan: Atlantis: Szenarien & Varianten (2005) — a German boxed-set of “Scenarios & Variants”
Die Fischer von Catan (2005) - adds shores which produce a sixth resource, fish. Published in the German board-game magazine Spielbox, full rules for the game are available at .

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Settlers of Catan ]

Games - Settlers of Catan

Gameplay

The Settlers of Catan series

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