Settlers of Catan

Catan is a German board game which was invented in 1995 by Klaus Teuber and immediately won awards in its native country but remains relatively unknown worldwide. I was only introduced to the board game a couple of months ago by my cousin (who is currently competing in the World Of Catan world championships where she is in the quarter finals!)and when the game was explained to me I just thought it sounded weird but since then I have become hooked.

The island of Catan is hexagonal and divided up into 19 different hexes, 18 of which produce either logs, metal, sheep or bricks with one non productive desert hex. The way the board is set up each time varies with the tiles placed at random over the board and then numbers placed on top. It is your goal to build up your resources to build on the island more quickly than your opponents.

In the game you play the part of a settler on the island of Catan. Each settler (or player) starts of by building 2 settlements on the edges of production hexes. Each hex is numbered from 2 to 12 and when the dice rolls it yields one unit of production for every settlement built on that number. Players choose where to base their settlements trying to get a good mix of both resources and numbers; obviously a 6 or 8 will be far more likely to roll than a 2 or 12. You use your resources to build roads on the island and when you reach other hexes you can build more settlements and upgrade to cities. You can also buy development cards which are like wild cards; some allow you to steal resources from other players or build roads or use a knight to drive away the robber.

The winner is the first person to reach ten victory points. Each settlement gives a point, a city two. There are also points for the longest road or the person who has used the most knights which can swap between players several times over the course of a game.

Players have the option of trading resources with one another and also the bank at various rates depending on where they have built (like Monopoly somebody has to act as banker to dish out resources and cards) so there is always a lot of interaction and chat going on round the game table. Players set their own rate for each trade and can choose to help or hinder other players. The game gets really competitive with everyone vying for the best spaces on the board and trying to sabotage the other players.

Catan can throw up some nasty surprises. Every time a 7 is rolled, the person who rolled gets to move the robber onto an opponents hex. The robber stops this hex producing anything and the person who rolled a 7 also gets to draw a card from the other person's hand. There is much gnashing of teeth and wailing when the robber is moved.

Catan probably sounds very complicated to those who have never played before and I will admit being lost for the first game but you pick up the rules surprisingly quickly and learn tips and tricks to get ahead. The beauty of the game is that there is a new board built every time so you cannot stick to one strategy, you have to be flexible and adapt your game play to each new board in order to win. I play monopoly every so often but once you have learned the rules it gets dull as you use the same strategy for every game but every game of Catan is different. A game lasts from around 30 to 45 minutes and you need at least 3 players. It is a game primarily for adults, the teenagers in my family play but I don't see a child under 11 being able to pick it up.

My family have all become great fans of the original Settlers Of Catan game as well as the more advanced variants. I received a brand new game for my birthday, the game costs around £25 from various retailers. The game itself is really visually striking and the pieces all of great quality with lovely wooden game pieces and nicely illustrated cards. It is advisable to splash out on the new game rather than the second hand one as the newer version has a nicer surround to stop the pieces of the island moving around which was a problem with older versions.

The Settlers of Catan is a brilliant board game and I wish I had discovered it years ago. It combines the fun of a property trading game with the thought needed for a strategy game and also provides a great way for families to interact.