The settlers of Catan

The Settlers of Catan Catan - The Game

Game data
author	Klaus Teuber
graphic	Marion Pott (1995 edition), Tanja Donner (2003 and 2006 edition), Michael Menzel (2010 and 2015 edition)
publishing company	Cosmos u. a.
Publishing year	1995
Art	Board game
Teammates	3 to 4 (2 to 6 with extensions)
Duration	approx. 75 minutes
Age	from 10 years on
Awards
Game of the year 1995 German Games Prize 1995 Essen spring 1995 Further …

The Settlers of Catan is a board game by Klaus Teuber that was published by Kosmos-Verlag in 1995 . It was published in 1995 under the name The Settlers of Catan , and in 2015 it was renamed Catan - The Game on its 20th birthday . The brand is considered the second most successful after Monopoly .

Game idea and meaning of the game

In the constructive-cooperative simulation, the players build settlements on the fictional island of Catan , which generate income from raw materials, with which roads, new settlements and cities can be built and knights can be sent to defend. Players receive victory points for built settlements and cities , as well as for the longest trade route and greatest knightly power. The winner is whoever reaches a certain number of such victory points first.

Compared to other contemporary board games, Catan - The Game has a multitude of innovative game ideas. This includes the possibility for players to trade with one another with their raw materials, the wide range of possible game tactics and the variable game plan with which a different island can be laid out for each game. 500,000 copies had been sold up to 1996, 10 years after the first publication there were a total of 8 million German copies. In 2004, the term Catan was known to every second German. The game found over 10 million players worldwide by 2002 and will be available in over 42 different languages in more than 40 countries by the end of 2018. Various prizes were awarded both nationally and internationally, in particular the Game of the Year and the German Game Award, the two most relevant in Germany.

The popularity of the game and the media impact of the term Catan have created a real Catan universe. Individual game components are embedded in new games - among other things, card , dice and computer games have appeared so far . The historical background is also used, regardless of the game principles, in other board games as well as in a novel by Rebecca Gablé of the same name .

Game material

Choice of game components: cities (back), streets and settlements. (1995 edition)

The labels on the number chips indicate the likelihood of a corresponding dice roll. The backs (right) are labeled with letters.

Included in the game are:

19 hexagonal landscape fields:
- 4 × forest (results in wood)
- 4 × pasture land (results in wool)
- 4 × arable land (yields grain)
- 3 × hill country (results in clay)
- 3 × mountains (makes ore)
- 1 × desert (no income)
18 hexagonal sea fields, 9 each with and without a harbor (1995 edition)
6 frame parts with ports (editions from 2002)
95 resource cards, 19 each of wood, wool, grain, clay and ore
96 pieces in 4 colors, each color
- 15 streets
- 5 settlements
- 4 cities
18 number chips with the numbers from 2 to 6 and 8 to 12 (3 to 11 each double); the backs are marked with letters
25 development cards (14 × knights, 6 × progress and 5 × victory points)
2 special cards "Longest Trade Route" and "Greatest Knight Power"
4 information boards "construction costs"
2 dice
a robber figure

Game flow

Game setup

At the start of the game, an almost circular island is laid out from the 19 well-mixed hexagonal land fields. The nine harbor spaces are also shuffled and placed around the island with one space each. The resulting gaps are filled with the remaining nine water fields. The number chips are turned on their backs and sorted by letters. Starting with any corner space bordering on the water, the number chips are now distributed alphabetically on the island in a counter-clockwise direction, the desert is left out and no number chip is given. Then the number chips are revealed. The robber figure is placed on the desert.

Each player receives two settlements and two streets on the starting grid. In turn clockwise each player places a settlement with an adjacent street, then - starting with the last player in turn counterclockwise - each player places his second settlement with a street. Settlements may only be placed on corner points where three hexagonal fields border one another. Roads connect two such points along an edge between two fields, whereby you cannot build between two water fields. Neither two settlements nor two roads may be built on top of each other. Settlements must have a distance of at least two edge sections from one another. At the beginning the players receive raw material cards according to the fields adjacent to their second settlement. In the rest of the game, the players keep their resource cards face down.

One move

A player's turn consists of three phases to be carried out one after the other: rolling the raw material yields, trading and building.

Rolling the raw material yields

Youngsters playing

The raw material yields are rolled by rolling both dice. The total number of points names the landscape spaces which yield income in this round. Each player who owns a settlement adjacent to a field that shows the total number rolled on his number chip receives the corresponding resource. The player receives two resource cards for an adjacent city.

If a seven is rolled, the players do not receive any resources. Instead, the robber takes action. The player whose turn it is must move the robber figure to another space. If a settlement of one or more players is adjacent to this space, one of these players may draw a resource card face down. As long as the robber is on a field, it does not discard any resources. Furthermore, every player who has more than seven resource cards in hand must give up half of his resources. If there is an odd number of resource cards, it is rounded down.

Since the sum of the eyes is triangularly distributed when throwing two dice , the seven is thrown more often than any other number. This also makes certain fields more lucrative than others. To make this clear in the game, the more likely numbers are printed larger and thicker than the less likely and particularly common numbers 6 and 8 in red.

Probabilities of dice outcomes with two dice
number	2	3	4th	5	6th	7 (robber)	8th	9	10	11	12
probability	¹ ⁄ ₃₆ (2.8%)	¹ ⁄ ₁₈ (5.6%)	¹ ⁄ ₁₂ (8.3%)	¹ ⁄ ₉ (11.1%)	⁵ ⁄ ₃₆ (13.9%)	¹ ⁄ ₆ (16.7%)	⁵ ⁄ ₃₆ (13.9%)	¹ ⁄ ₉ (11.1%)	¹ ⁄ ₁₂ (8.3%)	¹ ⁄ ₁₈ (5.6%)	¹ ⁄ ₃₆ (2.8%)

Act

In the second phase the player is allowed to act. On the one hand, this can be done through maritime trade: If the player has a settlement or city at a corresponding port space on the island's edge, any three of the same raw materials may be exchanged for another raw material (3: 1) or with the specified raw material 2: 1, depending on the type of port become. On the other hand, internal trade is also allowed: offers can be made among the players and the player whose turn it is can exchange raw material cards with the other players in a free ratio. However, it is also allowed to exchange four of the same resource cards for any resource card with the bank (4: 1). Only gifts are not allowed. Only the player whose turn it is may trade. Other players may not swap with each other or with the bank, but only with the player whose turn it is.

To build

The third phase is the construction phase. Here the player can build roads, settlements and cities and buy development cards in exchange for the appropriate resources. When placing settlements, cities and streets on the game board, the same rules apply as for the initial setup, in particular several elements cannot be built on top of one another, and settlements and cities must be at least two intersections apart. A city can only be built if a player still has a settlement on the field; this is removed and the city is placed on the field instead of the settlement. However, you can only upgrade settlements that have been on the field for at least one full round.

building-costs
Play element	Required raw materials
Play element	Clay	Wood	Wool	Grain	ore
Street	1 ×	1 ×
settlement	1 ×	1 ×	1 ×	1 ×
City (only by building over a settlement)				2 ×	3 ×
Development map			1 ×	1 ×	1 ×

Experienced players can mix the two phases of trading and building as desired.

If a player has built the longest trade route with at least five connected streets (not counting the junctions), he receives the corresponding special card, which remains open in front of him. As soon as a player has built a longer trade route, the card changes hands. The special card "Longest trade route" gives the player two victory points. If another player builds a settlement between two streets, the street is interrupted; it may no longer be considered the longest trade route.

Play development cards

Once during his turn, the player may play a development card at any time, but not those that were bought on the same turn. If the card shows a knight , the robber figure may be moved. The revealed card remains in front of the player. As soon as a player has played three knight cards, he receives the “Greatest Knight Power” special card, which gives the player two victory points. As with the longest trade route, the card only changes hands when another player has revealed more knight cards. The player may reveal victory point cards all at once, as long as he can end the game with them. Progress cards exist twice each with the following designs:

development: The player receives any two resource cards from the bank, they can be two different ones or two of the same type.
Road construction: The player is allowed to build two roads in accordance with the rules, is played with the Seafarers expansion , also two ships or a road and a ship. The streets can be in two different locations.
monopoly: The player gets all raw materials of a certain kind from his opponents. The other players cannot defend themselves against it.

Progress cards are removed from the game after the action has been carried out.

Playing

The game ends as soon as the player on the move has reached a minimum number of victory points (in the basic game, for example, 10). The players receive victory points for settlements, cities, the longest trade route, the greatest knightly power and corresponding development cards.

Victory points
Play element	Victory points
Street	0
settlement	1
city	2
Victory point card	1
Greatest knight power	2
Longest trade route	2

variants

The author himself has published two rule changes over time, which he recommends to players. On the one hand, strong imbalances caused by the robber at the start of the game should be avoided by not placing the robber in settlements of players who have less than three victory points. This variant was also incorporated under the name “Freundlicher Räuber” in the later expansion Dealers & Barbarians . The variant is controversially discussed in gaming circles, as it allows players to first develop their infrastructure undisturbed and then roll up the field from behind. Victory points hidden from development cards are not taken into account here either. On the other hand, it is proposed to merge the trading and construction phases. In the course of this, a developed port can now also be used in the same round or, after a settlement has already been built, you can continue trading with other players.

The game for two

Although the rules of the basic game do not provide for a game for two players, Klaus Teuber has published rule proposals for a game for two, which were later included in the expansion dealers and barbarians . For this purpose, settlements and streets are built on the game board by two imaginary neutral players. As soon as a player builds a settlement or a road, he also builds one for one of the two neutral players. The neutral players cannot generate any income, but they can claim the longest trade route. In order to compensate for the missing trading component of the game for two, players may, under certain conditions, carry out forced trade with the opponent. In 2015, the two-player version was compactly integrated into Catan - The Game .

History of origin

Klaus Teuber, 2008

According to the company, it took almost four years from the first ideas to the finished game. Originally, significantly more components were planned in the game, initially called "colonization", in particular the island should not be open at the beginning of the game, but rather explored by scouts over time and thus gradually uncovered. A conflict over the island was planned as the final phase. It was only later that the decision was made to make the game leaner: The three components were divided into three different games and further developed in parallel. The middle part should be published as "The Settlers". Since Blue Byte 's first video game in the Settlers series was released in 1993 , Klaus Teuber added the addition of "Catan" to his game, which emerged as a favorite from a list of suggested names with fantasy words that he had presented to his family and friends would have. In addition to the settlers, the game Entdecker was launched in 1996 and finally the game Löwenherz in 1998 , which the Goldsieber publisher called the “conclusion of the Catan trilogy” in its advertising.

Initially, Catan was rejected by the game publishers. Finally, the relatively small Kosmos Verlag decided to publish a small edition of the game for the Nuremberg Toy Fair on February 2, 1995. Within a few months, all 3,000 copies were completely sold out. In 1998 Teuber was able to give up his job as a dental technician. Then, contrary to the game developer's expectations, the board game became the most successful brand after Monopoly . In particular, a hype developed in Silicon Valley in the later decades. This is how Mark Zuckerberg called himself a fan and the game was a theme in the television series Big Bang Theory . LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman had a Silicon Valley version of Catan developed and allegedly uses it as an application for future managers in his company. Two million games were sold in Germany in 2018 alone. Besides the US, China, Japan and countries in South America are big buyers of the game. In total, over 30 million games were sold.

criticism

Overall, the game is characterized by its constructive structure. The players are constantly expanding, which gives the game the positive feel of a building simulation . Nevertheless, there are opportunities to restrict opponents in a competitive way by obstructing and blocking certain areas and to better define your own areas. Conversely, the players can negotiate cooperatively with each other and help each other to advantage or forge alliances .

The Siedler introduced a number of elements that were not in use at the time of publication, which have contributed significantly to its success. The variable schedule should be emphasized here. On the one hand, a new game situation can be created for each game. On the other hand, this also enabled a component for extensions and variants that should not be underestimated. The players can design scenarios according to their own taste , by artificially reducing resources or by no longer laying out the island in a hexagonal shape.

The short waiting times for the players are also positive. Since there is a legitimate interest in the moves of other players in order to provide advice or to propose a trade, there are no pauses for thought and longer sections in which only one player is active. The fact that the dice results count for all players also contributes to the intense occupation of the players during the moves of others.

As a minus point, it was stated that Catan - The Game is very complex compared to games that were published at the same time, and Teuber himself admitted that the game "was too complex for a large target group". This was mitigated by a well thought-out set of instructions: The actual rules of the game consist of a single page and an example structure for the first game. An additional settler almanac provides information on detailed questions according to alphabetically sorted keywords.

Awards

In Germany

Even in the run-up to the election, the settlers were considered the clear favorites for the game of the year 1995. In addition to this award given by a jury, Teuber also received the German Games Award (also 1995), which was awarded as an audience award . This made the settlers the second game to win the two most important German game awards in one year. In addition, the Instructions was awarded the trophy Essen spring appreciated whereupon the game a few days later at the end of the Essen Game Fair was completely sold out 1995th The Stiftung Warentest judged in issue 12/96 with "Spielspaß: Very large".

Success abroad

The game, which has meanwhile been published in 20 languages and 40 countries, has also won various international awards. In the United States , it received the Origins Award in 1996 in the Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board Game category, one of the most important awards, followed two years later by the title Board game of the year . Like the Origins Award jury, Games Magazine has also included the settlers in their Hall of Fame . In addition, various regionally significant prizes were awarded, such as the Speelgoed van het jaar award in the Netherlands and the Polish equivalent of Game of the Year ( Gra Roku ). In the poll for the most popular games in Japan, Catan - The Game took first place in 2006 and second place in 2007. The breakthrough in Japan only came after a version with reduced landscape fields was offered with another cooperation partner, which can be played on the smaller Japanese tables. 2010 Blake Eskin said in The Washington Post 's opinion, " Monopoly is the game of the Great Depression have been Catan, however, the board game today. Is" Still in 2012 won Catan (in Brazil "Colonizadores de Catan") in Brazil the Jota , a Brazilian price for board games, in the category "Critic Award / Games released in Brazil".

Extensions

Basically, the variable game plan and the simple game material offer a good starting point for expansions. It is therefore not surprising that several large expansions as well as many smaller variants have emerged. The latter in particular often appear as a promotional gift at game fairs and in game magazines.

Overview of major extensions

CATAN - Seafarer expansion (plus expansion set for 5–6 players)

CATAN - Cities & Knights (plus extension set for 5-6 players)

CATAN - Traders & Barbarians (plus extension set for 5–6 players)

CATAN - Explorers & Pirates (plus additional set for 5–6 players)

CATAN - Historical Scenarios - "Cheops" & "Alexander the Great" & "Cheops Troy" & "The Great Wall"

CATAN - The book to play with

The Settlers of Catan - Atlantis - Scenarios for the base game

Minor extensions

In addition to the above-mentioned extensions available in toy stores, there are also various smaller additions. To publish the Catan News - one issued by the Kosmos customer magazine - regularly new variants such. B. "Coffee for Catan", in which coffee is added as a new raw material, or historical variants such as B. "Upswing in Egypt". Suggestions and rule adjustments for a game with two basic games on a double-sized map have also been published. Smaller extensions have also become commonplace as give-away at trade fair stands or in game magazines.

Under the title “The Settlers of Hesse”, a German series started in October 2007, which will gradually cover the whole of Germany with further appearances. In addition to a game plan based on the actual geography, the inexpensive posters contain information on the respective region. A basic game is required to play, the rules remain almost unchanged. Only the building possibilities for settlements are restricted to the effect that construction is only allowed at locations of real cities. In the course of this, the distance rule is dispensed with. "The Settlers of North Rhine-Westphalia" followed in autumn 2008 and "The Settlers of Bavaria" in 2009. In 2010, the Austria Edition was followed by a detour to the Alpine republic. The scenario drawn in the style of the Germany edition can - like the scenario "The Settlers of Thuringia" published in 2011 - in contrast to the first federal state scenarios, also be played with 5 and 6 players. Instead of pastures with sheep, the Austria scenario shows alpine meadows with cows and the forests are drawn as mountain forests. In 2012, the first “Island Scenario” in this series was the “ Mallorca Edition”, in which, instead of grain fields, almond tree plantations bring raw materials. At the same time, fixtures published by Mayfair Games have been published by US states since 2009 , but in which additional elements come into play.

For the tenth anniversary of the expansion of the seafarers, the scenario The Colonies , which was already included in the book for play , was published with slightly modified rules and new characters. The twentieth anniversary will be celebrated in 2017 with the expansion "The Legend of the Pirates", which will be available both separately and together with the Seafarers' expansion.

In autumn 2009 Treasures, Dragons and Explorers - The scenario pack for fans was published in which some scenarios that were previously published in the Siedler-Zeitung and the Catan-News are included.

From October 2010 to April 2011, as part of a promotion, a chocolate manufacturer printed codes on product packaging that could be used to collect five raw materials for chocolate production. A small extension of the Catan was connected with it. Since the end of the marketing campaign, the extension can also be bought directly in the Catan shop.

In 2010, twelve supplementary cards were issued under the name Die Helfer von Catan , with which jokers and protective functions against threats are enabled. In 2012 the helpers were integrated into the new Star Trek Catan as support cards.

Further game editions of the base game

The settlers have now appeared in different versions. In addition to minor adjustments in the meantime, the design of the game was fundamentally changed in 2003. The raw material fields and maps have been given new illustrations, the island is already delivered in the basic version with a stable frame, whereas the water fields have been omitted, and the settlements, cities and streets are no longer made of wood, but are modeled in detail in plastic. The integration of newer expansions in older basic games is problematic, as the material does not sometimes match.

A 3D version has also been released. Teuber himself - a trained dental technician - modeled a 3D version of the island planned as a one-off, which was exhibited in 1998 at the game fair in Essen. Thereupon there was great demand for series production. At that time there was an offer to order an unpainted version for approx. 200 DM in a bulk order, but this did not receive the required number of orders. Only in 2005 for the tenth anniversary did a hand-painted 3D version come onto the market, which in Germany was limited to 2500 pieces including the expansion Cities and Knights for around 280 €. In addition, a 3D edition was published in the USA by Mayfair Games and in the Netherlands by 999 Games , the latter is now sold out.

In 2010 an anniversary edition for 3 to 6 players appeared in a wooden box for the fifteen-year anniversary, containing the landscape and water fields as MDF panels and the characters from the Viking edition, which was previously available separately.

The following table shows the designs in which the individual extensions were produced.

Game expansions in different designs
extension	Wooden version (1995)	Plastic versions (from 2003)	3D version (2005)	Anniversary version (2010)	Travel-Box (2002) compact version (2015)
Expansion for 5 and 6 players	Yes	Yes	No	contain	No
The seafarers	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
The seafarers - expansion for 5 and 6 players	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Cities and Knights	Yes	Yes	contain	With figures available separately	No
Cities and Knights - Expansion for 5 and 6 players	Yes	Yes	No	With figures available separately	No
Traders and barbarians	compatible (wooden figures sold separately)	Yes	No (some elements can be used)	No (some elements can be used)	No (some elements can be used)
Traders and Barbarians - Expansion for 5 and 6 players	compatible (wooden figures sold separately)	Yes	No (some elements can be used)	No (some elements can be used)	No
Explorers and pirates	compatible (additional frame parts required, wooden figures sold separately)	Yes	No	No	No
The book to play with	Yes	compatible, with restrictions	No (some elements can be used)	No (some elements can be used)	No (some elements can be used)
Atlantis - scenarios and variants	compatible	Yes	No (some elements can be used)	No (some elements can be used)	No (some elements can be used)
Treasures, dragons and explorers - the scenario pack for fans	compatible (wooden figures sold separately)	Yes	No	No	No

In addition, other variants of the basic version of the game have appeared which, due to the different material, usually cannot be combined with the expansions.

Most of the foreign editions of the settlers are based heavily on the German model. In the USA and Japan the appearance of the landscape fields and playing cards was fundamentally changed. In the Russian version only the grain and clay fields differ from the German version, but completely different plastic figures are used. The cards for the greatest knightly power and longest trade route as well as the construction cost cards are based on the design of the German first edition, but are narrower, the raw material and development cards are delivered as sheets and must be separated before the first game. In some countries, editions with the landscape fields in the new German design (since 2003) and the wooden toy figures from the 1995 edition are now available. The Japanese version was first published by Trysoft in 1998 , the design still corresponded to the original German version . In this form, however, unlike in other countries, it did not become a bestseller. It was only when the Capcom company launched a modified version for Japanese tables, which are much smaller than German living room tables, on the market in 2002 that Catan - The Game was also a success in Japan. In this version, several landscape fields and the water fields are connected to one another - which, however, limits the variability - and, like the plastic figures, are smaller than the Trysoft version.

In 2010 the box covers, landscapes and playing cards were re-illustrated by Michael Menzel . The new editions have been available in stores since March 2010 and are compatible with the editions from 2003.

For the twentieth anniversary, the game was released in 2015 with a globally uniform design, but only the name (now "Catan - The Game"), the landscape fields (now each field individually drawn) and some of the playing cards have been redesigned.

The Universe Catan

Due to the great success of the basic game and the market potential and advertising effect that came with it, numerous other games were created which either port the principles of the basic game to new stories or, conversely, embed the story of the settlers in completely different rules of the game.

Adaptations to new background stories

In addition to the historical scenarios already mentioned above, for which the game figures, development cards, special victory point cards and raw material cards of the basic game are required, other historical adaptations appeared, but as independent games with a fixed or variable game plan, they do not require any additional material.

Moving further away from the actual rules but clearly recognizing the game idea, the 1999 and 2000 published The Settlers of Nuremberg and the Adventure of Mankind and the 2006 published The Settlers of Catan - Battle for Rome .

From Uljö , a publisher of several games with a religious background brings out, in 2005 Settlers of Canaan issued at the time of the Old Testament play. In the USA, in addition to The Settlers of Canaan , in which the rules differ from the Uljö version, another adaptation with a religious background was released: The Settlers of Zarahemla , published by Inspiration Games , relocate the history of the settlers to around AD 310 . Some aspects of Mormon history come into play in the game without being discussed in detail in the rulebook. The gameplay is similar to the German historical scenario Cheops .

In autumn 2008, on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, the “Settlers of Catan: Germany Edition” appeared, which contains twelve historical buildings as miniatures. In 2009, 999 Games published a version adapted for the Netherlands and Flanders entitled “De Kolonisten van de Lage Landen”, but instead of miniatures of historical buildings, small wooden towers are built for the landmarks. A special edition for the 60th anniversary of Baden-Württemberg was published in spring 2012. The edition was initially only available via the country's online shop, but a cheaper version was also published in autumn 2012 by Kosmos. In autumn 2013 a version appeared with “Vienna-Catan” in which the Austrian capital Vienna is settled, whereby wine is used instead of wool and stones instead of ore.

In July 2010, Mayfair Games published a version entitled "Settlers of America: Trails to Rails", which deals with the development of the USA in the 19th century and the construction of railways. This version can be obtained in Germany from the Catan Shop, with German game instructions being made available for download. In October 2011, the European adaptation of the game "Settlers of America: Trails to Rails" appeared under the title "The Settlers of Catan: The Rise of the Merchants", which has meanwhile also appeared in several other European countries.

In 2017, “A Game of Thrones Catan: The Brotherhood of the Night Watch” was released in which elements of Catan are transposed into the A Game of Thrones universe.

In 2018 the game Catan - The Rise of the Inca was released by Kosmos-Verlag , which is also based on the base game, but is set in the Inca Empire and brings some additional elements into the game.

Variations of the base game

With these variations, the landscape fields and the raw materials produced there as well as the elements to be built sometimes have different names. The mechanisms are the same as in the base game.

"Das Wasser des Lebens" (also called the Whiskey Settlers ) appeared as a limited special edition , which, with unchanged rules and game structure, relocated the story to the Scottish Highlands and was sold in a classic whiskey can in proper style. Distilleries and stills with vehicle fleets are built instead of settlements and cities, and raw materials include a. Water and peat are used. Instead of robbers, the settlers are harassed by the British occupying forces.

A variant of the basic game, including integrated helper cards, was released in 2012 as StarTrek Catan.

Thematically arranged games with different game principles

Without really taking up the basic rules of the basic game, the story of the settlers was continued in various other games. In 1996, Teuber published a two-player version under the title Die Siedler von Catan - Das Kartenspiel , to which a number of extensions have since been published and which appeared in 2010 as Die Fürsten von Catan in a revised version. The Star Driver of Catan takes a look into the future , which describes the colonization of new planets and for which there is also a two-player version with the Star Ship Catan .

Designed as a children's game, The Children of Catan adopts the story of the basic game, but prepares the content according to completely different rules for children aged four and over. With Catan-Junior, another variant for children was added in 2007, which makes it easier for players aged six and over to get started with simplified rules, such as the waiver of the distance rule and easier swap options. In 2012 it was re-released as Madagascar Catan Junior in a revised version. The two games Candamir and Elasund are dedicated to details of the history of the settlers. Candamir tells the story of the first settlers, Elas and the building of the first city.

In 2007 the dice game and in 2011 the fast card game appeared as “little” Catan games.

Computer game implementations

In addition to board game implementations, various computer game implementations have also appeared. While a very simple first DOS version called "Compu-SIEDLER" was sent in by a hobby programmer to Kosmos in 1997, which the manufacturer then sold for reimbursement of postage costs, in 2004 an unlicensed 3D open source version was released by Seefahrer for games via network or hot -Seat released, Sea3D . Later commercial versions came on the market, e.g. B. a PC version of the board game and a Java version, which became the basis of the board game world . A PC version of the card game followed in 2001, and T-Online later launched a paid online game that offered the opportunity to play Cities & Knights in a licensed version for the first time. From 2007 to May 2018, this game platform , which was continuously developed as Catan Online World, was continued under the own direction of Catan GmbH as "PlayCatan". The current cross-platform digital game variant Catan Universe has been available for PC, Mac, iOS and Android since 2017, and it also contains the expansions Cities and Knights and Seafarers . In addition, different versions have been released for various platforms, including Nintendo DS , the Xbox , N-Gage , iPhone , iPod touch , iPad , Android , Blackberry and various mobile phones .

Merchandising

In addition to classic board and computer games, the term “Catan” is now also used in many other product areas. In her novel of the same name , Rebecca Gablé translated Teuber's ideas about Catan as an island around 850 at the time of the Vikings. In addition, the classic merchandising items such as puzzles, bath towels or printed coffee mugs can be purchased in the Catan shop operated by the author.

literature

Peter Gustav Bartschat, Reiner Düren: Encyclopædia Catanica. 3 volumes. 2004–2005 ( online version ; alternatively as PDF: Volume I , Volume II , Volume III ).
Peter Gustav Bartschat: Under the sign of the hexagon. Klaus Teuber & The Settlers of Catan Paperback. Self-published, 2005 (available in the Catan shop ).
Catan News (formerly Siedler-Zeitung ), from 1997 to 2001 and 2005 every six months, from 2002 to 2010 the customer magazine of Kosmos Verlag in printed form, from 2011 only as an online version. Freely available via Catan.de: Newsletter .
Settlers Almanac. (= Special edition of the game magazine Spielbox ). Nostheide Verlag, Memmelsdorf 2000.

Documentation

The Settlers of Catan - The success story of the inventor Klaus Teuber; Galileo (ProSieben); 2019 [1]

Web links

Commons : The Settlers of Catan - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Catan , the official homepage of Klaus Teuber with game information and other game materials to download

Prof. Easy's interactive game introduction , step by step instructions

The Settlers of Catan , The Seafarers , Cities & Knights and Merchants and Barbarians with references to many reviews in the Luding games database

The Settlers of Catan in the game database BoardGameGeek (English)

The Settlers of Catan in the Luding games database

German championship with complete chronology from 1998

Instructions and online game in the board game world (requires Java)

Individual evidence

↑ 34 different games publishers worldwide at BoardGameGeek recorded

↑ Press release (PDF; 150 kB) ( Memento from April 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

↑ ^a ^b Catan News 1/2005, p. 7 f. (PDF; 4.9 MB)

↑ ^a ^b Catan News 2004, p. 8. (PDF; 1.4 MB)

↑ Catan News 2002, p. 6. (PDF; 2.1 MB)

↑ catan.de: About the Catan GmbH

↑ catan.de-FAQ: Is it allowed to give raw materials to other players?

↑ catan.de: When claiming the greatest knight power, do you also count the knight cards that you have not yet played?

↑ See variants on Catan.de .

↑ Catan News 2006, p. 4. (PDF; 1.9 MB)

↑ Catan - The Game - compact. catan.de, accessed on June 17, 2015 .

↑ Catan News 1/2000, p. 1. (PDF; 439 kB)

↑ Catan News 1/2001, p. 2. (PDF; 1.6 MB)

↑ Peter Gustav Bartschat "In the sign of the hexagon", pp. 16 and 18 (2005)

↑ Peter Gustav Bartschat "In the sign of the hexagon", pp. 16, 18 and 36 (2005)

↑ How a Hessian game conquered the world ; hessenschau.de of January 24, 2020; accessed the same day

↑ ^a ^b See report by the game magazine Spielbox

↑ Catan News 1/2000, p. 2. (PDF; 439 kB)

↑ Top 100 Games in Japan 2006

↑ Top 100 Games in Japan 2007

↑ Peter Gustav Bartschat: In the sign of the hexagon. Pp. 83–84 (2005)

↑ Original quote: “Like Monopoly in the Depression, Settlers of Catan is the board game of our time”. From: Blake Esking: Like Monopoly in the Depression, Settlers of Catan is the board game of our time . In: The Washington Post . November 21, 2010.

↑ JoTa. Retrieved May 29, 2019 (Brazilian Portuguese).

↑ Catan News 2/2000, p. 4. (PDF; 463 kB)

↑ Catan News 1/2001, p. 8. (PDF; 1.6 MB)

↑ Siedler-Zeitung 1/97, p. 4. (PDF; 1.1 MB)

↑ See The Settlers of Hesse - Country Edition of the Catan Board Game

^ The Settlers of North Rhine-Westphalia - Country Edition of the Catan Board Game

^ The Settlers of Bavaria - Country Edition of the Catan Board Game

↑ Catan.de: The 2010 country edition takes place in Austria

↑ catan.de: The Settlers of Catan - Mallorca Edition

↑ catan.de: Country editions

↑ catan.de: "Anniversary box for 20 years of CATAN - Seafarers"

↑ catan.de: Treasures, Dragons and Explorers - The scenario pack for fans

↑ Catan.de: chocolate market

↑ catan.de: Catan scenarios - The helpers of Catan

↑ Star Trek Catan - The circle is complete

↑ Catan News 1/2000, p. 1. (PDF; 439 kB)

↑ Siedler-Zeitung 2/98, p. 6. (PDF; 1.1 MB)

↑ Catan News 2/2005, p. 2. (PDF; 2.2 MB)

↑ catan.de: The Settlers of Catan - anniversary edition

↑ In the compact version, the variant for 2 players is integrated.

↑ Peter Gustav Bartschat Under the sign of the hexagon. P. 83f. and 91.

↑ The Settlers of Catan - Graphics Relaunch

↑ The Settlers of Catan - The graphics relaunch of the base game

↑ The Settlers of Catan - The graphics relaunch of the expansion "Cities & Knights"

^ The Settlers of Catan - The Board Game - The Different Editions

↑ catan.de. The settlers of Nuremberg

↑ catan.de: The Adventure of Mankind

↑ catan.de: Struggle for Rome

↑ The Settlers of Catan - Germany Edition

↑ 999games.nl: De Kolonisten van de Lage Landen

^ Catan GmbH: Baden-Württemberg Catan

↑ Kosmos: Baden-Württemberg Catan

↑ catan.de: "Vienna Catan"

↑ Settlers of America: Trails to Rails (The Settlers of America)

↑ catan.com: "Catan Histories: Settlers of America - Trails to Rails"

↑ catan.de: "Catan Histories: Settlers of America - Trails to Rails"

↑ catan.de: The Settlers of Catan - Departure of the Traders

↑ catan.de: "A Game of Thrones Catan: The Brotherhood of the Night Watch"

↑ catan.de: Catan - The Rise of the Inca

↑ Siedler-Zeitung 2/97, p. 3. (PDF; 1.2 MB)

↑ Star Trek Catan - Conquer the universe with Catan

↑ Catan News 2/2001, p. 2. (PDF; 707 kB)

↑ The Settlers of Catan - The Dice Game

Jump up ↑ The Settlers of Catan - The Fast Card Game

↑ Siedler-Zeitung 1/97, p. 5. (PDF; 1.1 MB)

^ Seafarers of Catan 3D. (No longer available online.) Home of the Underdogs , March 21, 2009, archived from the original on October 10, 2010 ; accessed on July 2, 2011 (English): “TopDog!” Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

↑ Jason Fugate: S3D Connectors. www.s3dconnector.net, April 27, 2009, archived from the original on May 28, 2009 ; accessed on July 2, 2011 .

↑ catan.de: Electronic games

↑ "The Settlers of Catan" by Rebecca Gablé; Ehrenwirth, ISBN 3-431-03019-X .

↑ Catan News 2003, p. 1. (PDF; 1.9 MB)

[1] 34 different games publishers worldwide at BoardGameGeek recorded

[Pressemtlg-2015-2] Press release (PDF; 150 kB) ( Memento from April 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

[Catan_News_1-05-7f-3] Catan News 1/2005, p. 7 f. (PDF; 4.9 MB)

[Catan_News_1-04-8-4] Catan News 2004, p. 8. (PDF; 1.4 MB)

[Catan_News_1-02-6-5] Catan News 2002, p. 6. (PDF; 2.1 MB)

[6] tan.de: About the Catan GmbH

[7] tan.de-FAQ: Is it allowed to give raw materials to other players?

[8] tan.de: When claiming the greatest knight power, do you also count the knight cards that you have not yet played?

[9] See variants on Catan.de .

[Catan_News_1-06-6-10] Catan News 2006, p. 4. (PDF; 1.9 MB)

[11] Catan - The Game - compact. catan.de, accessed on June 17, 2015 .

[Catan_News_1-02-1-12] Catan News 1/2000, p. 1. (PDF; 439 kB)

[Catan_News_1-01-2-13] Catan News 1/2001, p. 2. (PDF; 1.6 MB)

[14] Peter Gustav Bartschat "In the sign of the hexagon", pp. 16 and 18 (2005)

[15] Peter Gustav Bartschat "In the sign of the hexagon", pp. 16, 18 and 36 (2005)

[16] How a Hessian game conquered the world ; hessenschau.de of January 24, 2020; accessed the same day

[Spielbox-Rezension-17] See report by the game magazine Spielbox

[Catan_News_1-00-2-18] Catan News 1/2000, p. 2. (PDF; 439 kB)

[19] Top 100 Games in Japan 2006

[20] Top 100 Games in Japan 2007

[21] Peter Gustav Bartschat: In the sign of the hexagon. Pp. 83–84 (2005)