Board games have been a staple of family gatherings for decades.  There’s nothing more fun than dividing into teams that pit Mom against Dad, Cousin Joe against Grandma Ruth.  But Monopoly has grown stale, and Risk is too cut-throat (remember the near-brawl last Thanksgiving?)  The family needs a new board game that’s fun and interesting enough to come back to time and time again.  Enter Catan. 

Discovery of Catan

Catan, also known as Settlers of Catan, is a well-known board game that combines strategy and luck to help players build the biggest settlement in the land.  The game begins with the discovery of a new land as your ship washes ashore on the coast of an uncharted island.  But before you go about building your settlement with the carefree nature of early colonialists, you discover that other seafarers have also landed on Catan’s shores.  The race to gain supremacy on Catan is on!

Building and Bartering

The game board is set up using hexagonal terrain tiles to represent the beautiful island of Catan.  Each player sets two small houses on spaces where the three terrain hexes meet.  With the roll of a dice, resources get doled out to each player to then barter in order to build their settlements.

The fun of the game comes from building your new settlements that will become bustling and prosperous cities.  You’ll learn to barter the resources you have in abundance for the ones you lack.  Strategic planning is required in order to skillfully trade your resources and complete your building projects.  Each settlement scores you 1 victory point and each city scores you 2 victory points.  The first player to reach 10 victory points is the winner!

Who Can Play?

The base game of Catan is for 3-4 people ages 10 and up, and gameplay lasts from around 45 to 90 minutes.  There is an extension available that allows you to add extra players, expanding gameplay to 5-6 people.  If you’ve got a big family that’s all looking to take part in the fun, this is a great way to give everyone an opportunity to join in.

The best part of the game is the different expansion packs you can buy.  These provide new and fun scenarios that allow you to expand the initial fun of the game well beyond the shores of Catan.   Travel the ocean with the Seafarers expansion, leaving Catan for the its wild and uncharted neighboring islands.  Or, step into knighthood with the Cities and Knights expansion, pitting the knights of Catan against the barbarians who would threaten your new way of life.

Let’s face it: there are only so many games of Scrabble you can play before someone loses their mind.  Catan is an exciting and fun board game that provides countless hours of family fun and a variety of expansion packs to keep things fresh.  Give it a chance and buy it today— your family will thank you!

Head of to the shop and buy it now before it is gone. Well… It will never be gone, this is one of our best sellers. But its a best seller for a reason. So…