In The Settlers of Catan, players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players collect these resources (cards) - wood, grain, brick, sheep, or stone - to build up their civilizations to get to 10 victory points and win the game.
Setup includes randomly placing large hexagonal tiles (each showing a resource or the desert) in a honeycomb shape and surrounding them with water tiles, some of which contain ports of exchange. Number disks, which will correspond to die rolls (two 6-sided dice are used), are placed on each resource tile. Each player is given two settlements (think, houses) and roads (sticks) which are, in turn, placed on intersections and borders of the resource tiles. Players collect a hand of resource cards based on which hex tiles their last-placed house is adjacent to. A robber pawn is placed on the desert tile.
A turn consists of possibly playing a development card, rolling the dice, everyone (perhaps) collecting resource cards based on the roll and position of houses (or upgraded cities - think, hotels) unless a 7 is rolled, turning in resource cards (if possible and desired) for improvements, trading cards at a port, and trading resource cards with other players. If a 7 is rolled, the active player moves the robber to a new hex tile and steals resource cards from other players who have built structures adjacent to that tile.
Points are accumulated by building settlements and cities, having the longest road and the largest army (from some of the development cards), and gathering certain development cards that simply award victory points. When a player has gathered 10 points (some of which may be held in secret), he announces his total and claims the win.
Contents:
19 Hexagonal Region Tiles
6 Sea Frame Pieces
9 Extra harbor Pieces
20 Wooden Settlement Pieces
16 Wooden City Pieces
16 Wooden Road Pieces
95 Resources Cards
25 Development Cards
4 Building Cost Cards
2 Special Bonus Cards
18 Number Tokens
2 Dice
1 Wooden Robber Pawn
1 Rulebook & Almanac
The following changes have been made:
1. The boxes have all transitioned from landscape to portrait.
2. The graphics of all covers and tiles and cards were executed by the same artist.
3. The backs of all cards remain the same, the faces of the cards are new art.
4. The tiles have similar perspective to the 4th edition tiles, but the art is new and slightly different, it’s a new artist.
5. The dice remain the same
6. The wood components remain the same colors and supplier.
7. The rules book contains new graphics.
8. The material used in the tiles is the same as fourth edition after July 2013. This is heavier than the European stock.
9. The tile size and cut remain the same as the previous 4th edition, since July 2013.
10. The game is now titled: Catan.
Players: 3-4
Ages: 10+
Playtime: 90 min |