Review: Catan

Introducción

Welcome to the unexplored island of Catan! As you and your fellow explorers gaze upon the pristine landscape of hexagonal terrains, you soon discover that this unique layout offers enough space for everyone to put down roots. You race to establish your communities by collecting resources from the nearby terrain, building infrastructure, and fostering trading relationships. Beware of surprises! Your rivals may block your path or send the robber to plunder your wealth. Good luck, explorers!

This is how Catan, a design by Klaus Teuber, is presented to us. Originally published as The Settlers of Catan in 1995 by KOSMOS in a German version. The illustrations for the current versions are handled by Eric Hibbeler (Acquire, Yukon Airways) and Quentin Regnes (Pyramidice, Eternal Palace).

It is published in Spain by Devir (the game has some language dependency in the development cards). It allows for games of 3 to 4 players, with a suggested minimum age of 10 years and an approximate duration of 90 minutes. The retail price is 45€. For this review, a copy of the Spanish version by Devir was used.

Importante: si ya conoces el juego y/o sólo te interesa mi opinión sobre el mismo, puedes pasar directamente al apartado de Opinión. Los apartados Contenido y Mecánica están destinados especialmente a aquellos que no conocen el juego y prefieren hacerse una idea general de cómo funciona.

Ir a la Opinión Personal

Contenido

Inside a two-piece cardboard box (lid and bottom), with dimensions 29.7×29.7×7.2 cm (standard square box, Ticket to Ride type), we find the following components:

• 6 Frame Pieces (cardboard)
• 19 Terrain Tiles (cardboard)
• 126 Cards (54×80 mm.):
  • 95 Resource Cards
  • 25 Development Cards
• 4 Reference Tiles (cardboard)
• 2 Special Tiles (cardboard)
• 2 Card Holders (plastic)
• 16 Cities (4 of each color) (plastic)
• 20 Settlements (5 of each color) (plastic)
• 60 Roads (15 of each color) (plastic)
• Robber Pawn (plastic)
• 18 Numbered Tokens (cardboard)
• 2 Dice (plastic)
• Rulebook

Mecánica

In Catan, players will manage resources to try to establish settlements and cities on the island of Catan. The island is composed of a series of hexagonal tiles with a value inside and a type of resource. At the beginning of each turn, the player rolls the dice and those tiles matching the roll value are activated, with players receiving resources if they have settlements or cities on any of their vertices. Subsequently, the player may build (settlements, cities, roads, or development cards) or negotiate with other players and trade resources. If a player rolls a seven, they move the robber to a region, nullifying it regarding resource production as long as it remains there, and randomly stealing a resource from a rival with a city or settlement on it. This continues until a player reaches 10 points, awarded by settlements, cities, the longest road, and the largest army, declaring themselves the winner.

Conceptos Básicos

Let’s start with the board. It is composed of two types of tiles: the Frame Tiles and the Terrain Tiles (or terrain hexagons). The former are 6 frame pieces that are assembled to form a hexagonal outline around the play area and include the trade ports that allow trading resources with the bank if you build a settlement or city at the adjacent junction. On the other hand, the terrain tiles are the heart of the island of Catan. These tiles are shuffled and placed within the hexagonal frame at random, creating a different landscape in each game. Each type of terrain produces a specific resource: Forest-Lumber, Pasture-Wool, Hills-Brick, Fields-Grain, and Mountains-Ore. There is a special desert tile that produces no resources and is the starting point for the robber pawn.

After forming the board, the Numbered Tokens will be placed on the terrain tiles. This is a set of 18 discs that are placed on each of the terrain hexagons (excluding the desert) during game setup. These discs show a numerical value (from 2 to 12, with different frequencies). The result of a dice roll determines which hexagons will produce resources unless they are blocked by the robber. In each turn, the active player will roll two Dice. The sum of their values determines the numbers of the terrain tiles that will produce resources for players with cities or settlements on their vertices. The only exception is a result of 7, which stops production and activates the robber pawn.

Upon production, players will obtain Resource Cards. These represent the five types of raw materials on the island, necessary to build and expand each player’s structures. There are five types of resources: Brick (produced in Hills), Lumber (produced in Forests), Wool (produced in Pastures), Grain (produced in Fields), and Ore (produced in Mountains). Each time a hexagon of one of these types is activated, players with settlements or cities on their vertices will obtain resources.

Players will deploy Settlements and Cities on the vertices, while Roads will be deployed on the edges of the terrain tiles. Players will start the game with two settlements, each with two roads. Obviously, only one piece can exist on each vertex and each edge (regardless of whose it is). Settlements can be placed on any free vertex as long as it is not adjacent to another vertex occupied by another city (there must be two edges of separation from any city), cities will replace settlements, and roads must be built connected to an existing player element. These elements have a specific resource cost.

Another element that players can obtain through resources are the Development Cards. These are special cards that remain hidden until they are used, not counting towards the card limit and not being subject to theft by the robber. They cannot be played in the same turn they are purchased. The only cards that are not played are those that provide victory points, which will be revealed when the player can reach the number of victory points.

Regarding roads and knights (one of the types of development cards), players can claim the Special Tiles, which provide two virtual victory points as long as the player has them in their possession (although another player can snatch either of them). On one hand, the Longest Trade Route, which is awarded to the first player to build a continuous route of 5 or more roads. This tile immediately passes to any other player who builds an even longer continuous road route. On the other, the Largest Army, which is awarded to the first player to play 3 or more knight cards. Just as with the Longest Trade Route, this tile changes hands if another player plays more knight cards than the current holder.

The Robber Pawn starts the game on the desert tile. It is activated each time a 7 is rolled on the dice. The active player must move it to any other hexagon of their choice, which prevents that hexagon from producing resources in subsequent turns while the pawn remains on it. After moving it, the player steals a resource card at random from a player who has a settlement or city on the destination hexagon.

That is enough.

Preparación de la Partida

1. Assemble the six pieces of the board frame in a random order.
2. Shuffle the terrain tiles face down and fit them inside the frame in a spiral, starting from an edge tile.
3. Set the special tiles aside.
4. Place the numbered tokens with the lettered side facing up. Then, starting from a tile in a corner, place the tokens following the alphabetical order counter-clockwise, also in a spiral motion. No token should be placed on the desert tile. After this, flip all tokens to show their numerical value.
5. Form a general reserve with the resource cards placed on the dispensers.
6. Shuffle the development cards and place them face down in the free space on the dispensers.
7. Each player chooses a color and receives:
   • 5 Settlements.
   • 4 Cities.
   • 15 Roads.
8. Randomly choose the starting player.
9. Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player will place one of their settlements on an intersection and connect one of their roads to it.
10. Perform the same operation a second time, but now starting with the player sitting to the right of the first player and proceeding counter-clockwise, respecting the rule that no two cities can be separated only by one segment.
11. Finally, each player receives one card of each resource type adjacent to the second settlement they placed.

We can now begin!

Desarrollo de la Partida

A game of Catan takes place over a series of turns, starting with the first player and continuing clockwise.

In each turn, the active player must resolve two phases in this order: the Production Phase and the Action Phase.

Phase I: Production

Proceed as follows:

1. Play a Development Card (Optional). The player may decide to play a Development Card before rolling the dice. If they are the first player to have played three knight cards, they will claim the army tile and keep it in their possession as long as another player does not surpass them in knight cards played. Scoring cards are not played unless, thanks to them, the player reaches the victory point threshold.
2. Roll the Dice. The active player rolls both dice. The sum of the values determines which hexagons will produce resources this turn.
3. Collect Resources. All players who have a settlement at a junction adjacent to a hexagon with the rolled number receive one card of the corresponding resource. If they own a city, they receive 2 cards of that resource. If a hexagon with the value resulting from the roll contains the robber, that hexagon will not produce.
4. Resolve a 7. If the roll result is a 7, no resources are produced. Instead, proceed to resolve two actions:
5. Discard Resources. Each player holding more than 7 resource cards in their hand must choose and return half of their cards to the reserve (rounding down).
6. Activate the Robber. The active player must immediately move the Robber to a new hexagon (not the desert) and steal 1 resource card at random from a player who has a building at a vertex of that hexagon. The hexagon where the Robber is located is blocked and produces no resources.

Phase II: Action

The active player may perform the following actions in any order and as many times as their resources allow:

• Trade. The player may carry out exchanges to obtain the resources they need:
  • Trade with other players. Announce the desired resources and those offered in return. Other players can only trade with the active player during their turn. Giving away cards is not allowed.
  • General trade with the bank (4:1). You may return 4 cards of the same resource to the bank in exchange for 1 card of any other resource.
  • Trade at a port with the bank (3:1 or 2:1). If the player has a 3:1 port connected to one of their cities, they may return 3 cards of the same resource in exchange for 1 card of any other resource. If they have a connection to a 2:1 port, they may return 2 cards of the resource type indicated on the port in exchange for 1 card of any other resource.
• Build. The player returns the required resource cards to the bank to place new pieces or acquire Development Cards:
  • Road (1 lumber, 1 brick). Placed on an empty hexagon edge, connected to one of their existing roads or buildings. If, upon building a road, the player has a path of five consecutive roads, they will claim the longest trade route tile and hold it until no other player achieves a route with more roads, unless due to some effect they no longer meet the minimum requirement.
  • Settlement (1 lumber, 1 brick, 1 wool, 1 grain). Placed on an empty junction, connected to one of their roads, and must respect the distance rule (keep at least two edges distance from any other settlement/city).
  • City (2 grain, 3 ore). A city is placed replacing an existing settlement, returning the latter to the player’s supply.
  • Development Card (1 wool, 1 grain, 1 ore). Draw the top card from the deck. These cards are kept hidden. Only 1 Development Card can be played per turn, and never the one just purchased.

Once the active player has finished their Action Phase, the turn passes to the next player.

Fin de la Partida

The game ends immediately after the turn of a player who has reached or surpassed 10 victory points, declaring themselves the winner. When evaluating a player’s score, the following are taken into account:

• Settlements built: 1 victory point.
• Cities built: 2 victory points.
• Longest road: 2 victory points for the player who owns the tile.
• Largest army: 2 victory points for the player who owns the tile.
• Scoring cards. These are kept in hand (not played at the beginning of the turn) and are revealed if with them the player reaches or surpasses 10 victory points in total.

Opinión Personal

This tocho-review is being written at the beginning of the last quarter of 2025. Nothing more and nothing less than thirty years after the first edition of a title that would mark a before and after. Because if there is a game that, at this point, practically needs no introduction, it is Catan.

Catan has been published in over forty languages, more than thirty million copies have been sold counting all the titles in the franchise (counting expansions), and during the lockdown due to the pandemic in 2020, it served as a gateway for many new players.

I think we can state without fear of being wrong that Catan is the most important reference we have in the world of board games, being mentioned in numerous series, such as Parks & Recreation or Big Bang Theory. That is why I had a debt pending with Klaus Teuber’s great work. A debt I am paying off at this moment.

Most likely, the majority of you reading this tocho-review already know and/or have played Catan and are simply here to see what I think of a true classic. But there is always some unaware person who ends up discovering the world of board games through a post like this, so I cannot continue without establishing some context.

In Catan, players represent settlers arriving on a deserted island where they will try to create settlements. To do this, they must extract the resources the island offers, either to use them directly on the various elements they can be spent on or to trade them with rivals.

And the first thing that stands out in Catan is that resource generation has a random component that must be managed. The island of Catan is shown to us as a board of hexagonal tiles, each providing one of the five types of resources, namely, wool, lumber, brick, grain, and ore. And on these tiles, a token with a numerical value between 2 and 12 will be placed at the beginning of the game (there are two tokens of each value).

Players will build settlements (which they can upgrade to cities) on the vertices of these tiles, potentially reaching one, two, or three tiles (depending on how many are connected through that vertex). This way, when a tile is activated, all those players with buildings or cities on their vertices will obtain resources of the type associated with that tile.

And how are the tiles activated? Well, with something as simple as rolling a pair of six-sided dice whose values are added together. If you know games like Can’t Stop (its tocho-review here), you will already know that the probabilities of getting a seven are much higher than those of getting a two or a twelve.

In this way, regardless of who the active player is, all players will receive resources. Resources that you will want to manage wisely, as there is a risk of losing them before using them due to the robber. I just told you that the most probable value to get is seven, right? Well, there is no tile with the number seven assigned, but rather the seven allows the active player to move a robber onto a tile, blocking its production and, in addition, allowing them to steal a resource from one of the players who has a settlement or a city on any of the vertices of that tile.

But furthermore, the detonation of this event will affect all players who have more than seven resource cards in their hand, who will be forced to discard half of them, rounding down. That is why in Catan you have to be very lively and not rest on your laurels, because you can find yourself in situations where, even if you are not above this limit, in the course of the rivals’ turns we end up accumulating resources exceeding this threshold, remaining exposed to danger.

In this way, players will resolve turns trying to gather the necessary resources to be able to build something. Players already start with two settlements on the board, each of them with a road with which to start expanding their routes, since to be able to build new settlements it will be necessary to reach, with these roads, vertices that are at least two edges away from any other settlement.

But you can also get development cards (with diverse effects) or upgrade settlements to cities, which will provide double the resources as settlements when the tiles that converge at the vertex where said city is located are activated.

Around all this develops a race dynamic in which players compete to be the first to reach or surpass ten victory points, automatically becoming the winner. Points that are obtained with settlements and cities (1 and 2 points respectively) and the two elements that provide virtual points, that is, the longest road (you need to create a path of at least five roads to claim it) and the largest army (you need to have played at least three knights to claim it).

I say they are virtual because if any other player managed to surpass the number of roads forming an uninterrupted path or the number of knights, they will snatch the corresponding tile, setting a new bar, so that the player who held it loses the two points they had counted on until that moment, and the new owner of the tile starts to gain them.

And finally, and probably most importantly, it is time to talk about negotiation. Because everything we have commented on so far is the basis for one of the most polarizing mechanics in the world of board games (if not the most). And it is that, even if we place our settlements optimally, having access to all resources with very probable values in the dice rolls, in the end, luck is fickle.

Surely you have heard the warning they issue whenever financial products are announced that says “past performance does not guarantee future results.” Well, here more or less the same thing happens. No matter how much a six or an eight are more likely than a two or a twelve, surely many of you have lived through games in which players have started to chain rolls of values at the extremes of the ranges, driving that analytical player who made decisions in the optimal way to despair, but in the end, they don’t have the resources they need in their hand. Or when they have them, they find themselves above the limit and the robber comes into action.

That is where the negotiation capacity of the players comes in. On more than one occasion we will find ourselves with three or four resources of the same type because a certain type of tile has been activated several times. We will always have the trade of four resources for one we want.

A trade that establishes a maximum price, so players can tempt others by offering two or three resources for the one they need, and which avoids the negotiation processes from dragging on uncontrollably, since there is not much room for maneuver. Even more so if players connect to ports that allow reducing the exchange rate, making it harder to negotiate with them to get that resource they are overflowing with.

Well, I think with everything I have said we have well surveyed what Catan offers to players. It’s time to talk a bit about sensations. And we will start with the most controversial aspect within the world of eurogames, which is the impact of luck. It may be that for many of you that dice rolls have so much impact on a game of this type might seem counterproductive.

But the reality is that the moment of rolling the dice is a peak of tension and hope. You can experience euphoria upon seeing that the number that allows activating your settlements comes out, filling your hand with resources, contrasting with the frustration that luck is elusive roll after roll. This roller coaster of emotions is one of the keys to its success, keeping all players attentive to the result, even on others’ turns.

Surely if you have been in the scene for many years, this impact of luck may generate some rejection, but I think it is the key to the popularity of Catan, since, for many, their first experience with modern board games is Klaus Teuber’s design, coming from games where luck has a much greater impact, so, in a way, it feels familiar. A game without luck or with very little luck could just as easily repel this type of player.

That dependence on luck fuels another constant sensation: the urgency to trade. He who has no wool, begs for it. He who accumulates brick, offers it as if it were gold. Negotiation, that highly polarizing mechanic, creates palpable tension at the table. You feel the satisfaction of closing a brilliant deal, or the helplessness of seeing your rivals refuse to give up that key resource that would give you the victory, forcing you to resort to the inefficient barter of four resources.

And of course, there is the satisfaction of building. There is something intrinsically rewarding in seeing your small network of roads and settlements expand across the board, following your initial plan. But along with that lives the rage when a rival steals your longest road, or the desperation of rolling a 7 just when you have nine cards in your hand.

For all this, Catan has been one of the gateways to the world of modern board games along with Carcassonne (its tocho-review here) and Ticket to Ride (its tocho-review here). Those who know me will already know that these last two for me are a better proposal for a first experience because the luck is less unfair (players can manage it) and the level of interaction is perhaps more direct.

But the truth is that Catan has also earned its place in history. It is more group-dependent, it is more luck-based, it has an uncertain duration due to the race dynamic. But all in all, it is a game that is capable of trapping players of all kinds, so denying its value would be foolish. And, of the three, it is the only one that introduces resource management as a key element of the game.

If you ask me when I would recommend Catan as a first experience, it would be when you have a limited group in which there is a lot of trust between the players so that negotiation becomes the protagonist of the game. A game of Catan with everyone silent, waiting to get the resources via rolls or ruinous trades so as not to yield a single resource, can turn out to be soporific.

Where Catan does lose out compared to the mentioned games is regarding scalability. The optimal configuration, and I would say almost mandatory, is four players. With three players there is less room for maneuver and negotiation, so the impact of luck is relatively increased.

Regarding replayability, it will depend a lot on how the game fits into the group. This is a platitude because we could apply it to any game, but you understand me. Catan is a game that has to be liked by the whole group for the experience to be satisfactory. And of course, having a group of four people who know the game and feel comfortable with the dynamics it proposes is not so simple. That’s why I think it is more difficult to get to the table than Carcassonne or Ticket to Ride.

Let’s move on to production, another aspect where Catan falls short. It is true that in the current editions we have plastic pieces with quite a lot of detail for settlements, cities, and roads. The cards for resources and developments are not bad, with adequate weight, smooth texture, and improvable elastic response. It would be advisable to sleeve the resources because they are handled quite a bit. Where it leaves much to be desired is in the cardboard elements, which show poor thickness and pressing. Above all, you have to be careful when assembling the frames, because it is easy for them to break. And the rulebook is structured in a somewhat peculiar way, with two manuals, one with a basic guide and another as a reference manual. It is true that when you know how to play, the reference manual is super practical, but for learning to play, it is somewhat confusing.

Visually, we have had many illustrators involved throughout the history of Catan. But the truth is that no version has been particularly memorable. It is true that the cover is already an icon in the world of modern board games, but it has reached this status more for what the game means than for its attractiveness.

And let’s wrap this up. Catan is a fundamental work that combines resource management with a constant need for trade between players. The correct management of the initial placement, the urgency to expand the network, and the high level of interaction through negotiation allow for games that, when luck is on your side, are tremendously exciting and dynamic. Although it is true that the impact of luck can end up blocking a player if they are not capable of negotiating with their rivals. It is a design that, despite carrying imperfections and being highly group-dependent, remains an unavoidable milestone in the world of board games that, in general, usually turns out to be quite entertaining. For all this, I give it a…