Whether you are a seasoned pro or new to the game, Catan can be an exciting and fun experience. This guide is designed to help players of any skill level learn how to play Catan! It will cover everything from set up to victory conditions.
Vincere (o perdere) la partita
To win the game you must be the first player to reach ten victory points.
Players may also choose to instead play until any one player has at least three more than each other player, making them the winner of that round. This is called a “timed” or “sudden death” game and it’s most commonly used when playing with new players.
In order to win, a player must build settlements and cities on resource-producing land tiles. These resources can then be used to trade with other players in the game or purchase cards that award victory points for certain accomplishments.
In addition, if a player has connected any roads between their cities and towns – regardless of where those roads are located – he/she also gets two additional knights added at the end of his/her turn. Knights may not be counted more than once per round by multiple players. For example: If another player had built all three types of road connections leading back towards his own capital, that player would only get the two extra knights for one of those roads and not all three.
Catan Board Game
- Fun game with countless replay opportunities
- It is a social game that provides plenty of opportunities for player interaction
Overview of Tiles
There are twenty-two different types of tiles in the game. Each tile shows a specific resource on it, with numbers ranging from one to six showing how many resources that land produces for players who have built there. For example, A forest tile will produce two wood per turn if you’ve built a city or settlement there – whereas an ore-producing mountain would provide four iron per turn.
Resources are not limited to just these 22 locations, however! Any time any player trades another player three cards of the same type (for example – all three mountains) they can immediately place them back down and take control over those lands as their own personal property even though no road has been built leading out towards either capital yet. This is called “robbing” a tile.
In addition to the 22 resource tiles, there are two special desert and water tiles that can be used as their own personal properties instead of a land resource providing location if you’ve built a settlement or city on them with no roads leading out from it yet – even though they do not produce any resources at all!
However, being able to take advantage of those semi-wilderness spaces early on can result in your victory much earlier than others who have chosen different strategic paths so keep this option in mind during every game!
Le fasi del gioco
During a player’s turn, there are different phases that must be completed before moving on to the next phase.
Trading With Other Players
During this phase, you may trade any of the resources listed on your tile placements or cards in hand (but not both at once!) with any player(s) around the table. If a resource is produced by more than one land type, you can choose which source to trade from as well – such as deciding between two different forests that produce wood each turn.
Some tiles also show gold coins placed on them instead of specific resources; these are considered wild and can be traded for whatever their owner chooses during this time! They cannot however be used directly towards buying development cards unless they have been ‘converted’ into regular resources first using a road/city connection space else before being able to do so.
Building Roads
This is an integral part of the game as it allows players to expand their territories and also increases a road’s respective resource production if built on them – which then decreases other players’ costs for purchasing cards! However, you cannot build more than two roads leading out from anyone settlement or city space towards either capital during your turn so choose wisely when deciding where to place these down depending upon what resources you need at that time.
One final note about building roads; each new connection has its own “building cost” associated with it shown within black triangles on the edge of all road tiles. This number will always be an increased amount depending on how many roads are already leading out from its connected land space – but this is offset by increasing your resource production if built on top of a tile that produces more than one type!
Playing Development Cards
You may only do this during your turn at any point after you have either traded or built new things unless another player has played a card against you forcing you to first reveal some hidden information about yourself before doing so. Development cards represent various useful abilities and effects such as allowing their owner to trade resources for free with other players instead; building multiple roads in one go; drawing extra hand cards each turn etc…
The drawback though is that buying one of these development cards will cost an increased amount of resources depending on how many other players already have it in their possession!
Players Who Are Unable to Do Anything
If for whatever reason a player does not wish (or cannot) carry out either phase of their turn then they must discard ALL remaining hand cards and pass play onto the next person around the table, starting again from step one. This can sometimes be useful tactics when trying to make trades using less favorable items but remember; if all players end up doing this consecutively each turn then the game will end automatically without any other player having a chance to make their move!
The Robber
This is another important aspect of the game that players must be aware of throughout. Whenever someone rolls either seven or eleven on one die during this phase, they are allowed to steal resources from each adjacent land tile according to how many symbols match up along its borders – similar in some ways to monopoly‘s ‘chance’ cards but sometimes not quite as random depending upon which dice roll was made!
However, it can also only happen if there are at least three different resource types present among these tiles, and even so; you cannot steal more than four total pieces regardless of how well your try using both six-sided dice together instead. This action can also cause roads to be broken which will then reduce their respective resource production and/or costs to build new ones in future turns!
Impostazione del gioco
The game can be played with up to four players which means there will always be a total of seven ‘capital’ tiles out on the table at any given point, arranged in their own specific pattern.
With only two players, the game is played in much the same way as before but with some slight modifications to make it slightly easier. Firstly, each player will take a turn in the rotation for a total of six times instead – meaning they must roll at least seven again on any one dice during this time or pass play onto their opponent! Secondly, you will also be given two ‘false’ roads instead of just one which you must build upon your turn before adding the other normal roads to their respective tiles.
Step One: Resource Production
The first step in every player’s turn is to collect resources. At the beginning of each round, anyone token from each chosen set (of which there are three) will be placed randomly face down on top of its matching capital tile; once all players have finished their respective turns however this number will then increase by as many as possible depending upon how many roads you’ve built leading out towards them! Each new settlement/city can produce up to two tokens per road that leads into it and these additional pieces do not affect those already existing among other settlements or cities elsewhere across the board – they simply add more potential production spaces for future rounds and nothing else.
Step Two: Building Settlements & Cities
To do this the owning player must first place one of his hand cards facedown onto any empty intersection space that is not already connected by another road leading out towards either capital – but remember; you cannot build more than two such connections at once between any two of your settlements or cities! After doing so they must now roll for each individual ‘road’ type leading out from the newly built settlement/city, adding any resource symbols on these cards to those already rolled depending upon how many intersections are currently showing them.
If after this point there is still a single die that matches up with one or more intersection spaces remaining then you may continue building road pieces until no such matching dice remain at which time all players will have finished their turns and another round shall begin again!
Step Three: Trading & Building City Improvements
At this point you are allowed to trade with any other player, using either the currency tokens included in the game or anything else that may be considered mutually acceptable.
All trades must go through each individual involved one after another rather than simultaneously between two separate people, however; much like how they do in monopoly’s ‘free parking‘ square except now it is both possible for others to block your path by putting down an offer of their own as well as being required should someone try making a deal without offering you something first but still want whatever was just offered up by yet another party instead.
The game continues like this with players alternating turns much as they do during many other board games, building up their civilizations over time to create ever-larger networks between all three of these resource production centers by means of roads leading out from both sides towards every new location where somebody else happens to settle down next. Whenever someone rolls doubles on two dice however no matter what number is shown if neither seven nor eleven then play will immediately move onto the next round without them having a chance to take any further actions!
Step Four: Ending the Game and Winning
If at some point after rolling both dice there are five different number symbols visible among all three of these resource production centers then this marks that specific time in which one player may now use their turn towards trying to win the game by claiming either two ore, wheat or wood pieces for themselves. Should they choose instead opt not to do so, however; play shall immediately move onto the next person’s turn until someone eventually decides upon taking advantage of such an opportunity but only once it has been offered up!
In effect this means if nobody ends up choosing to try winning before another round begins again with everyone rolling two standard six-sided dice together along with the one included in this game then whoever ends up with two ore, wheat or wood pieces at their disposal shall win automatically without anyone else having much of a say otherwise!
Step Five: End Game Scoring & Conclusion
At last, when somebody does finally manage getting rid of every single card in their hands during play there is now only one final step left before determining who wins; which consists entirely of comparing all three resource production centers and seeing how many points each player has accumulated over time as well as by means of whatever bonus features they may have obtained from buying either development cards or through building certain improvements.
Whoever has accumulated more points at this stage wins immediately, but if everyone manages to get exactly twenty-five then it reverts back to determine who would have gone first had they not already done so earlier on in comparison instead.
Step Six: A Few Other Things To Note About Catan
Being that this game was released quite some time ago now however what we know hasn’t really changed much since then is that it comes with everything you’ll need to get started. That means the only thing left for players after opening up this game’s box shall be setting up all of their pieces on the included board; including placing any city or settlement/city improvement cards into both hands each, rolling two dice, and starting off by determining who will go first through whichever method they choose (and if nobody else knows what this might end up meaning simply roll one standard six-sided die together along with your own included in-game die).
Since this game is so incredibly popular and there are also several different versions of it, many people have decided to try including a few more pieces into the box by purchasing one or even all three of its extensions. These usually end up being either seafarers for those who want to play with rules from Catan: Seafarers instead as well as those who want to try including a few more twists and turns into the game, or barbarians for those preferring this version of Catan which includes thieves as well as other new pieces that change how certain aspects of gameplay work.
The best way to learn how to play Catan however is still just as easy even so long afterward! Simply read over whatever rules haven’t already been covered here within today’s blog post content while trying to take advantage of any opportunity to get your hands on a copy for yourself!