Catan box cover
Collect and trade resources to build up the island of Catan in this modern classic. (Description from BoardGameGeek)

Overview

Author: Klaus Teuber
Year: 1995
Players: 3-4
Time: 60 min
Mechanics: Dice Rolling, Trading, Network and Route Building

Description

In this game, you will roll dice, collect resources, trade with other players, grow your settlement until your territory becomes the largest and most glorious in Catan!

Play Catan Online! Official Game Rules

Goal

Be the first player to acquire 10 victory points on your turn!

Ways to score victory points:

SETUP

  1. One player creates a game and shares the game room link.
  2. Join the newly created designated room.
  3. Each player begins the game by placing one settlement and one connecting road, then another settlement and another connecting road in reverse turn order.
  4. Receive the resources produced by the terrain hexes bordering your second settlement.

GAMEPLAY

On your turn, you will roll two dice. The number rolled determines which terrain hexes produce resources for all players.

Terrain types and the resources they produce
Terrain types and the resources they produce

Then, you can build roads, settlements, and cities, buy development cards, or trade with other players.

Produce Resource

Building settlements and cities produce resources. Resources are produced when any player does a dice roll. Whomever has a settlement or a city in the border of the dice number will receive the resource shown in the tile. Settlements produce 1 resource, cities produce 2 resources.

The dots (pips) below the numbers represent the likelihood of the number being rolled. Statistically, 6 and 8 are more likely to be rolled than 5 and 9, for instance.

An example turn
An example turn

In this example, a 10 was rolled. Yellow has one city bordering the “10” pasture and two cities bordering the “10” mountain, so they would receive 2 wools and 4 ores. Red has one city and one settlement bordering the “10” pasture, so they would receive 3 wools.

Rolling 7 & Robber

When a player rolls a 7, they get to place the robber on any tile they wish and take a random resource card from a player with a bordering settlement or city. The Robber will cover the number and prevent resource production on that tile. Also, players who have more than 7 cards in hand when a robber is rolled have to discard half (rounded down) of their resources cards to the bank.

Use Resources

Resources can be used to build Road, Settlement, City, and buy Development Card.

Resources costs for buying and building
Resources costs for buying and building

Building rules:

Development Cards (25)

Development cards cannot be traded or stolen. You may only play 1 development card during your turn. You may not play a card that you bought during the same turn. Victory point cards are only revealed when the game is over, either you or an opponent reaches 10 or more victory points and declares victory.

Trade

You can trade with other players, but you can only propose trades during your turns. On other players’ turns, you can, however, accept or decline a trade they offer to you.

Bank: You can give 4 of the same type of resource card to obtain 1 of any other type.

Bank with Ports: If you have a settlement or city near a port, you can use that port’s specialty. If you have 3:1 it means that you can trade 3 of the same type of card to obtain 1 of any other type. If you have 2:1, then you can trade 2 of the corresponding type to obtain 1 of any other card.

Longest Road

The player with the longest contiguous road earns 2 victory points. A minimum of 5 consecutive roads need to be placed in order to get this bonus. The Longest Road may be overtaken when another player builds a longer road.

Largest Army

The player to use the most amount of Knight cards earns 2 victory points. A minimum of 3 Knight cards needs to be used in order to get this bonus. The largest army may be overtaken when another player builds a larger army.

GAME END

The player who acquires 10 victory points on their turn wins the game.