Customer Reviews

Settlers Of Canaan

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have enjoyed Settlers of Cataan for many years, and when I became Youth Minister at my church, one of the first things I bought was this game. It is much like the originial Settlers of Cataan series, but is set in Biblical Israel. Consequently, the development cards are scripturally themed, and instead of having a robber steal cards, a plague (which can be sent away by priests) blocks other players' resouces.
Although it can seem difficult to learn at first, it is actually easy to pick up once you begin playing, as it is a very intuitive game. Now that the youth group knows how to play, we can usually play a game in about an hour, or a little more. A minor drawback is that it only has pieces for four players, but the board is large enough to accomdate more, so if you are up to making or improvising more pieces, five or six (or possibly more) can play.
For those already familar with the Settlers series, this game has a large fixed board, with the five familiar resources and all the old harbour types, as well as one space representing a copper mine (much like the gold mines of Seafarers) that produces any resource the owner desires. There are more types of development cards, and players can also gain victory points by building stones for Jerusalem (for one brick and one ore), thus contributing to Solomon's temple. Whoever adds the most stones gets two extra victory points and can trade one resource at 2:1 (as at a specialty harbour). To make up for this extra source of victory points, the game is played to twelve points instead of ten.
If you already own Settlers, this game does not have much new, but it is still fun and a nice activity for church groups. If you do not own any form of Settlers, but enjoy building games with a nice social aspect, this is a great game for you.

Another great addition to the Settlers of Catan family of games. Many players will only be familiar with the original Settlers of Catan and some of its expansions where the board is made up of hexagonal tiles that change with each play of the game. But this one is much closer to the Historical Scenario Catan sets (particularly The Great Pyramid and The Great Wall).

Players settle areas of a map and begin gathering resources from their surrounding lands. Resources are used to expand by building roads and other settlements as well as improving existing settlements.

Each player represents one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and is trying to become the most successful tribe. This is done in two ways. One is by expanding as mentioned above. The other is by contributing to the building of the Great Temple. The raider/robber/barbarians have been replaced by the more biblical plagues (you need priests to stop these instead of the original knights).

Fun play and a good scenario make this a great game. It is a pleasure to find such an entertaining game set in the Old Testament.

My brother-in-law played it at a friend's house, and then he bought a copy. My wife and I were over once and played it and we became hooked just like him. So now we bought it and are playing it with our friends.

It's an intelligent game, where knowing arcane facts and being able to draw with your eyes closed won't help you any. You have to plan, negotiate, and see what your opponents are doing. The intital curve is rough, but I think it's much easier to explain game as it goes on than to expect someone to absorb it all at once.

The game says it's for 2-4 players, but the two-player game isn't all that great -- the rules need a little tweaking there. You also need a big table to keep all the cards, etc. The pieces are small and could be easily lost (especially the roads). But, hey, it's an adult game, not for the kids.

As far as the Christian theme . . . yeah, it's great and accurate, but it doesn't take away from the gameplay at all.

I think this is a perfect game for family game night if your children are older (junior high on up). It's also a great after-dinner game when friends are over.

This game is amazing. Every player stays tight in the game till the last second the winner comes out. The winner is struggling as hard as the rest of the losers during the entire game. Everyone trade with everyone else. Unlike Monopoly which the winner takes all, this game shows you how important to trade with each other to win the game. Luck is only a third of reason to win the game, the other two thirds is the stratigy. My wife and I get together with another couple everyweek and all of us are having so much fun with it, we might as well donate all other boardgames we have.

This is part Risk, Monopoly, but so much better. We never tire of playing Settlers and have enjoyed many pleasurable "game nights" with our adult friends over this game. The goal is to expand and enrich your settlements via roads, settlements, cities and ports. You do so by collecting and trading resource cards. There are several wild cards built into the game that keep it from becoming predictable. This game can last hours and the initial learning curve is somewhat high, but it's easy enough to explain to others once you get the hang of it. This a very interesting game, and I highly recommend it.

As an addict of Settlers of Catan, I bought Settlers of Canaan for my 3 nephews. They all are addicted to it now, as well...I was disappointed that this game didn't have the individual resource pieces to be shuffled and layed out on the game board, but I think its actually good for young kids to have a static board...plus, the game isn't as long. I have had a great time playing with my nephews and I highly recommend Settlers of Canaan to anyone looking for a unique game!

I got this game after having already played (and loved) Settlers of Catan. This is a wonderful game that combines the fun of Settlers of Catan with application to the holy land.
Some limitations on the game are: no expansions, only 4 players, can't change hex placement or values.

To enhance the fun of the game I added a new game piece, the Ark of the Covenant. I created it using a small piece of foam covered in tin foil and 2 toothpicks. The way the Ark functions within the game is similar to the plague (which I have renamed the Pagan Idol). When a 7 is rolled the player has the option of moving either the Ark or the Idol, but not both. The Idol functions just like normal as described in the rules. The Ark placed on a hex gives the players with settlements 1 additional resource when that number is rolled. If the Ark and the Idol are placed in the same hex the players with settlements must give up a resource when that number is rolled (similar to how the Philistines were cursed when they had the Ark). When a player rolls a 7 and moves the Ark they receive that resource of the hex from the bank.

Hope you enjoy this game as much as my family and I do!

Item received as described in timely manner. Would buy from seller again. Bought as gift and little brother loves it. Intellectually stimulating.

I have only played it 3 times and I already love it. it was difficult at first, but once you get it, it is very fun. I will hopefully be taking this on every vacation I take.

We gave our son this game for Christmas and the family had hours of fun playing. I would highly recommend this game.