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WARNING:
CHOKING HAZARD -- Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs. |
Product Details
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Product Description
Amazon.com
 The game map changes every time for an endless variety of play. View larger. |
 Settlers of Catan engages both children and adults, garnering best-seller status in both Germany and the US. View larger. |
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The game rules and almanac booklet sets out four pages of guidelines for getting started. Don't worry, the rules are straightforward and the four pages include plenty of illustrations. There's a starting map that shows a well-balanced set-up for beginners to follow and directions that allow more advanced players to lay out the map of the island at random. You'll have to pop the die-cut components of the game out of their cardboard holders before you play your first game.
The almanac portion of the booklet is laid out alphabetically, so while playing you can find answers to specific questions quickly. Useful entries remind you exactly what role pieces like the robber play, how actions like maritime trade work, and how to set up the board or finish the game.
Exploring and Developing Catan
The board consists of 19 terrain hexes surrounded by the ocean. Each type of terrain produces a different type of resource: brick, wool, ore, grain or lumber. There's also a desert hex that produces no resources. As the game progresses, players use resources to build roads along the edges of these hexes and settlements or cities on the intersections where three hexes meet. Each player begins the game with two settlements and two roads.
Each player's roll of the dice causes certain hexes to produce resources, which you collect if you have a settlement on one of them. On your turn, you'll use various combinations of the resources you've acquired to build new roads and settlements, upgrade settlements to cities, or purchase development cards. The ability to trade resources with other players adds a new level of strategy and ensures that the game includes lots of interaction between players. You can also trade without worrying about other players using an unfavorable maritime trade rate. Elements including a robber piece that lets you steal from other players and a variety of development cards add intrigue to the game.
The objective of The Settlers of Catan is to be the first one who collects 10 victory points. Each settlement is worth one victory point and each city is worth two victory points. You can also earn victory points by holding the "Longest Road" card, the "Largest Army" card, or special victory point development cards.
Best-Selling Game of the Year
It's easy to see why The Settlers of Catan has been recognized as a best-selling Game of the Year in both Germany and the U. S. We found this game to be fun and engaging for both children and adults, and the variable nature of the playing field really made us want to play again and again. When we started pausing to contemplate our opponents' strategy and factoring the probability of different dice rolls into our moves, the game sometimes took longer than expected, but we were so engrossed we didn't even notice until it was all over.
Due to the widespread popularity of the original game, several expansion sets (sold separately) are available that allow you to explore new aspects of the game or add more players. The only downside to this game is that you need to have either three or four players to play, so it's great that expansion sets are available that will allow you to add players.
What's in the Box
Six sea frame pieces, 19 terrain hexes, nine harbor pieces, 18 circular number tokens, 126 game cards, 16 cities, 20 settlements, 60 roads, two dice, a robber and a rules and almanac booklet.
Product Description
Customer Reviews
The updated graphics are nice and colorful but take a bit of getting use to if you regularly play with an older edition.
The box has a vacu-formed type insert designed to hold all the pieces and keep everything neat.
All-in-all a nice upgrade to the 3rd edition.
It's a simple sounding premise: You gather resources in order to build roads and settlements to earn points.
However, there is a wonderful randomness which lends complexity to the game as the layout of the game board tiles differs with each play right down to the number on the dice needed to harvest a resource from a given tile. This makes *every* game unique. Strategy comes into play as you must determine the best location for your settlements and roads to get maximum value/points.
If you've never played Settlers, find someone who has a copy and give it a try. If no one you know owns a copy, go to your local comic shop. Odds are someone there will have a copy readily available and delight in teaching the game to a new player! It's easy to learn, difficult to master, and quick to play with a typical game lasting only an hour or less.
This is one of the truly classic games and belongs on the shelf of anyone who enjoys board gaming.
The big point to take away about this new edition of the game is that, without changing any rules, the edition includes some very handy extra pieces, esp. an interlocking set of holders to fit the tiles into, which helps prevent incidental dislocations of the pieces on the board (so common with the older edition). For those of you who have the Seafarers of Catan extension, the holding tiles are much those included in that extension (except shaped to fit the Settlers hex board).
Pros:
*There is enough strategy for most gamers
*There is some luck which can make things interesting. If you want to
minimize the luck factor then use 12-sided dice
*Great interaction as you get to trade and barter with other players
(even when it is not your turn.) Kids can definitely learn the concept
of re-investing in your assets and great negotiation skills.
*You can change the boardgame set up everytime so you get a different
game everytime.
*There are 2 expansions (seafarers & Cities & Knights) & other add-ons to
change up the game to continue to make the game new and interesting.
*There are extensions that expand the game to 6 players.
*Also, there are ways to "gang up" on the leader, so there are many games
where virtualy every player will be close to winning which makes it more
fun than when one player blows out everyone every game.
Cons:
*Setting up the board and clean up can be a little tedious if you are not
organized.
*purchasing the game, its 2 expansions and each corrsponding 5-6
extension can be a bit pricey. However, my experience is that the price
is worth it because you play this game so many time compared to other
games that may be cheaper.
Overall, this game is fun and can be re-played countless times due to the variable game set up. Well worth the money.
I didn't like that the pieces (roads, settlements, cities) are different than in the game sold in Europe. Read more
