If you have never played a game like this, it is a little hard to explain. There are elements of games like Risk, Monopoly, Poker, Gin, Bridge, Craps, Go Fish (no kidding!) and several other games all rolled up into one intense fun game.
Before I get into describing the game, I'd like to describe the most influential, unique part of this game - while you are 'competing' against the other players, all the players must cooperate in order for someone to win. If you wall yourself off and decide not to cooperate, you will most certainly end up a loser. For this reason, the game is a very 'social' experience.
The game board: Most board games that people play, especially those that are 'social', are ones where the board is fixed, and the players just go around in repetitive circles (think Monopoly, and even Trivial Pursuit). Settlers is different, kind of like Risk, in that the board is just the 'world' in which the game happens - and it is even more dynamic than Risk in that the board itself is made of pieces that you have to assemble - in some variations shuffling before you lay them down, so that you have a random board every game.
The game objective: BE the first players to reach a certain number of points by exploring the world, building roads, settlements, and cities. You need the other players help to build these things, but you cannot build near each other. You compete with the other players for position and resources.
The game play. The players take turns rolling the dice and getting 'resources' that you use to build things. Ore, Brick, Wheat, Sheep, and Wood are used to build things. The catch is that each player is getting these things in different quantities based on where they have settlements and the numbers that come up on the dice. On each players turn, the dice are rolled, all the players get their resources, then the current player 'trades' with them and builds stuff.
Sounds pretty simple, and at the surface, it is. The bartering that comes out of the game can be really complex though - we often have to make rules limiting the complexity, such as 'no futures trading! and 'no, you cannot make an arrangement to share your roads with another player'. There are a zillion variations of rules available on the internet too, just by searching. My favorite is a variant for 2 couples, where everyone sits as if they are playing Bridge, and you have some 'special' trading rules with your spouse.
If you like this game, there are also 'expansion' sets available. One I consider a necessity is 'seafarers' of Catan, which adds the notion of ships, islands, and other trading routes to the game. the 6 person expansion is also a must-have.
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