Catan

01Game presentation

On Catan Island, you set up settlements, map roads and transform some settlements into cities. The land gives resources. You will have to exchange them and spend them to develop your small community.

This chapter follows the basic game and the Almanach 2020 with 3 or 4 players. It uses the common French names: clay, wood, wool, wheat and ore. Extensions, the official two-way variant and the 2025 edition are not described here. So don't add a fifth player with this one rule.

02Equipment requirements

• 19 tiles of land: 4 forests, 4 pastures, 4 fields, 3 hills, 3 mountains and 1 desert.
• 6 maritime frame elements, 9 port markers and 18 numbered tokens.
• 95 Resource cards: 19 of each type.
• 25 cards Development: 14 Knights, 2 Road construction, 2 Discovery, 2 Monopole and 5 Victory point.
• Each of the 4 colors has 15 roads, 5 settlements and 4 cities, for a total of 60 roads, 20 settlements and 16 cities.
• 2 dice with six faces, 1 thief, 4 cost cards and 2 reward cards: The longest route and the most powerful army.

You need the special hardware of the basic game. The drawings of the book explain situations; they do not replace the tray, cards and chips of your box.

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03The purpose of the game

Reach at least 10 win points during your own round. Your colonies and cities earn points. Rewards and some cards can complete your total. You start with two colonies, so already 2 points.

04Preparing the game

Building a variable island

1. Assemble the maritime frame by matching its markers. Mix the 19 terrains and place them inside in rows of 3, 4, 5, 4 and 3 tiles.
2. Keep the harbours in the frame or cover their nine locations with the mixed markers. A harbour must open on its two coastal intersections.
3. Place at random the 18 numbers, one on each plot except the desert. Two red numbers, 6 or 8, must never be on tiles nearby by one side; exchange chips if necessary. Place the thief in the desert.
4. Sort the resources into five common piles: it's the bank. Mix Development cards and put them up in the dark. Leave the two rewards aside.
5. Each one takes a full color and its cost sheet. At 3, place the fourth color.

Installing the first colonies

1. Each throws the two dice. The largest total begins; restart between people equally if necessary.
2. In a clockwise direction, each one lays for free 1 colony on a free intersection, then 1 road on a side that leaves this colony. An intersection is a corner where the land meets; a road is placed along one side.
3. Respect the distance now: no colony or city should be on a corner directly next to another, even in its own color.
4. Take a second tour in reverse order, so the last one poses his second colony and his second road immediately; the first one poses last. The second colony does not need to be connected to the first one.
5. After its second colony, each takes a resource per productive field that touches it. Don't give anything for the first. The player designated in stage 6 then starts the game; the game resumes in the clockwise direction.

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05How to play?

A. Launching the dice: everyone can receive

In your turn, throw the two dice and add them together. Except on a 7, the fields carrying this number produce. For each colony that touches a particular land, its owner receives 1 map of this land; a city receives 2. This applies to all players, even those whose turn it is not.

The forest gives wood; the hills, clay; the pastures, wool; the fields, wheat; the mountains, ore. The desert gives nothing. The land occupied by the thief produces nothing, even if its number goes out.

Keep your resources hidden, but honestly announce how many you have if someone asks. If the bank lacks a resource to pay for multiple players, no one receives this type of production. If only one person has to receive it, give it what is left, even if it does not cover everything. Other types are distributed normally.

B. On a 7th: discard, move, fly

There is no production. Each player who has more than 7 Resource cards returns half of it to the bank, rounded down. With 9 cards, we return 4. Development cards do not count. At exactly 7 cards, we do not defeat anything.

Then the player who launched moves the thief to another field, including possibly the desert. If there are settlements or cities around, he chooses one of their owners with resources and takes a Resource card at random. He only steals a total card. Without a victim with resources, he takes nothing.

Solve all this before the trade. The thief only blocks the production of the land where he is; he does not destroy any building.

C. Sharing resources

After production or on the 7th you can negotiate with others: "I propose a wood against a clay." Everyone can refuse. All exchanges between players must involve you during your turn: the others do not trade between them at that time.

We exchange resources for different types of resources. We don't give free cards and we don't sell buildings or Development cards. A promise for later does not require a future exchange.

You can also exchange with the bank: 4 identical cards for 1 resource of your choice. If you have a colony or city on a port, its rate applies: 3 identical cards against 1 port 3:1; 2 cards of type drawn against 1 to a specialized port 2:1. Owning a road near the port is not enough.

D. Building and purchasing

In the sequence of discovery held here, finish your exchanges before building. You can build several times if you can pay and if there are still the necessary coins in your reserve. The cards spent return to the bank.

A road must extend your network or leave one of your buildings. One side only receives a road. You cannot extend a road through a colony or other city.

A new colony must touch one of your roads and respect the distance: the immediately adjacent corners must remain without a building. The first two colonies are the only ones exempted from connection to the network.

A city replaces one of your settlements: put the little house back in your reserve. It is worth 2 points in total, not 3, and doubles local production. No city directly on an empty corner. Stocks of coins are limited; no sixth colony is made.

E. Using Development Cards

When you buy a card, take the top of the pile and keep it secret. You can't trade it. You can play at most one Action Development card per turn, only during your turn, including before launching the dice. A card purchased this round waits for a later turn, except the revealed Victory Points to win.

• Knight: Moves the thief and steals a resource as above. There is no waste of half of the hands, because you did not throw a 7. Keep the Knight played visible in front of you.
• Road construction: places up to 2 roads free of charge, within the limits of your stock and authorized placements. The second can extend the first one.
• Discovery: Take 2 resources available at the bank, identical or different.
• Monopole: announces a type of resource. Everyone else gives you all their cards of this type. The bank does not give anything.
• Winning point: keeps this card hidden. It is worth 1 point. Reveal your cards of this type only when they allow you to reach the victory during your turn; you can reveal several of them, even bought this round.

After their use, the action cards remain off the Stock. The Knights played remain visible to count the Army. The other effects are finished after their resolution.

F. The two awards

The longest route is worth 2 points. The first network that contains a continuous route of at least 5 routes gets it. Counts a single route without using the same route twice: does not add up all branches. A loop can count. An opposing colony crosses the route.

It is necessary to exceed the length of the holder to take the reward. In case of a cut, he keeps it if he remains tied at the top with at least 5 routes. Otherwise, she goes to the player alone in mind with at least 5 routes; if there are none, put it aside until a player fulfils the conditions alone.

The most powerful Army is also worth 2 points. The first person to play 3 Knights gets it. Another must have played strictly more Knights to take it. The cards still hidden do not count.

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06An example of a game

Alice plays with Bob and Chloe. She owns a colony against a forest bearing 8. Bob has a city against that same forest. Chloe throws 8: Alice takes 1 wood and Bob 2 wood, even if it's Chloe's turn.

In Alice's turn, her throw adds nothing to her hand. She has 2 woods, 1 clay, 1 wool and 1 ore. She wants to build a colony, but she lacks wheat. Bob accepts 1 of her wood for 1 wheat. Alice now owns wood, clay, wool and wheat: she pays them to the bank.

She lays her colony at the end of one of her roads, on a free corner with empty corners. She gains 1 point and will be able to produce on the land that touches this new corner. Her ore remains in her hand. She finishes her turn.

A little later, Bob throws 7. Alice has 9 resources and renders 4 of his choice; Chloe has 7 and does not return anything. Bob then moves the thief to the forest 8. He chooses Alice as a victim and takes him 1 resource at random. As long as the thief stays there, the 8 will no longer give the wood of this forest, for Alice as for Bob.

07How can I win?

The game ends immediately during your turn if you have at least 10 points. Count 1 per colony, 2 per city, 2 per reward held and 1 per card Winning point. A road alone and a Knight alone are worth no points.

If you reach 10 during another's turn thanks to a reward, wait for your own turn; you still have to have at least 10 at that time. You can win from the beginning of your turn, without obligation to throw the dice. There is no final turn for the others and no victory sharing. Revealing several Victory Points to conclude does not consume several action cards.

08Errors to avoid

• Receive only in its turn: each production concerns all neighbouring owners.
• Set up one colony next to another: keep a free corner between the buildings.
• Count 3 points for a city replacing a colony: it is worth 2 in total.
• Defaulting on a Knight: this only happens on the result 7 of the dice.
• Play immediately a purchased action: it must wait for a later turn.
• Spending resources without checking the place: pays only for a legal construction.

09Tips for starting

Initially, look for several types of resources and different numbers. The 6 and 8 often produce, but the place to expand also counts. Before an exchange, formulates a concrete project: "This clay will allow me to make a road."

Keep the cost sheets at hand. Before the first part, train together to recognize a corner, a side and an authorized colony placement.