Anyone play Settlers of Catan?

[Cakemeister]

This game is highly regarded by reviewers and made the Games Magazine hall of fame.

I'm looking for a board game for the family (me, the wife, and two college-age kids) that will be entertaining but doesn't require the mind of Stephen Hawking to play, and doesn't take as long to play as Monopoly.

Worth the expense, or not?

[ErikRuud]

It is supposed to be good, but I don't have it yet.  I did try out a PC version for about an hour one day. I didn't quite get all of the rules in that short period, but it wasn't to difficult.

I do play Carcassonne which is another tile based game.  My daughter likes it as well.

[Vigo]

Catan is an excellent game. I would highly recommend it. I have introduced the game to about 8 people to date, and they all loved the game. While the box looks about as boring as dirt, its actually really fun.



 It takes about 10-15 minutes to learn, and about 2 hours to complete a game. So I would say this meets your criteria. The game is for 3-4 players, but you can buy a 5-6 player expansion for pretty cheap.

After playing it, you will see that the game is very heavily based on trading goods and land property, which is why it is often compared to monopoly. The key difference is that Catan does these elements right. The people actually want and need to trade. There is also no such thing as owning the "best" property. A property that may seem good in the beginning of the game may not be so hot later in the game. The game is strategic, but does not require heavy thought like chess would. It requires more thought than a game of monopoly, because you have a choice in what you do.

The game also uses changeable hex tiles, so the dynamics change every game if you want to change the setup, you can just shuffle around the board.

A few warnings about this game though:

1) It is a gateway game. It has expansion sets and you will be tempted to buy them. You can enjoy the original game fully but the expansions do add some very cool elements to the game.

2) There is still dice luck involved. This is a big turn off to many people if the dice seem to play favorites. The nice thing is that even if the dice don't go your way, you can still turn the game around with shrewd trading or building.

You can play the base of Catan on their webpage for free if you want to try the game:

http://www.catan.com

Click the "play" button on the left of the screen. There is also an online tutorial on the website as well.
 

EDIT: I just wanted to add that the base game can easily be played in 90 minutes, after everyone is used to the game, and if you don't have the tv going in the background like I do.

[ErikRuud]

A few warnings about this game though:

1) It is a gateway game. It has expansion sets and you will be tempted to buy them. You can enjoy the original game fully but the expansions do add some very cool elements to the game.

Or make your own, I happened across these a couple weeks ago.
3D Catan tiles
Catan the 3D version

[RayB]

It's ages 10 and up, so I wouldn't worry too much about needing to be as smart as Hawking.

[opt2not]

Catan is a great family game too. It has a slight bit of strategy, but mostly at the beginning when you are figuring out your initial settlements.

If you're looking for something with a bit more strategy, two other games that frequent our game table is Ticket to Ride, and Puerto Rico.  Both great, highly rated, award winning games.

[Mikezilla]

Hm. I watched the online tutorial for that game, and they didnt really explain everything in the depth that I wanted. I dont know if I would get it or not.

[Vigo]

The game in essence is pretty simple, the game might not be everybody's top game choice, but it is a great game for playing with both people who are into board games, and for people who don't play many board games.

I can't say I'm the best judge on how good the tutorial is, I learned the game from a friend, but I can give the dumbed down version of the rules, and hopefully it will give a clear cut picture of what the game is. In advance, I would like to point out that I am not using the official terminology in my explanation though.

I have a picture of the board below after it is set up. There are different land types and numbers on them. the game starts by people taking turns placing 2 settlements on the intersections of the board, and they also place roads next to each of their settlements.

The different land types reward different resources. The dice are rolled by the player whose turn is up, and whatever is number is rolled is rewarded to the player. In this case, if a 9 is rolled, the orange and blue player get a wheat card each, and the red player gets a ore card, because the they have settlements next to those land types with a 9 on them.

Players use the resource cards to buy things. (see the cost card in the pic) If they don't have the right resources, they can trade with others for them. You can build more settlements, but settlements must be connected by two or more of your roads.  More settlements = more resources. You can also upgrade settlements to cities which means you get double resources awarded. These are also worth victory points, if you have 7 victory points, you win. You can also get victory points for getting things like longest road. If you had 2 cities (worth 2 VP each) and 2 settlement (worth 1 VP), that would mean you have 6 victory points.

Developement cards are like chance cards, they do all sorts of things.

The robber is a piece that you get to move when you roll a 7, you can place the robber on a spot to keep it from producing resources, and steal a resource card from someone when you play it.



Hope that is a pretty clear set of simplified rules.   Might only further confuse everybody though....

[Cakemeister]

That online tutorial was cool.

I'm not sure I understand the purpose of roads, or why the players built settlements where they did.

[Vigo]

Roads have a couple purposes. Generally, you need them to build new settlements. Any new settlement you build has to be connected to another by using your roads. You can also build roads to block off other players from building in a certain area, since only one road can occupy a spot at once. You can also get 2 victory points for building the longest road.

Also, you make choices on where to build mostly based off your odds of getting resources you need. Since statistically, you have a much better chance of rolling a 9 on the dice than a 2, an 9 tile is a much better choice. The little dots below the numbers on the board indicate how good the odds are of rolling that number. 8's and 6's are the best to be on. Also, any settlement must be placed at least two spaces away from any other settlement or city.

[Mikezilla]

Thanks for that Vigo. I appreciate it, it clears things up a bit. How do you determine WHEN someone has the longest road though, or when to award the points for it?

[Vigo]

Thanks for that Vigo. I appreciate it, it clears things up a bit. How do you determine WHEN someone has the longest road though, or when to award the points for it?

Longest road is awarded to the first person who has a road of 5 or more in length. The points are given right away, as the person with the longest road gets a card showing it. If someone else beats the longest road in length, then that second player gets the longest road card. He gets the two points, and the first player loses the 2 points.
 

[Mikezilla]

Ahhhh... Its all so clear now... 

[Dartful Dodger]

How do you attack another settlement?

[crashwg]

Just remembered seeing this Instructable for making a custom 3D board out of scrap plywood.  It's a little simple compared to some of the detailed sculpted boards out there but all the tiles have a flat large enough for the number tiles and the robber so it's got that going for it...  Plus I just like the simplicity.  I plan on making a similar one shortly after I get the game.    I have been playing the DS version 'till now.  There's a board game stand in my local mall for the season and I know from experience that they have great sales after the holidays so I'm holding out in hopes of getting it for $30 or less.

I'm a dumbass...  Yea, so here's the link: http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-3D-Settlers-of-Catan-board-from-scrap-plywo/

[VanillaGorilla]

If you like settlers, check out Ad Astra:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/38343/ad-astra

[Vigo]

Ad Astra is from Fantasy Flight Games? I might check it out. Everything from FFG is super high quality, but also often really expensive. I have Arkham Horror from FFG, great game if you don't mind playing for 3+ hours. I also hear Battlestar Galactica is a good game to get from them.

[crashwg]

So I've had the physical board game for a little while now and it's much more fun IRL.  I've got a question regarding the 5-6 player expansion that I'm hoping someone might be able to answer.  Can/should you play with less than 5 players without separating the expansion?  There have been times when the crowding on the board has been frustrating for the whole group and I was thinking the expansion might alleviate some of that problem.

[SithMaster]

So I've had the physical board game for a little while now and it's much more fun IRL.  I've got a question regarding the 5-6 player expansion that I'm hoping someone might be able to answer.  Can/should you play with less than 5 players without separating the expansion?  There have been times when the crowding on the board has been frustrating for the whole group and I was thinking the expansion might alleviate some of that problem.

So you want to use the expansion board with a smaller group of players?  I've never played the game before but it shouldn't be a problem.  I say shouldn't because the crowding might have been designed into the game but playing the game on a bigger board would only matter really if players had preselected starting positions.

For a better answer look here Expansion

[robertsig]

Just another "me too".  Settlers of Catan is my favorite board game.  Even my 7yr old loves it.

[eds1275]

Excellent game - actually just about anything published by Rio Grande is good.

[Dervacumen]

Great game.  I bought it two years ago and finally got everyone to play it over this holiday.  I would say it took us a lot longer than 15 minutes to learn - more like about 45, but that's because translating the rules in to the written word always seems cumbersome.
If someone were to explain it to you rather than try to learn by reading the instructions it would take like 10 minutes.

[shmokes]

It takes a lot longer than 15 minutes to learn.  You really need to learn by playing, but you won't really know how to play it until well into your first game, which sucks cos by the time everything has clicked you'll have done irreperable damage and be producing like nothing but wool and have no access to a wool port.  But it's an awesome game that you will want to play again and again.

I have it for the iPad.  The board is a bit small, but perfectly usable.  And a lot of things are automated, which is nice.  The only thing that works less well is trades because you have to pass the device back and forth among all the players.  Also you lose quite a bit of the social aspect with the iPad version.  Much cheaper, though.

I'll also second Ticket To Ride.  It was introduced to me about a week before Settlers, and by the same people.  They are easily the two best board games I have ever played.

[Mikezilla]

Anyone play Betrayal at House on the Hill? Got it for Christmas and I still havent played it yet damn it.

[SithMaster]

Anyone play Betrayal at House on the Hill? Got it for Christmas and I still havent played it yet damn it.

No time or no one to play with?  I bought Fortress America and Siege of the Citadel with the intent to play but my friends don't seem interested in these two.  We play Axis and Allies or Risk Godstorm and then don't touch a board game for like a year.

Apparently the 2010 edition has a printing error with the tiles.  If you haven't opened it do so and check while Wizards is still being cool about replacing them.

[Donkbaca]

I like betrayal at HOH,  but you need at least three people to play.

If you have an older printing there are errors, but you can find the corrections at the WoC website.

I love Avalon Hill games