Catan

Players: 3–4 players
Play time: 60–120 min
BGG rating: 7.1

In CATAN (formerly The Settlers of Catan), players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine which resources the island produces. Players build structures by 'spending' resources (sheep, wheat, wood, brick and ore) which are represented by the relevant resource cards; each land type, with the exception of the unproductive desert, produces a specific resource: hills produce brick, forests produce wood, mountains produce ore, fields produce wheat, and pastures produce sheep. Set-up includes randomly placing large hexagonal tiles (each depicting one of the five resource-producing terrain types--or the desert) in a honeycomb shape and surrounding them with water tiles, some of which contain ports of exchange. A number disk, the value of which will correspond to the roll of two 6-sided dice, are placed on each terrain tile. Each player is given two settlements (think: houses) and roads (sticks) which are placed on intersections and borders of the terrain tiles. Players collect a hand of resource cards based on which terrain tiles their last-placed settlement is adjacent to. A robber pawn is placed on the desert tile. A turn consists of rolling the dice, collecting resource cards based on this dice roll and the position of settlements (or upgraded cities—think: hotels), turning in resource cards (if possible and desired) for improvements, trading cards at a port, possibly playing a development card, or trading resource cards with other players. If the dice roll is a 7, the active player moves the robber to a new terrain tile and steals a resource card from another player who has a settlement adjacent to that tile. Points are accumulated by building settlements and cities, having the longest road or the largest army (from some of the development cards), and gathering certain development cards that simply award victory points. When a player has gathered 10 points (some of which may be held in secret), s/he announces this and claims the win.

How to play

Setup, how a turn works and how the game ends, summarised from the rulebook by Eko, Meepzy's rules assistant.

Here is an overview of how to play the game:

Setup

Lay out the game board by assembling the frame pieces, placing the 19 terrain hexes, placing the circular number tokens on the terrain hexes, and setting up initial pieces (p. 23).
Each player selects a color and takes their 15 roads, 5 settlements, 4 cities, and a building costs card (p. 3).
Place 2 roads and 2 settlements on the board according to the starting setup, and keep the remaining pieces in front of you (p. 3).
Place the Longest Road and Largest Army special cards and the 2 dice beside the board (p. 3).
Sort the resource cards into 5 stacks face up, shuffle the development cards face down, and take initial resources for the terrain hexes marked with a white star around your starting settlements (p. 3).

How a Turn Works

The starting player begins, and play proceeds in clockwise order (p. 8). On your turn, you complete three phases in order:

Roll for Resource Production: Roll both dice (p. 22). The sum determines which terrain hexes produce resources, giving 1 resource card per adjacent settlement and 2 per adjacent city to the players whose buildings touch those hexes (p. 22).
Trade: Trade resource cards with other players (Domestic Trade) or with the bank (Maritime Trade), as long as you are part of the trade and it is your turn (p. 14, 18, 26).
Build: Turn in the specified combinations of resource cards to build roads, settlements, upgrade settlements to cities, or buy development cards (p. 9, 10).

You may also play 1 development card at any time during your turn (p. 8). At the end of your turn, pass the dice to the player on your left (p. 8).

How the Game Ends

The first player to have or reach 10 or more victory points on their turn immediately wins the game (p. 1, 7).

This summary was written by Eko from the game's own rulebook. It covers the essentials, not every edge case. For a specific rule, ask Eko and get the page it came from, or open the manual in the Archive.