The Settlers of Catan

I have lost many a Sunday afternoon to Settlers. Do you know why I purchased Settlers? Because each of my friends has purchased our own set... we do not want to find ourselves at each others house and wanting to play but not have a board to set up. We have taken turns hosting and every time it has been fun.It is a game of strategy, in my opinion a slightly more complicated/sophisticated version of Monopoly (although my friends vehemently disagree). Instead of building houses and hotels you build towns and cities, instead of collecting rent, you collect resources, and instead of chance cards you have victory cards... but somehow it seems more fun. There is an element of Chess- because you do have to build roads to tie your cities together, and to do that you have to have foresight and plan ahead.This is a game of champions- and voted best Table Game by folks who vote on those things- be warned that once you start playing it may become addictive. Be prepared to be suckered into the sport for years to come.I am reviewing this product in an effort to help other Amazon customers through relaying my experience with the product and providing any insight I garnered. Had I not liked this product, I would state so here in my review. I would really appreciate that if you found my review helpful, that you would please indicate so below by clicking the YES button below.

I ordered this after having played it once. My parents did the same. The gameplay is novel, the game itself attractive, and the learning curve is low. It made an impression.Three ups:- The game is fairly durable. We've been teaching my four year old to play and the only damage has been some bending of resource cards. Everything else is wood or thick cardboard.-The gameplay is simple enough that my four year old is able to play, yet deep enough that neither myself or my wife feel we've mastered it. Between the strategic and diplomatic aspects of the game and the ability to randomize the board, the game plays well time and time again without the feeling of repetition or blandness of some games ("Sorry!" Comes to mind...). In addition, gameplay is fairly short, an hour is our average, and setup is quick. Great for a rainy day.-It is a handsome game. The level of detail in the hex pieces draws the eye, the resource cards look similar enough that my four year old grasped the relationship intuitively, and the player pieces are elegantly simple.Three downs:-The price. At almost double the price of a regular board game, I was uncertain of the value. We love it, and the only problem I have with the price now is that I hesitated for almost two years because of it. I wish I'd bought it sooner.-The resource cards. They aren't very sturdy compared to all the other pieces. Not even as hardy as good playing cards.-Two player games leave something to be desired. This is a fairly common problem with boardgames, but I'd like to find something captivating enough to play weekly and not have it age from being played with just me and my wife. This definitely needs three players, and I believe the box states just that.The take home points: My only regret is not buying it sooner. If you have two people you can play with regularly, this will provide hours of entertainment.

Many reviews have already dug into the specifics of the game, so I won't repeat them.This is a fun game for players of all ages. Adults will play with much more strategy, of course. There are different options for strategy: go for longest road, go for biggest army, go for development cards, go for cities, etc. You also have to think about what resources you want to build next to, knowing that which resources you need will change throughout the game.This is most fun with 4 players, as it makes it the most challenging. Of course, it then can become easy to be cut off from parts of the map, or unable to expand. Technically you can play this game with 2 people, but it's a bit too easy and thus not very exciting. There is a 5-6 player expansion, which makes the board larger.There are of course many expansions to this game. Seafarers is a blast and is an easy transition, as it makes only minor changes to the game, but really changes the strategies you can use.Highly recommend this game, especially for people who are not big into board games. (This is often considered the #1 "gateway" game.)

My family has had so much fun with this game. It is easy to figure out. I played this with my 13, 12, and 11 year old children. We are still playing it two years later and have bought extensions and the two person card game. We did change one rule, mostly because we wanted the games to last about 1 hour. We took out the robber. My kids get along so well with this game. Sometimes they win something I win. It's not like Risk where there is fighting and hard feelings. This game promotes cooperation and planning.

I had never heard of this game before my daughter requested it for Christmas. However, after having played it, I was a convert. Like a good muppet movie, this game could be played by a young person in a simple way or enjoyed by adults at a more sophisticated level. The concept of the game is simple but with a fun group you can liven up the game considerably by bartering, bargaining, forming alliances and creating a strategy to win. Unlike games such as Monopoly, the board is cleverly designed and action cards just random enough so that every game is different.The road and house game pieces are very, very small, so they should be kept well away from: small children, pets, the vacuum cleaner and slits between boards on the picnic table. The board pieces and cards and quite sturdy and plastic-y enough to play in the damp without damage. The box is also quite sturdy, which is nice if you stack your board games like we do.It's not the cheapest game, but well worth the price.It should be noted that you need at least 3 but no more than 4 people to play. If you want to play with a few more players, expansion packs are available separately.

Settlers of Catan is an essential board game. It deserves a place on the shelf more than Monopoly, Cluedo or Scrabble and actually rivals most modern board games with it's simple but elegant design.Catan is about trading.The board is full of hexagons representing different types of resources. Each of these hexes has a number on it, which represents how often it will produce it's specific product. As a player you will build settlements and roads around the edges of these hexes, gaining you access to the goods that they provide. On each person's turn they will roll two dice and the number will correspond to one of the hexes, then everyone who has access to that hex will gain one of it's resources. But in order to build an expand, you will need resources that you won't have access to, meaning that you HAVE to trade with other people.What's so great about Catan is that it is so well balanced. However good your set-up is, you'll still need something that the other players have and they'll need something from you. This means that you often have to make decisions about how badly you want something and how much you're prepared to give your opponents. But the trades are almost always good natured and therefore make this a very social game.The only real danger is the robber. Anytime a person rolls a 7, they get to move the robber to any hex on the board - halting it's production, whilst also allowing the mover to take a card at random from an opponent on that hex. As 7 is statistically the most likely number to be rolled from two dice, you'll see him a lot, which means you might want to avoid making rivalries.Catan usually wraps up within an hour and is just as good 3 players as it is 4. It's a really easy game to learn and it's not too heavily themed, making it an ideal entry game for non-boardgamers or families with children. That said, I play this regularly with heavy boardgamers and we all still really enjoy it too.This is just a great game that's very easy to recommend. Simple, social and fun - there are also plenty of expansions that add multiple layers of complexity and depth, making this purchase a worthy investment. It's not too expensive either..

Best board game I've played (though I haven't played that many). I hate really strategic games as my husband always outwits me and I end up crossed (yes, I'm a bad looser). This one is great as there's a large element of luck involved (dice), but you can shift things a bit with some strategy so you can feel proud of certain 'moves' even if you loose. Also, anyone can win, from the 10yr old that likes to collect 'Development Cards' to the king/queen of board games. It also lasts a nice amount of time (not 5 hours like some of our other favourite games like Talisman) because it's quite self-limiting (reach 10points and you're done). It's really very good and would recommend to anyone even those that would not consider themselves as board-game geeks.Finally, for those Big Bang Theory fans, Sheldon needing some 'wood for his sheep' refers to this particular game. Brilliant!

I cannot say enough good things about this game. It is the perfect mix of strategy and luck, and every game is completely different. It's been a long time since I've been able to spend so much time sitting down playing a board game. It's got a simple format, dictated by the roll of the dice. It's the ideal game for 3 or 4 players.Also, the product lasts well. The pieces are well made and not flimsy.I would highly recommend this game. You'll get many, many hours of entertainment. Well worth the cost!I received this product for free in exchange for an honest, unbiased review

I first played this game in 2010 at a friends house and I loved it straight away. When I moved back home I knew I had to buy it and I wasn't disappointed.You begin the game by setting up the board, this part I always find the most interesting as as soon as I see the numbers placed on the terrain hexes I start thinking about where my first settlement placement will be.From the get go this is a strategic game, how you play in your first few moves could determine the outcome of the game. There are various ways to develop your strategy too. Initially it all comes down to placing your settlement and the possible outcome of resources from that. After that it divides as to whether you want to maximise your resources gained, to get the longest road (two extra victory points) or the largest army (two extra victory points).You can plan your strategy in advance but it is always changing. The person beside you could completely mess up your plan in one move and you must adapt and think how to still get what you want.You spend a lot of time thinking and planning during this game, it is really easy to get lost in. However you need to play with good friends, people who are not easily offended as a lot of humour and friendly arguments can manifest especially when placing the robber or trading. "I have two sheep to trade, does anyone have any wood for my sheep?", a completely innocent statement but of course it always gets laughs, sounds childish to some I guess but it can be really fun and funny.Due to how the game is set up and because quite a lot of it does rely on chance you never end up playing the same game twice. How the resources are spread out is always varied and you will find early on you have an over-abundance of some and lack of others but this changes game to game generally.Game time varies on the number of players, breaks and the time players take to make their decisions. I have found it to be roughly 1-1.5 hours for a short game and 2-4 hours for a long game. You never know who will win until the very end.I love strategy games and Settlers of Catan was one of those rare gem's that truly is great fun. (Not as many family arguments as monopoly!)Good Points : easy to learn/teach, family friendly, board set-up varied, strategic, engagingNegative Points : IMO needs a timer for some people trading :)

If you like games like Carcassone, Ticket to Ride etc you'll like this. I've rated it 5 stars as we've had so many games of this over the last few years I've lost count. After the first/second play of it you'll get the hang of it and develop strategies to win. What I like is that there is more skill involved than a lot of other games, and you get to do something on each persons turn not just your own roll of the dice so your interest is maintained.