Settlers of Catan

Players and equipment

Three or four players with the base game; five or six with the extension. The box holds the island – nineteen hex tiles ringed by sea, with a number token on each land hex – two dice, five kinds of resource card, a deck of development cards, each player's roads, settlements and cities, the robber, and the two bonus cards for the longest road and the largest army. The hexes are four forests for lumber, four pastures for wool, four fields for grain, three hills for brick, three mountains for ore, and a desert that makes nothing. This is a brief in our own words for a table that has played before; the rulebook in the box is the authority.

The deal

Lay out the island: the fixed beginner layout the first few times, shuffled hexes and tokens once you know the game. The tokens run from two to twelve with no seven, the six and the eight in red because they come up most. The desert takes the robber. In turn order each player places one settlement on a corner and one road beside it, then in reverse order everybody places a second pair. There must be at least one empty corner between any two buildings. Each player collects one resource for every land hex touching their second settlement, and the player who placed first takes the first turn.

Play

On your turn, three things happen in order: you roll, you trade, and you build. Everybody produces on your roll – every hex whose number comes up pays one matching resource to each settlement on its corners, two to each city.

A seven

Nobody produces. Anyone holding more than seven cards discards half, rounded down. You move the robber to a new hex, which stops producing while it sits there, and take one card unseen from a player with a settlement or city on it.

A seven is the most common roll, about one throw in six, so a hand of eight or more is always at risk. The robber must move, and may go anywhere except the hex it is on.

Trading

Trade with any player on any terms you both accept, but only on your own turn. The bank takes four of a kind for one of anything; a harbour you have built on improves that to three for one, or two for one in the resource it names.

Other players may only trade with whoever's turn it is, never with each other.

Building

Road

Must touch your own road, settlement or city

Brick and lumber

Settlement

One point; on a free corner at least two roads from any other building

Brick, lumber, wool and grain

City

Two points; replaces one of your settlements

Three ore and two grain

Development card

Play at most one a turn, never the turn you bought it

Ore, wool and grain

Development cards are knights, which move the robber as a seven does and count toward the largest army; progress cards, which do what they say once; and victory points, which you keep hidden until they win you the game. The progress cards are Road Building, which lays two roads free, Year of Plenty, which takes any two resources from the bank, and Monopoly, which names a resource and takes every card of it from every other player. Victory point cards are the one exception to the row above: they are revealed on the turn they take you to ten, even the turn you bought them.

Scoring

There is no running score to enter here – the app records who won, or the podium. Count points on the board when somebody claims the game:

Each settlement

1

On the board

Each city

2

On the board

Longest road

2

Five or more in an unbroken line, held until somebody beats it

Largest army

2

Three or more knights played, held until somebody beats it

Victory point card

1

Revealed at the end

The longest road counts road pieces in one unbroken line, branches not included, and a rival's settlement built across your road breaks it in two. Both cards change hands only when somebody has strictly more; a tie leaves them where they are.

A worked count

Ben starts his turn showing eight points: his first two settlements are now cities, he has built two more, and he holds the longest road with seven roads in a line. Face down in front of him is a victory point card nobody knows about. He rolls, collects, and builds a third settlement with the brick, lumber, wool and grain in his hand.

Two cities

4

His first two settlements, upgraded

Three settlements

3

Built during the game

Longest road

2

Seven roads in a line, unmatched

Victory point card

1

Turned over as he claims the game

Four, three, two and one is ten, and the game ends on the spot. Had Cara laid an eighth road on the turn before, the longest road would have gone to her and he would be sitting on eight in all. Ten is reached on your own turn or not at all, which is why a hidden point is worth keeping hidden until the moment it wins.

Ending

The game ends the moment a player reaches ten points during their own turn, hidden cards included. Tap the winner; if your table plays for a podium, finish the count and enter second and third.

Where to put your first settlements

The number on a hex says how often it pays. A six or an eight comes up about one throw in seven, a five or a nine about one in nine, a four or a ten about one in twelve, a three or an eleven about one in eighteen, and a two or a twelve about one in thirty-six. The dots under each number show the same thing, and adding the dots on the three hexes round a corner is the quickest way to compare two spots. Take corners with high dot counts and three different resources, and avoid the same number twice. A corner on the coast touches only two hexes and is weaker, unless the harbour is the one you want.

Which resources

Brick and lumber build roads and settlements, which is the early game; ore and grain build cities and buy development cards, which is the late game. Two settlements that between them touch all five resources are comfortable, and two heavy on ore and grain are a plan to build cities early and buy knights. Wool is the resource most often left over, so take it lightly. A two-for-one harbour on a resource you make a lot of is worth as much as a good hex.

The robber

When you roll a seven or play a knight, put the robber on the best hex of the player who is winning, the one with a red number and a city on it, and take your card from them. Keep your own hand at seven or fewer when you can, since the next seven is only ever a roll away: spend before you save, and buy a development card rather than carry an eighth card into the next player's turn.

Trading

Trade for what you will spend this turn, not for what might be useful later, and offer what you have most of. Every trade helps both players, so refuse trades with whoever is ahead however good the terms look, and deal with the players behind you. Four for one with the bank is a bad rate but sometimes the only way to move.

When to build cities

A city doubles a settlement's production for three ore and two grain, so build one as soon as you have the cards for it on a settlement with good numbers. Turning your two opening settlements into cities early is the strongest start if your corners touch ore and grain; if they do not, build a third settlement first to widen what you collect. Once the good corners are gone, cities and development cards are where the last points come from.

Five and six players

The extension adds land and sea to make a bigger island, a fifth and sixth set of pieces and more cards, and one new rule: after each player's turn, every other player may build and buy development cards with what they hold, though not trade, so nobody waits through five turns for a chance to spend. The game is still to ten.

Seafarers

Ships that carry your roads across the sea to new islands, gold hexes that pay a resource of your choice, and a pirate who blocks ships as the robber blocks land, played through a book of scenarios.

Cities and Knights

Knights become pieces on the board that defend the island against a barbarian fleet, cities are improved with paper, cloth and coin, and the game is played to thirteen.

The friendly robber

A house rule for tables with new players: the robber may not be placed beside a player who has only two points, and on some tables it stays in the desert for the first round of turns as well. It takes the sting out of the opening, when losing one card of four can undo a settlement.

Playing to twelve

Agree a higher line before the first roll, twelve being the usual choice, for a longer game where cities and development cards matter more. The winner is still whoever reaches the line on their own turn.

What are the odds of rolling a seven in Catan?

About one throw in six, more often than any other number, because six of the thirty-six ways two dice can land add up to seven. A six or an eight comes up about one time in seven, a two or a twelve about one in thirty-six.

How many points do you need to win Catan?

Ten, reached during your own turn. Settlements are one each, cities two, the longest road and the largest army two each, and victory point cards one. Tables wanting a longer game agree twelve before they start.

Can you win Catan on someone else's turn?

No. If a rival's move hands you the longest road, or a trade on their turn leaves you with the cards you need, you still wait for your own turn to build or reveal your way to ten.

Can you build a settlement next to another settlement?

No. A settlement or city must have at least one empty corner between it and any other building, yours included, which is why the good corners run out fast.

What happens to the longest road if it is broken?

A settlement built by a rival across your road splits it in two, and only the longer piece counts. If somebody else now has the longest road of five or more they take the card; if nobody does, or two players tie, the card goes back to the box until one player clearly has the longest.

Can players trade with each other when it is not their turn?

Only with the player whose turn it is. Two other players may not trade with each other.

What does a harbour do in Catan?

A settlement or city built on a harbour corner trades with the bank at a better rate: three of a kind for one of anything at a general harbour, or two of the named resource for one of anything at a special one. Without a harbour the bank takes four of a kind.