Tech Tuesday : How to play Catan

As promised, a tutorial on how to play The Settlers of Catan. Sorry its a bit late, but im busy preparing for a presentation tomorrow, my groupmates who were supposed to do the slides disappeared on me and now I hv to complete it ASAP.

Anyway, this is a step-by-step instruction manual with pictures. Click on the pictures to see it in full sized glory. You can download the game here. Have fun!

You can read the full tutorial below, or click here to download the tutorial in PDF format [10mb].

1. NEW GAME

First click New game then enter in your Name and what colour you prefer. Set the difficulty of the other players as Beginner and the Personality as Neutral (this affects how willing they are to trade with you).

2. SETUP PHASE

This is the starting point of the game. Let me explain the board and interface one by one.

2.1 Pieces

2.1.1 Building Blocks

This game has 3 different pieces:

(i) Road (max 15)
– is put in between settlements and/or cities
– is built using 1 brick + 1 lumber
– carries NO points

(ii) Settlements (max 5)
– these settlements are put at the corners of a hex.
– every time the numbers next to the settlements are rolled, the player gets ONE resource card.
– Settlements must be AT LEAST two roads apart from the nearest settlement
– each settlement is worth ONE POINT

(iii)Cities (max 4)
– cities are upgrades of settlements
– cities are also put in the corners of a hex to replace settlements
– cities allow the player to get TWO resource cards when the numbers next to it are rolled
– each city is worth TWO points

2.1.2 Development Cards

Development cards are like ‘community chest’ in monopoly. They give benefit to the player. You can only play ONE development card per turn. There are several types:

(i) Soldier – These soldiers are used to move the robber. They do not give points
(ii) Year of Plenty – This card, when played, allows the user to take any TWO resource cards from the bank
(iii) Road building – This card allows the user to build TWO free roads
(iv) Monopoly – When played, the player has to call out a resource and all the other players have to give that resource to him/her
(v) Library, University, etc etc – Gives one extra victory point

2.2 Board

This is the board. Each hexagon represents a certain resource and the numbers inside each hex indicates the number rolled by the dice. The red numbers are numbers with the highest probability when rolling the dice. Its advised to put the settlements on those numbers.

2.2.1 Five Resources

Wool – Light Green

Wheat – Yellow

Lumber – Dark green

Ore – Grey

Brick – Reddish brown

2.2.2 Desert

This is the desert. It has no points or resources.

2.2.2 Ports
Ports are used to exchange resource cards during your turn by pressing the TRADE button then pressing the PORT TRADE button. You can also trade resources with other players when it is their turn. Resources can be exchanged in many ways:

(i) 4:1 Port

If you have FOUR of the same resource, you can change it with any ONE resource card.

(ii) 3:1 Port

This port allows you to change THREE cards of the SAME resource with any ONE resource card. You can only do this is you have a settlement or house at either of the two corners, which in this case is 4 or 1 or 6.

(iii) Brick Port

This port allows you to change TWO cards of brick with any ONE resource card. You can only do this is you have a settlement or house at either of the two corners, which in this case is 2.

(iv) Ore Port

This port allows you to change TWO cards of ore with any ONE resource card. You can only do this is you have a settlement or house at either of the two corners, which in this case is 2 or the other edge.

(v) Wool Port

This port allows you to change TWO cards of wool with any ONE resource card. You can only do this is you have a settlement or house at either of the two corners, which in this case is 3 or 8.

(vi) Wheat Port

This port allows you to change TWO cards of wheat with any ONE resource card. You can only do this is you have a settlement or house at either of the two corners, which in this case is 5 or 0.

(vi) Lumber Port

This port allows you to change TWO cards of lumber with any ONE resource card. You can only do this is you have a settlement or house at either of the two corners, which in this case is 5 or 1.

2.3 Right Panel / Sidebar

The status at the top shows the progression of the game. The Summary shows how many cards each player has, how many development cards, how many soldiers they have, how many adjoining roads they have build and also the point total.

The Build shows the types of things which can be built depending on what are the cards in hand. If you can build a certain thing, it will light up. There are a few actions that you can take when it’s you turn:

Roll = rolls the dice
Dev cards = use one development card
Trade = allows you to trade with the other players and also use your trade ports
Undo and End Turn

3. BEGINNING THE GAME

In the beginning of the game, every player is allowed to place one settlement and one road from the first to the last player. Then the last player places his/her second settlement and second road in turns till the first player.

As you can see, each player has already put in their settlement & roads.

Jesse (Red) – conquers the numbers 6, 5, 11, 10 and 2
Pete (Green) – conquers the numbers 5,9,10,4,8 and 3
Fiona (Blue) – conquers the numbers 11,10, 9, 6 and 3
Theo (Yellow) – conquers the numbers 11, 4, 6, 10 and 8

The place where you place your SECOND settlement indicates the initial resources you get.

4. STARTING THE GAME

The dice is then rolled by the first player.

He rolls a 9. Look at the board for number 9. Green has a settlement next to nine (with wheat) and Blue has two settlements next to a nine (with ore).

So Green gets 1 wheat and Blue gets 2 ores.

5. TRADING

The interesting thing about this game is that the players can trade among themselves for the cards that they want. The player whose turn it is has the right to start trading.

This is how the Trade window looks like. The flag symbolizes whose turn it is. The cards on the right show how many cards you have in hand. When you want to trade something, just click the cards you prefer to give and the cards that you want to have.

If you like what the other person is offering, just click MATCH underneath their name and press CONFIRM to confirm your trade. If successful, the transaction will take place.

6. ROBBERS – NUMBER 7

When you roll a seven, several things happen:

(1) Anyone who has more than 7 cards has to discard 4 cards of their choosing. If you have 18 cards you have to drop four. If you have 13 you have to drop six.

(2) You can move the robber to any hex on the board but not the places where it affects your settlements/cities. You can then choose the nearest settlement and take a card from that player.

In this scenario, Red rolled a 7 and moved the robber to the number 8 (with wheat) and stole 1 card from Yellow (as shown by the black star on the yellow settlement).

The disadvantage of the robber is, if anyone rolls an 8, the Yellow will not get any cards of wheat because it was ‘stolen’ by the robber.

If a robber in on your number, then you can use the Soldier card to move it somewhere else and steal 1 card someone else’s cards.
7. EXTRA VICTORY POINTS

There are two ways to win extra victory points:
(i) Largest army – If you open three or more Development cards with the Soldier then you get the Largest army card which is worth TWO points
(ii) Longest Road – If you have the longest connecting road of 5 roads or above, you get the Longest Road card which is worth TWO points

8. WINNING

The aim of the game is to get 10 points. These points are counted by adding up all the settlements (worth 1 point), all the cities (worth 2points) and all the victory points from the extra cards or development cards

Have fun playing!