HOW TO PLAY
A quick guide to what you do on your turn…
1 ROLL THE DICE, GET RESOURCES
And get your resources. If you have a building on a corner of the resources rolled draw one for each settlement and two for each city of that resource type.
If you rolled a 7 then you need to move the robber. Wherever the robber is, that area does not produce any resources when its number is rolled. This is a great time to get someone back for not trading your two wood for sheep.
2 TRADE
This is where you get to ask other players if they’ve got wood for sheep. If you want a resource, and are willing to trade from your hand of resource cards, ask around the room to find someone willing to take a deal. There’s no real limit to this, so you can ‘overpay’ or drive a hard bargain as much as you want. For some, this is the best bit of the game and where a lot of the fun banter of the game comes in. If you don’t want to trade with other people, you can always swap four of one resource into one of another, or trade using ports if you have a settlement on one.
3 BUILD
Spend cards in your hand to build the stuff you want to build! Everyone gets given a building cost card at the start of the game, so you can check that if you’re not sure. You can build settlements at least two road spaces away and should look to gain access to those useful numbered hexes nearby. You can also upgrade your settlements to cities, which give you two resources when rolled, rather than just one. If you can’t or don’t want to build anything, then you can always buy a development card – these let get you points, bonuses, or special actions (like moving the robber and stealing a random card from someone). Once you’ve done all this, it’s the next person’s turn. Not that you should relax, you could be thinking about what trade you’re about to offer them.
STRATEGY
Catan is very much a game about the luck of the dice, and bartering in our experience.
Location, Location, Location:
Each turn starts with a roll to decide which area will produce resources. As you probably know, it’s much easier to roll a seven on two six sided dice than a 12 or a two. And it’s nearly as easy to roll a six or an eight. If you can make your first placement on one of these very likely-to-roll numbers you’re in for a much better chance of generating resources throughout the game with ease.
Cut a Deal:
Some get a bit nervous about this part of the game, to begin with anyway. On a player’s turn they can be traded with. That means if you need something, and they might just have it, it’s time
Focus on Self-development:
If you’re not sure what to do on your turn, or you’re a long way off making the big play you want to
Remember to Cash in:
There’s a number of ways to trade in multiples of a single type of card into one of another type. The first is available to all, which is trade four of one type of card into one of another. The other is building a port (you can see the boats at the docks on the board). Build there and get that specific bonus – say three of anything for one of another, or two rock for one of any other. If your resource-generating engine is stalling, or seems stuck on one type of card, then this can
be massively helpful.