Catan
What is the main objective of the Catan board game?
How does the gameplay of Catan differ from Monopoly and Risk?
What inspired Klaus Teuber to create Catan?
Catan is a multiplayer strategy board game in which players compete to settle the fictional island of Catan and develop the most successful colony. Created by Klaus Teuber, a German dental technician turned game designer, the game was first published in Germany in 1995 as Die Siedler von Catan and then released in the United States in 1996 as The Settlers of Catan. Over the next decade and a half, the game’s popularity grew rapidly worldwide. In 2009 Wired called The Settlers of Catan a “Monopoly killer,” and in 2010 The Washington Post dubbed it “the board game of our time.”
Creation
Teuber began creating board games in the 1980s to overcome the boredom and frustration he felt in his job as a dental technician. The first three games he developed—Barbarossa (1988), Adel Verpflichtet (1990; Hoity Toity), and Drunter und Drüber (1991; Wacky Wacky West)—each won Germany’s prestigious board game industry honor, the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award. Teuber earned his fourth Spiel des Jahres award after the 1995 release of Die Siedler von Catan (The Settlers of Catan).
Having loved board games since the age of 11, Teuber began working on what would become Catan in 1991 after growing fascinated with Viking tales and the Age of Discovery. In his 2021 memoir Teuber recalled his childhood fascination with maps, which would animate Catan’s fictional world decades later:
I loved the old, musty-smelling, ragged maps that were rolled out as lessons. I loved travelling in them in my imagination. Over mountain ranges in brown hues, the green valleys, blue rivers and lakes.
Teuber’s vision was to create a game based on what settlers would have to do to sustain and support themselves on a remote island, including finding, gathering, and trading resources to build roads, settlements, and cities. The Settlers of Catan was originally released as a game for three to four players, with a five- to six-player extension made available in 1996. In 2015 the game was renamed Catan to simplify the name and create a universal brand across the 30 languages in which it was published at the time. It saw a huge surge in sales in 2020 as families forced to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic sought out distractions. As of 2025 Catan has been translated into more than 40 languages across 50 global markets. The game has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide.
Gameplay
The Resources of Catan
There are five valuable resources that players collect, combine, and trade while trying to win:
- Brick
- Grain (or wheat)
- Lumber (or wood)
- Ore
- Wool
Catan is played on a board made up of 19 hexagonal tiles, known as “terrain hexes,” that represent areas of the island. Each terrain hex specifies the type of resource it can produce, such as lumber, wool, or grain. The arrangement of the hexes and the roll of two dice determine which resources are available to players. Except for the desert terrain hex, all hexes have a numbered disc. On each turn a player rolls the dice, and the sum determines which hexes produce resources. Players collect various types of resource cards to trade or to build roads and settlements along the borders of the hexes. Collecting more resources allows them to upgrade their settlements into cities. Players are prevented from hoarding resources by a robber who moves around the hexes and blocks them from producing resources, forcing players to trade with opponents.
To be successful at the game, players need to choose locations wisely, carefully manage their resources, and use their sharpest negotiating skills. The goal of Catan is to be the first player to reach 10 victory points on their turn. Points are earned by building settlements (one victory point each) and cities (two victory points each), constructing the longest road or route (two victory points), and assembling the largest army (two victory points). There are also development cards, some of which are worth one victory point.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
Catan is often compared to other iconic board games that involve territory, specifically Monopoly and Risk. Where Catan differs, however, is in the need for players to cooperate with each other as well as compete against each other. Other differences include the fact that all players play to the end of the game, not facing elimination as they do in Risk and Monopoly. Additionally, Catan’s typical game duration of 60 to 90 minutes is appreciably shorter than the others. Finally, the unique way the hexes fit together means that the Catan game board varies each time, unlike the fixed boards of Risk and Monopoly.
Expansions and scenarios
Since Catan’s initial release, expansion sets have been added. These sets build from the base game while providing different themes, narratives, and goals. They include Seafarers, Cities & Knights, Traders & Barbarians, and Explorers & Pirates. A large number and variety of official Catan scenarios and fan-made scenarios have also been published, some of which are available as free downloads. Scenarios require a base game and sometimes a specific expansion. For the base game, scenarios incorporate new rules to challenge players. For expansions, they either add new levels or add chapters that act as guided storylines. Examples of available scenarios include sports, regional, and holiday themes. To provide even more options for players, some of the expansion sets and scenarios can be combined with one another.
Additional Catan games
In addition to the base and expansion board games, several other games have been developed based on Catan and its island setting, including a logic puzzle, a card game, a dice game, and games for computers, browsers, video-gaming systems, and handheld consoles.
Criticism
Catan has been criticized for its perceived role in reinforcing outdated colonial narratives. Because players take on the role of settlers, critics have argued that the game normalizes the historic, economic, and political dynamics of colonial systems and their expansion methods.