Catan

1 Game Overview

Catan (originally The Settlers of Catan) is a strategy board game for 3–4 players. You're a settler on the island of Catan, racing to build the most thriving civilization before your opponents.

You collect resources — wood, brick, grain, wool, and ore — by having settlements and cities near productive terrain. Use those resources to build roads, new settlements, and cities, or buy development cards. The first player to reach 10 victory points wins.

What makes Catan special is trading. You can negotiate with other players, which creates a social, deal-making atmosphere unlike most strategy games. Almost every turn involves conversation.

2 What's in the Box

• 19 terrain hexes
• 6 sea frame pieces
• 9 harbor pieces
• 18 circular number tokens
• 95 resource cards (19 each of 5 types)
• 25 development cards
• 4 building cost cards
• 2 special cards (Longest Road, Largest Army)
• 1 robber piece
• 2 dice
• 60 roads (15 per color)
• 20 settlements (5 per color)
• 16 cities (4 per color)

3 Setup

There are two ways to set up Catan: the beginner setup (shown in the rulebook) or a random setup for more experienced players.

Building the Board

1. Assemble the sea frame border around the table.
2. Shuffle and randomly place the 19 terrain hexes face-up inside the frame. (Or use the recommended beginner layout.)
3. Place the number tokens on the terrain hexes using the lettered sequence on the tokens (A through R), skipping the desert. Place the robber on the desert hex.
4. Shuffle and stack the resource cards into their five piles face-down.
5. Separate the development cards, shuffle them, and place them face-down.

Starting Placement

Each player starts with 2 settlements and 2 roads. Place them using this method:

1. In clockwise order, each player places one settlement on any valid intersection, then one road extending from it.
2. Reverse the order (youngest player goes last, then snakes back). Each player places a second settlement and road.
3. For the second settlement only: each player collects one resource card for each terrain hex touching that settlement. This is your starting hand.

4 Taking Your Turn

Each turn has three phases, always in this order:

Phase 1 — Roll the Dice

Roll both dice. Add them together (2–12). Every player with a settlement or city touching a hex with that number gets resources:

• Settlement = 1 resource card from that hex's terrain type
• City = 2 resource cards from that hex's terrain type

If the bank doesn't have enough cards, no one gets any of that resource for that roll.

Phase 2 — Trade

You may trade resources with other players (any deal both sides agree to) or trade with the bank:

• 4:1 trade: Give the bank 4 identical resources, get 1 of anything.
• 3:1 harbor: If you have a settlement/city on a generic harbor, give the bank 3 identical resources, get 1 of anything.
• 2:1 harbor: If you have a settlement/city on a specific resource harbor, give the bank 2 of that resource, get 1 of anything.

Phase 3 — Build

Spend resources to build (see the Building section). You may build as much as you can afford in one turn.

5 Resources & Trading

There are five resources in Catan, each produced by a specific terrain:

• 🌲 Lumber — Forest hexes
• 🧱 Brick — Hills hexes
• 🐑 Wool — Pasture hexes
• 🌾 Grain — Fields hexes
• ⛏️ Ore — Mountain hexes

The Desert produces nothing and starts with the Robber on it.

Trading tips: You can offer anything in your hand. You can even negotiate future trades ("I'll give you wool next turn if you give me ore now"), but you're not obligated to keep future promises. Any deal you agree to before the trade happens is binding; anything promised for the future isn't.

6 Building

You can build four types of things (costs are per building cost card):

Road — 1 Lumber + 1 Brick

Roads must connect to your existing roads, settlements, or cities. You cannot build through another player's settlement. Roads are how you expand your network and reach new settlement locations.

Settlement — 1 Lumber + 1 Brick + 1 Wool + 1 Grain

Must be built at the end of one of your roads (on an empty intersection), obeying the Distance Rule (no adjacent settlements). Worth 1 victory point.

City — 2 Grain + 3 Ore

Upgrade an existing settlement to a city. Return the settlement to your supply. Cities produce 2 resources instead of 1 each roll, and are worth 2 victory points (replacing the settlement's 1 point).

Development Card — 1 Ore + 1 Wool + 1 Grain

Draw the top card from the development card deck. Cards are kept secret. You may play one development card per turn (not the same turn you bought it) before, during, or after rolling.

7 The Robber

The Robber is activated in two ways:

• A player rolls a 7
• A player plays a Knight development card

When the Robber activates:

1. Discard: Any player (including you) with more than 7 resource cards must immediately discard half their hand (rounded down, their choice).
2. Move the Robber: Place the Robber on any terrain hex (other than the desert if the Robber is already there — actually, you can move it anywhere including the desert). While the Robber is on a hex, that hex produces no resources on any roll.
3. Steal: If any opponent has a settlement or city touching the hex you moved the Robber to, steal one random resource card from one of those opponents.

8 Development Cards

There are 25 development cards: 14 Knight cards, 5 Victory Point cards, and 6 Progress cards.

Knight Cards (14)

Play before or after rolling. Activate the Robber (move it, optionally steal). Track how many Knights you've played with your Knight pile face-up. The player with the most Knights (at least 3) gets the Largest Army special card, worth 2 victory points.

Victory Point Cards (5)

Library, Market, Great Hall, Chapel, University — each worth 1 VP. Keep these hidden until you're announcing the win. You can play them immediately on your turn (they count toward your score right away), or hold them and reveal when you hit 10 points.

Progress Cards (6)

• Road Building (2): Build 2 roads for free.
• Year of Plenty (2): Take any 2 resource cards from the bank.
• Monopoly (2): Name a resource — every other player must give you all their cards of that type.

9 Winning the Game

The first player to reach 10 victory points on their turn wins immediately.

Victory points come from:

• 🏠 Settlements: 1 VP each
• 🏙️ Cities: 2 VP each (replaces settlement)
• 🃏 Victory Point development cards: 1 VP each
• 🛣️ Longest Road special card: 2 VP (requires the longest continuous road of at least 5 segments)
• ⚔️ Largest Army special card: 2 VP (requires the most Knight cards played, at least 3)

You can only win on your own turn. If you hit 10 points during someone else's turn (e.g., they give you resources in a trade and you now have enough for a city), you don't win until your next turn.

Longest Road

The Longest Road special card goes to the first player to build a continuous road of 5 or more segments. If another player later builds a longer road (strictly more, not tied), they take the card. If your road is broken by an opponent's settlement built on it, you may lose the card.

10 Strategy Tips

• Diversify your numbers. Don't put all your settlements near the same numbers. Spread across 6s and 8s (most likely to roll), 5s and 9s, and 4s and 10s.
• Get a port early. A 2:1 harbor near a resource you'll produce a lot of is incredibly powerful.
• Watch the Longest Road. It's 2 free points — build roads aggressively early to claim it, then keep it.
• Don't hoard. Keeping 8+ cards makes you a target when a 7 is rolled. Spend down to 7 or fewer at the end of your turn.
• Be a fair trader. If you never give good deals, people stop trading with you. A reputation as a fair trader means you always have options.
• Block expansion. Build roads to cut off opponents from settling in key areas, even if you don't plan to settle there yourself.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions