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Catan Rules

Catan, also known as The Settlers of Catan, is a strategy board game where players collect resources to build roads, settlements, and cities. The game involves negotiation, resource management, and strategic placement to be the first player to reach a certain number of victory points.

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Objective: The goal of Catan is to be the first player to reach a predetermined number of victory points, typically 10

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Setup: 

  1. 3-4 players

  2. Lay out the hexagonal tiles to form the island of Catan

  3. Place numbered tokens on the tiles for resource production randomly, keep the red number token away from each other as these tokens have the highest odds

  4. Roll a dice to determine who goes first. Players take turns in based on their roll (higher number goes first)

  5. Each player places one of two settlements and one of two roads on corners (settlements) and edges (roads) of hexes. Players must be two edges away from opposing player's settlements

    • Player going last can put down both their settlements and roads and then the 2nd to last player will put down his/her last settlement and road. This process will repeat itself til you go back to the first player

  6. Distribute resource cards based on the initial placements of settlements

  7. Players earn victory points by building settlements (1 point), cities (2 points), and purchasing certain development cards. The first player to reach the 10 victory points wins

  8. If a 7 is rolled or a player plays a Knight development card, the player can move the robber to block resource production of a hex and steal a resource from a player with a settlement adjacent to that hex

  9. Development cards can be purchased during a player's turn and can include Victory Points, Knights (for the Largest Army card), or other special abilities

Instructions

Step 1

During their turn, a player will roll two six-sided dice to determine resource production. All players with settlements adjacent to the hex with the corresponding number receive resources.

Step 2

During their turn, players can trade resources with others (through negotiation) or with the bank (4 of the same resources for the resource you're looking for)

Step 3

After a player's roll and trades are performed, the player can build roads, settlements, cities, and purchase development cards using resources. Settlements, cities, and development cards can bring victory points

 

Resource requirements for each:

  • Roads (0 Victory point, but valuable connector): 1 brick and 1 lumber

  • Settlements (1 Victory point): 1 brick, 1 lumber, 1 wool, and 1 grain

  • Cities (2 Victory points): Must be upgraded from a settlement, and requires 3 ore and 2 grains

  • Development cards (May contain victory points or some other upgrade): 1 ore, 1 wool, and 1 grain

Step 4

Once a player has finish building the number of cities, settlements, roads, or get the development cards they wanted during a a turn, they can end their turn and the next player will roll the dice. The process will now repeat itself with this player

 

If the player that rolled the dice cannot build, has already traded, or doesn't want to trade they can end their turn and then next player will roll the two dice and the process will repeat itself

Step 5

If a player rolls a 7, the robber is moved, and the player can steal a resource from another player. Additionally, any player (including the person rolling the 7) holds more than 7 cards, when a 7 is rolled, they must discard half of their hand

Step 6

Players can trade with the bank at a 4:1 ratio for any resource or use harbors for better trading ratios. To get to a harbor, a player must build a road to the harbor and then a settlement or city at the harbor to get the favorable trading rates of the harbor

Step 7

The steps above repeats itself and the game continues until someone reaches 10 victory point

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