Catan

Ricci-Ricci, Circus and Monopoly are board games that I and many of my friends grew up with. Although simple, they attracted us and we could spend long hours playing them. For example, the popularity of the game Richu-Rachu is well characterized by the fact that there is even a song dedicated to this game. Today, a lot has changed, and the board game Catan (Invaders of Catan) has become a classic of this time.

       Imagine that you, along with three other travelers, have landed on a previously undiscovered island that you collectively call Catan. It has lush sheep pastures, thick forests, rich clay deposits, vast grain fields and mighty mountains to mine for ore. You will need all these resources to build roads, start villages, and later rebuild them into great cities. The genius of the game lies in the aspect that one settler will never have enough resources alone, so they will exchange with each other, setting their own barter rules. Someone will be willing to exchange a valuable ore resource for a forest resource, someone will want to exchange two straw resources for one sheep resource. After setting up the game board (which can be done in a very short time), players will build their first two villages one by one with access roads. After that, a number will be revealed on each resource space, which determines the result of the two dice rolled, in particular, that resource will be obtained for the player who has a village or city near that space. After obtaining the resources, the player who made the turn can negotiate a barter, and if in his turn that player has the necessary combination of resources in his hands to, for example, build a city, he puts those resources in the bank and builds. The game continues like this until one player has ten victory points. Victory points can be obtained by building villages, cities, getting the longest road in Catan, managing the largest army, or by purchasing special development cards that are worth one victory point at the end of the game.

Catan is an exciting, dynamic and quick to learn board game. This game started my passion for board games, and so has it for many others. The rules of this game can be quickly explained and even more quickly demonstrated in action. I've played Catan with kids as young as seven and with adults in their fifties, and all of them have been very satisfied after the game. Players are satisfied by the length of the game, which is around 40-50 minutes in a smooth game, as well as the ability to exchange their resources for the resources of another player, because sometimes, although the player knows that giving one or another resource to another player, it will contribute to the development of the other player , the desire for a given resource is too great not to barter. Also, the dice help, which we all know are inexorable. Percentage-wise, rolling two dice will result in the numbers five, six, eight, and nine, so a player lucky enough to build their initial village on these squares is in a good position. But it is not always so. There have been times when twos are rolled three times in a row. The times when the seemingly impossible number twelve falls every other toss. And it's all exciting. As a big advantage of the game, I can mention the variable playing field. Sometimes all the resources are distributed similarly throughout the island, but sometimes, for example, all the sheep pastures are only in the west of the island, and the ore resources are in the south of the island. And each such playthrough forces even experienced players to look for a new strategy to win, but for a new Catan player, it shows how diverse this seemingly simple game can be, and it gives me the opportunity to believe that I, too, in my first playthrough, can fight for victory, because no one really knows how often one or another combination of numbers will fall and which player will willingly exchange such valuable resources.

       Catan is the most popular game among my friends and family and has been for several years. Of course, I would like to show many other games (which sometimes, of course, succeed), but in most cases, the overwhelming majority asks to sort out Catan in order to embark on a new adventure in the exploration of this mysterious island.

       PS Catan also has several game extensions that come in handy when you want to make this great game even more unpredictable. Both the base game and expansions are available in Latvian.

Game enthusiast Robert

Now also for 5-6 players