Catan Latvian Championship 2023

On April 22-23 of this year, the "Catan" Latvian Championship will be held, the winner of which will get the right to represent Latvia in the "Catan" European Championship. Come and prove yourself, and don't leave your application until the last minute, because the number of places is limited.

PRIZE FUND

• 1st place: Catan 3D + participation in the European Championship.
• 2nd place: Brain Games gift card worth €75.
• 3rd place: Brain Games gift card worth €50.

WHEN AND WHERE?

This year, the championship will be held on April 22-23 at the fashion and entertainment center "Rīga Plaza", Mūkusalas street 71

Don't forget to tag us in our Facebook event !

APPLICATION

All seats are taken!
You can come to the place on Saturday morning, maybe a participant will have refused or will not come and there will be a chance to play.

Link to pay membership

The participation fee of 10 € can be paid in advance in the online store, or on the day of the event in cash (pre-registration is mandatory in any case).

The number of places in the championship is limited, so don't postpone registration until the last moment! Up to 160 participants will be able to compete in the competition.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Saturday, April 22:

From 10:00 to ~19:00, the first day of the Catan Latvian Championship, qualification

• 10:00–10:30 arrival, registration of participants, distribution of players of the 1st round by tables (if you arrive after the registration time, you will not be able to participate in the tournament)
• 10:50 opening of the championship
• 11:00-12:45 1st selection round
• 12:45 - 13:00 summing up of results, distribution of players of the 2nd round by tables
• 13:00-14:45 2nd selection round
• 14:45–15:30 lunch break; compilation of results, 3. division of players by tables
• 15:30–17:15 3rd selection round
• 17:15 - 17:30 compilation of results, distribution of players of the 4th round by tables
• 17:30–19:15 4th selection round
• 19:15-19:30 collection of results
• 19:30 announcement of results, clarification of the composition of the final participants

Sunday, April 23:

• 10.00–10.30 arrival of participants, division by tables
• 10.30 - 12.15 quarter finals
• 12.15–12.30 compilation of results, distribution of quarter-final players by tables
• 12.30–14.15 quarter-finals
• 14.15–15.00 lunch break; compilation of results, division of semi-finalists by tables
• 15.00–16.45 semi-finals
• 16.45–17.00 compilation of results, distribution of final players by tables
• 17.00–18.45 final
• 18.50-19.00 award ceremony

Times are provisional and may change during the championship!

The use of alcohol and other intoxicating substances, as well as aggressive behavior during the championship is not allowed and threatens with disqualification! It is forbidden to disturb or help other participants! We are for clean sport!

CATAN CHAMPIONSHIP RULES

COMPOSITION AND EVALUATION OF GAME PARTICIPANTS

Announcing games

Before each round, a list prepared by the computer is published, in which the participants of the championship are ranked by tables. From this list, players can find out the table number at which they will be playing the next game and go find the appropriate table.

Field preparation

All games are played on different pitches. The court is prepared by the player who has the fourth starting position. The field is prepared according to the model created by the organizers.

Qualification tournament schedule (April 22)

All participants play four rounds.

First round:

The players are arranged at the tables in a random order determined by the computer. If the number of participants is not divisible by 4, then tables 4-a have 3 players (a - remainder, dividing the number of participants by 4).

Players determine the starting order by rolling both dice. The player who rolled the highest amount of dice starts. If two or more players have rolled the highest number, they (and only they) roll the dice again until only one player with the highest number remains. This player will place the first village first, followed by the rest of the players in a clockwise direction. The last player's duty is to be the banker of the game.

Second round:

Players are sorted by rank. Then they are arranged at the tables: 1st to 4th place - at the first table, 5th to 8th place - at the second table, etc. If the number of participants is not divisible by 4 without a remainder, then the lowest ranked participants go to the tables where 3 players must sit. Players determine the starting order by rolling both dice. The player with the highest number starts. If two or more players have the highest number, they (and only they) must reroll until only one player with the highest number remains. This player will place the first village first, followed by the rest of the players in a clockwise direction. The player with the lowest rank is the banker.

Third and fourth round:

Players choose their starting positions and determine the banker following the same principle as in the first two rounds. The only difference is that for the third and fourth rounds, the ranking is made taking into account the results of all previous games.

 

ATTENTION!

Due to the very tight schedule of the championship, the time of each round is strictly limited to 1:30 h. When 1 hour has already been played, a turn time limit of 1 minute will be introduced into the game. If the game lasts already 1:30 h, the table is given another five minutes to complete the game. As soon as 1:35 h has been played, the game is stopped, allowing the current turn to be completed. There is no winner in this game. It is understandable that such an outcome is not desirable for most of the people, as the ranking is primarily based on the number of victories and only then on points, so please do not delay unnecessarily when making moves, and do not be shy to encourage your playing partners to pass the move on if the game is dangerously long.

Important!

It should be remembered that all three rounds of the main tournament are of equal importance. The fact that there is theoretically free time to finish the game after the fourth round (because there is no other round waiting in the "queue") is not a reason to extend this round - the third round games will also be stopped after 1:35 h.

At the end of the first day, a ranking is compiled, where the results of all four rounds are taken into account. The 32 best participants of the qualification tournament will get the right to compete in the finals on Sunday, August 28.

Agenda for the final (April 23)

It is very important to have exactly 32 participants on the second day to determine the results. Therefore, if one of the top 32 participants of the first day knows (or learns as time goes by) that he will not be able to participate on the set date, he is obliged to immediately notify the competition organizer. In that case, the right to start on the day of the finals is given to the next participants behind the line.

Final day (elimination games):

Before the day of the finals, all participants are ranked, taking into account Saturday's games, which will determine the distribution of participants at the tables in the first round. There will be four games on Sunday. After each game, half of the participants will end the tournament. The winner of each match will automatically qualify for the next round, and the same number of participants will enter the next round based on the score ratio in the previous rounds.

After the third game, only 4 players will be left who will compete for the title of Latvian "Catan" champion. The number 1 in the rank will be the first to choose a color and who will place their first village in turn. The number 2 of the rank chooses his color from the rest and who will place his village in turn. According to the same principle, the third member of the ranking does the same. The fourth plays with what is left. The winner of the last game, regardless of the results of the previous games, will become the Latvian "Catan" champion! The other places are divided according to the places obtained in the last game, but in case of equal points, the highest position is decided by the ranking.

In the final game, the field is prepared and the banker functions are performed by the organizers of the championship.

The Latvian "Catan" champion will get the right to compete in the 2023 European "Catan" Championship!

IMPORTANT CONCEPTS

A banker

The banker is the issuer and receiver of raw material and development cards. Only he is given the played resource and development cards and only he issues resource and development cards from the bank. He must verbally describe his actions when dealing cards to himself or when depositing his resource cards in the bank. If the player who has to perform the duties of the banker is not sure that he can handle it accurately and skillfully, the players may agree on another banker from among themselves.

Player ranking

Players are ranked by three criteria (in order of importance):

• total number of wins (for example, a player with 3 wins is always ahead of a player who managed to win 2 times);
• the total number of victory points (UP) (if the players have the same number of victories, then the player with a higher total number of UP is in the place of the highest rank);
• the total percentage UP (%UP) (in a situation where both the number of wins and the total number of UPs match, the place in the ranking is determined by the amount of %UP). A player's %UP for a given game is determined by dividing the amount of UP earned in that game by the amount of UP earned by all players at the table. To calculate %UP for three-player games, the amount of UP for the game is multiplied by the average score of that game. If such an adjustment were not made, participation in three-player games would give an advantage. In the rare event that the %UP is also the same (which can mostly happen after the first round), the head judge will draw which of the players will occupy a higher position in the ranking.

Notes:

• The player's UP is determined by also taking into account the unplayed victory point cards.
• The maximum amount of UP a player can earn is 10. So even if the winner manages to "accumulate" 11 or more UP during the game (without playing UP progress cards and/or getting the longest path or largest army card when he has 9 points) , as a result only 10 will be counted.

Game questionnaire

In all rounds, each table is given a game questionnaire before the start of the game, where the round number, table number, names of the game participants and the score table are written. The players show each other their championship membership card, thereby certifying that they are who they appear on the questionnaire. After recording the scores at the end of the game, all players confirm that they agree with the results by signing the game questionnaire.

Player's choice of color

In each game, players must choose the color of their pieces. If two or more players claim a suit, it is awarded to the higher ranked player. Before the first round, when the rank does not yet exist, priority in conflicts is determined by the starting position.

WHAT TO NOTE

• Don't drag on! Respect the time of other players too! If no one responds to your invitation to trade, it most likely means "no". In this championship, the duration of the rounds is strictly limited, so the organizers of the championship may be forced to set a time limit for the move or even stop the game without determining a winner.
• When you finish the game, record the results in the questionnaire and declare the game over! Break up the playing field by arranging the land squares and number circles into separate piles, and collecting together the pieces you each use. Don't mess up the sea tiles as they stay the same layout every game. It is the responsibility of the winner to bring the questionnaire to the judges' table!
• Dice must roll on the table - so that they are not simply "placed". If even one of the dice has fallen to the ground or comes to rest sideways, both dice must be rolled.
• The participants of the game are themselves responsible for mutual control of compliance with the rules. If new actions have been initiated after an error has been made, the error can no longer be corrected. For example, if a "7" came up, but forgot (and no one reminded) to move the robber, but trade and construction have already started, the robber may no longer be moved (however, it should be remembered if the player for some reason does not want to move the robber and immediately tries to start the exchange or construction in order to to avoid this, he must take into account the reminder of other players to move the robber). Similarly, if the corresponding raw materials were placed in the bank, but the corresponding figure was forgotten, then after passing the move to the next player, the figure may no longer be placed on the field.
• Verbal statements are not binding and the final action may be changed depending on the player's wishes. For example, if a player says that he will rob from player A, but then for some reason changes his mind and wants to rob from player B, he is allowed to do so. Or if a player deposits clay and wood in the bank, saying he will build a road, but doesn't build it yet, he can, for example, pay extra for grain and a sheep and build a village at the end.
• A piece is considered placed on the field when it is placed in a legal place and the player has released it. As long as the player has not released the piece, he can also move it to another place. However, once a piece is dismissed, its position may not be changed again.
• Agreements outside the rules of the game (such as a promise to give lemonade if you don't make a mugger) are not binding on either party and can be broken without consequence. Another thing is that the partner of the agreement can take it badly. The same applies to short-term alliances - they are not forbidden, but can fall apart at any moment.
• Influencing opponents' decisions with words is not prohibited - we assume that each participant is capable of making a decision independently. If you want to "punish" a player who you think is manipulating others, you can, for example, not trade with him or play against him with his own weapons.
• Physically influencing opponents before, after or during the game is, of course, completely unacceptable and will mean disqualification of the participant.
• If you have come to sympathize or you are a participant of the championship who has already finished his game, it is forbidden to make audible comments and give advice to the players while watching the game of another table. Interference in the game from the outside (even with a seemingly harmless retort) can affect the outcome of the game and is therefore not allowed! Depending on the "degree of harm", the participant who performs such an intervention may receive from a warning to disqualification (head judge's decision).
• The games are played with the Baltic version of the base game Catan. The exception is the first table, which is played with the 3D version of "Catan" in English. Communication during the game takes place in Latvian, but all game participants can also agree on another language.