The Catan Phenomenon

Published May 11, 2007

The newly released Catan on Xbox 360™ is based on the critically acclaimed, fan-favorite board game Settlers of Catan. With over eleven million board games sold, Settlers of Catan is arguably responsible for the resurgence of tabletop gaming in the last several years. And now, Xbox 360 owners can enjoy the strategic gameplay that has so charmed those millions of board game players around the globe.

Welcome to a worldwide phenomenon.

A Catan Primer
The key to appreciating Catan is in understanding its gameplay fundamentals. This is not a game where basic principles leap out at you after viewing the board. However, after grasping just a few simple concepts, this strategic masterpiece begins to shine.

It paves the way for other board games
to take the leap from the tabletop to the
TV screen on Xbox LIVE Arcade.

• The Purpose: Your role in Catan is as a settler hoping to establish dominance over an imaginary, resource-rich island. Through settlements, cities, roadways, trade and even armed forces, you will race to establish ten Victory Points before your competitors.
• The Board: Each game begins with nineteen randomly selected hexagonal tiles laid out and fitted together. Each tile represents a resource (lumber, wool, wheat, ore, and brick), and they also sport an assigned number from one to twelve (excluding seven). The numbers are used to determine which tile produces resources when the dice are rolled at the beginning of each round.

Each round of play begins with the assigned player rolling the dice. As mentioned, the result of the die roll determines which tiles produce resources. However, the tiles only produce resources for players who have settlements or cities bordering those tiles. Once the die is rolled and the resources are handed out, the player whose turn it is can choose from several options:

• Buy Items: You can use your available resources to buy roads, settlements, cities and development cards. Two segments of road are required between each settlement and cities can only be built on the site of an existing settlement. Development cards offer the element of random chance as they can, among other things, upgrade your status with a Victory Point card, let you steal resources from your opponents, or even lock down an enemy resource tile from production.
• Trade: You can, at any point during your turn, offer to trade resources with your opponents in any fashion or form. Because of the random nature of resource production, trading with enemies is the most delicate and critical element of the game. You must balance your own priorities against giving an opponent too much of an advantage.
• Port Trade: If your opponents are unwilling to trade with you, you can always trade with the bank at a 4:1 ratio (for instance, trade four wheat for one ore). You can alter this to a 2:1 ratio if you have settlements near specified port resources.

The interface makes critical trades easy to execute.

• The Robber: Any time a player rolls a seven or plays a Soldier card, the Robber comes into play. By placing the Robber on an opponent's tile, you prevent that tile from producing any resources until the Robber is moved. What's more, the opponent you affect when placing the Robber must give you one resource card.
• Victory Achieved: Of course, the reason you build roads, place settlements, upgrade to cities, and purchase development cards is to acquire Victory Points. Here's how the allotment breaks down:
  • One point for settlements.
  • Two points for cities.
  • Two points for the player with the longest road.
  • One point for Victory Point development cards.
  • Two points to the player with the largest army.

Community Fun
Expert Catan players can rejoice in an A.I. so sophisticated that it will challenge the most experienced players. However, Catan truly shines as a multiplayer experience against fellow gamers. Played on Xbox LIVE® with three to four people, Catan can erupt into a game of complex and tangled politics as you bob and weave through trades and strike deals with your fellow players. Put simply, Catan is at its finest when the human element is in full force.

Choose the "living" skin for more animated, detailed visuals.

The Xbox 360 Advantage
Where Xbox 360 really accentuates the Catan experience is in its easy access to critical information. For example, at any time with the flick of a button you can:

• Check the Victory Point rundown without manually counting your opponent's setup.
• Note not only how many cards are left in the Development Card deck, but also how many Soldier cards have yet to be played.
• Scroll up and down the Game Log to check who did what, and in what order from the beginning of the game.
• Check how many resources have been gained and lost throughout the match.
• Look up the dice roll history. Even though it's strategically useless, it does allow players to accurately bemoan their rotten luck.

The release and subsequent success of Catan on Xbox LIVE® Arcade is important for a couple reasons. First and foremost, its spot-on recreation of the award-winning Settlers of Catan board game is a boon for veteran and casual fans of the series, but perhaps more importantly, it paves the way for other board games to take the leap from the tabletop to the TV screen on Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Article by Ryan Treit