Catan

The game begins by assembling the modular board: arrange the six sea border pieces to form the island frame, then randomly place the nineteen terrain hexes inside. Numbered tokens are distributed alphabetically or randomly onto the hexes, excluding the desert. Each player selects a color and receives all corresponding plastic components, including settlements, cities, and roads. Two special bonus cards—Longest Road and Largest Army—are placed near the board. Resource cards and development cards are shuffled and placed in their respective card holders. Finally, in a snake draft order, each player places two initial settlements and adjacent roads on the board, collecting starting resources for their second placement.

The main objective of Catan is to colonize and develop the island of Catan by establishing thriving settlements and cities, connecting them with an extensive network of roads, and strategically trading resources. Players compete to be the first to reach a total of 10 victory points, which are accumulated through construction, expansion, military strength, and hidden development cards.

A player's turn follows a structured sequence: first, two dice are rolled to determine resource production across all hexes matching that number. Players with settlements or cities adjacent to producing hexes collect the corresponding resource cards. Next, the active player may conduct trade negotiations—either by offering trades to opponents or using maritime trade via ports and the bank at fixed exchange rates. Finally, the player may spend accumulated resources to build roads, settlements, upgrade settlements to cities, or purchase development cards, and they may play one development card per turn.

Victory points are tracked openly and secretly throughout the game. Each settlement built on the board is worth 1 point, while upgraded cities are worth 2 points. The player with the longest continuous road of at least five segments claims the Longest Road card for 2 points, and the player who plays at least three knight cards claims the Largest Army card for 2 points. Additionally, certain development cards provide secret victory points that remain hidden in a player's hand until the end of the game.

The game concludes immediately during any player's turn as soon as that player accumulates a total of 10 or more victory points. Upon reaching this threshold, the player announces their victory and wins the game, regardless of whether it is their turn or another player's phase.