Catan

To set up Catan, first, assemble the game board by interlocking the six ocean border pieces to form a hexagonal frame. Then, randomly place the 19 hexagonal resource tiles (representing forests, hills, pastures, fields, mountains, and one desert) within this frame. Next, place the numbered tokens (from 2 to 12, excluding 7) face-up on the resource tiles, ensuring the red numbers (6 and 8) are not adjacent. Each player chooses a color and receives their corresponding building pieces: 4 cities, 5 settlements, and 15 roads. The two 'Longest Road' and 'Largest Army' cards are placed face-up next to the board. Resource cards (wood, brick, grain, ore, sheep) and development cards are shuffled and placed in their designated slots in the card holder. The robber token is initially placed on the desert tile. Players then take turns placing their first two settlements and adjacent roads on the board, receiving initial resources based on their second settlement placement.

The primary objective in Catan is to be the first player to accumulate 10 or more victory points. Victory points are earned through various actions: building settlements and cities, establishing the longest continuous road, assembling the largest army, and acquiring specific development cards. Players must strategically manage their resources, trade effectively, and expand their territory to reach this point threshold before their opponents.

A player's turn consists of three main phases. First, the active player rolls two dice; the sum determines which resource tiles produce resources. Any player with a settlement adjacent to a producing tile receives one resource card of that type, while a city yields two. If a 7 is rolled, the robber is activated: players with more than 7 resource cards must discard half, and the active player moves the robber to a new tile, stealing a resource from an adjacent player. Second, the active player can engage in trading. This can be with other players (negotiating any resource exchange) or with the bank (typically at a 4:1 ratio, or 3:1/2:1 if ports are controlled). Third, the active player can build. This includes roads, settlements, cities, or buying development cards, by paying the required resource costs to the bank.

Victory points are the measure of success in Catan. Each settlement built is worth 1 victory point, and upgrading a settlement to a city increases its value to 2 victory points. Additionally, two special cards provide 2 victory points each: 'Largest Army' is awarded to the player who has played the most 'Soldier' development cards (minimum 3), and 'Longest Road' is given to the player with the longest continuous road (minimum 5 segments). Some development cards also grant immediate victory points when purchased, but these are kept secret until the player declares victory.

The game concludes immediately when a player, during their turn, accumulates 10 or more victory points. This player must declare their victory to win the game. If a player reaches 10 points but does not declare it, or if another player reaches 10 points on their turn before the first player declares, the game continues until a player declares victory on their turn. The game does not necessarily end at the end of a round; it ends as soon as the condition is met and declared.