Résumé express
Settle the island of Catan: terrain hexes produce resources on dice rolls, you trade, you build roads, settlements and cities, and the first player to 10 victory points wins. As much a negotiation game as a strategy game — everything happens in the trades.
Mise en place
- Board made of terrain hexes (wood, brick, wool, grain, ore + desert), a number token on each hex.
- Everyone places 2 settlements + 2 roads (the second settlement produces its starting resources).
- The robber starts on the desert.
- With 5-6 players (expansion): bigger board and a shared building phase after each turn.
Tour de jeu
- Roll the dice: every hex with that number produces — all players with an adjacent settlement receive the resource (a city yields two).
- On a 7: no production; anyone holding more than 7 cards discards half, then the roller moves the robber (blocks a hex and steals one card from a neighbor).
- Trade: freely with other players, or 4:1 with the bank (3:1 or 2:1 with a harbor).
- Build: road (wood + brick), settlement (wood + brick + wool + grain — on a free intersection two roads away from any settlement), city (2 grain + 3 ore), or development card (wool + grain + ore).
Fin de partie
First to 10 victory points during their turn wins immediately:
- Settlement 1 pt · City 2 pts
- Longest road (≥ 5 segments): 2 pts, can be stolen
- Largest army (≥ 3 knights played): 2 pts, can be stolen
- “Victory point” development cards: 1 pt each, revealed at the end
Entering it in the app: the score lives on the board — at the end, enter a single round with everyone’s totals, then finish the game to archive the result in the stats.
FAQ
Can we trade development cards or points? No, resources only. Development cards are never given away.
When can a development card be played? One per turn, never the one bought that same turn (except victory points, revealed any time if they take you to 10).
What does the robber block exactly? The hex it sits on produces nothing for anyone while it stays there.
When is longest road recounted? Continuously: if someone overtakes you (or cuts your road with a settlement), the 2 points change hands.
Variantes
- 5-6 player expansion: same rules plus a shared building phase — app entry doesn’t change.
- Thematic expansions (Seafarers, Cities & Knights) change the scoring: not covered here, but free entry still works.