Before playing Catan 6th Edition, my only real reference to the game was Ben Wyatt from Parks and Recreation. “Oh I’m sorry, what’s this?, Seven contiguous segments giving me longest road and a sweet ass 10 points for the win? Booyah!”
All of this used to be beautiful nonsense. Some vaguely board game-sounding gibberish that poked fun at tabletop geekiness in just the right ways. Now, though, I fully understand Ben’s jubilation at winning, having played Catan and understand its rules and gameplay.
Catan 6th Edition was recently released in Australia, and with the new edition comes updates meant to modernise and simplify the game. As a Catan noob, I’m not qualified to comment on how different this edition is or how the changes feel, but I can (and will) discuss my experience getting to grips with this classic board game. Spoiler alert: It’s excellent.
Catan 6th Edition Review
As I’d never played Catan before and was coming in totally fresh, I was expecting a lengthy and difficult setup and learning curve. Some other board games I’ve reviewed (cough Frostpunk cough) have drained my will to live with complexity and difficulty. Catan caused no such issues. From the moment I opened the box, everything was clear, simple, easy to understand and quick to set up. The rulebook is incredibly straightforward and explains rules, mechanics and set-up in plain language without ambiguity. It’s really refreshing to be able to unbox, set up and start playing a board game in less than 20 minutes.
Speaking of unboxing, something to note with Catan 6th Edition is the game’s shift to sustainable materials and eco-friendly construction. There’s nary a piece of plastic in sight (aside from the card holder) with natural materials — cardboard and wood — taking centre stage. There’s something about wooden game pieces that feels…nicer and warmer, for lack of a better word. And, it fits Catan’s premise better since ‘Plastic’ is not a resource on this island.
As I mentioned, opening the box and setting up Catan 6th Edition is a breeze. The instruction manual guides you step-by-step through setting up the board, assigning players their starting cards and pieces and rolling the first dice. Once you’re underway, a handy reference card for each player can assist with most basic queries and beyond that, the instruction manual holds an answer to every question I had.
For Catan noobs like myself, here’s a brief overview of the game. Players have come to the unspoiled island of Catan to farm, build and thrive. In order to do so, you need to build roads and settlements, trade with other settlers, and work towards supremacy by scoring 10 Victory Points first. Points are awarded for settlements, cities and through special Resource Cards that grant them. Winning in Catan requires skill, a bit of luck, diplomacy and lots of strategy.
Each turn begins with a dice roll. The number on the dice corresponds to a number on one or more of the Hex Tiles. When that number is rolled, every player who has a settlement adjacent to that Hex earns a resource of the Hex type. For example, in the image above, if the roll was a 6, Yellow would earn two Brick and Red would earn one Stone. Roads, Settlements, Cities and Resource Cards all cost Resources to build, and the costs and types vary greatly. I found that I was always light on Wool and so struggled for a while until I started to aggressively negotiate with my fellow players.
After the Dice Phase, Catan moves onto the Action Phase. Here, whoever’s turn it is is able to initiate trades with other players. Offering up your own Resources for ones you desperately need is an art in and of itself. You don’t want to seem too eager lest you give the game away, but you also don’t want to be too nonchalant. It’s a fun balancing act and where I had the most fun with Catan. Many heated and vigorous trade deals were completed on my dining table. Sadly, more often than not, I didn’t get what I wanted or needed. But hey, that’s Catan.
That being said, when I played with my 7-year-old son, he was more than happy to oblige his old man and trade away his precious resources. It didn’t really feel fair, but he’s got to learn about the real world one of these days…
Having now played Catan, I understand its enduring appeal and why it has become synonymous with tabletop gaming. I can’t comment on how Catan 6th Edition compares to previous editions, but I can say that 6th Edition is one of the simplest and easiest tabletop setups I’ve ever experienced. But more than that, while it’s incredibly quick and easy to get going, Catan has an enormous amount of complexity and depth baked in. Even without changing the board at all, no game is ever the same. Once you start moving the Hex Pieces around and changing up who starts where and with what Resources, you realise there are nearly infinite permutations of a game of Catan.
I haven’t yet won a game with 7 contiguous segments, giving me the longest route and a sweet ass 10 victory points, but someday I hope to shout booyah in the faces of my friends and family. Perhaps I’ll even become nationally ranked. A man can dream.
For now, I’m content to play Catan 6th Edition and thoroughly enjoy it. I’m sure longtime Catan players will have numerous opinions and thoughts about the changes to their favourite game. However, for noobs like me, Catan 6th Edition is the perfect place to start.
A copy of Catan 6th Edition was provided by the publisher for this review.
Catan 6th Edition is available in Australia at game retailers, including JB Hi-Fi.
