Settlers of Catan

The players in the game represent the settlers of the game's title. They establish a colony on the previously uninhabited island of Catan. The island is different each game as the hexagonal tiles which form the island are laid out randomly at the start of the game. Each hex produces one of the available types of resource: clay, grain, lumber, ore, or wool.

Starting with two settlements and adjoining road sections, players build roads, settlements and eventually cities as they settle the island. Roads are built along the edges of the hexes, and settlements at the corners; no two settlements may be built on adjacent corners. Positioning of roads and settlements allows a player to deny other players access to essential resources, and strategic building is one route to victory.

Each turn, a roll of the two dice determines which hexes produce resources. This is the main random element in the game. Normally, players with settlements adjacent to those hexes receive resource cards of the appropriate type, with cities yielding more resources.

The resource cards can be spent to build more roads or settlements, upgrade settlements to cities, and to obtain development cards for later use; or they can be stored for trade or later use. When a seven is rolled, players with too many stored resources lose half their stored resources, making the choice of whether to build or store resources a difficult one.

Players are allowed to trade among each other the resources they have produced, and to trade "off the island" for a hefty price. By building settlements in certain positions, players may obtain better off-island trading prices. Bad luck in the game can be mitigated by trading, and trading is the main method of player interaction in the game; astute trading is another route to victory.

A player receives a victory point for each settlement built, and another for each settlement upgraded to a city. Various other achievements, such as establishing the longest road, grant a player additional victory points. The victor is the first player to accumulate ten victory points on his turn.