Has anyone ever played Settlers of Catan?

Question

My favorite board game personally. it has great expansions too. just wondering if anyone else out there plays it.

Answer 1

Yes! I love Settlers and used to play it almost every week with my husband and our friends. The seafarers expansion is pretty good too. Hopefully we'll play again in the future but right now we've got a new baby and the game closet is getting a bit neglected.

Answer 2

Yes and I play the computer version I found at The Home of the Underdogs web site. The variations and expansions are hit-and-miss however. Starship Catan, Settlers Card Game and Settlers of the Stone Age are the best variants, IMHO.

Answer 3

I believe you can also play with other players at www.brettspielwelt.com still.  (It was there about a month ago, the last time I went to play).  That game site is mostly in German, but there's a way to change it into English- you just have to mess around with the settings.

Answer 4

yes.  One of my all time favorites.  A friend used to play it alot in college many many years ago.  Back in Feb. 2007, we passed by a games parlor on our way back from IKEA and she decided to buy the game.  That was when our group of friends were introduced to it.  We got in quite a few games, about one to 3 gaming sessions per month, but as the months went by, each of our free time waned, and gaming IRL (in real life) become more difficult and less frequent.  The biggest hrudle was often just finding a 3rd person, as same said friedn wasn't willing to try any 2 player variants of the game

My favorite thing about SoC (Settlers/Seafarers of Catan) is that it has an excellent midgame.  In gmes like Monopoly, 9 out of 10 times, the person who's in the lead midgame will win the game, but u still need to play on for another 1 to 3 hours to actually finish the game.  In SoC, ppl who are as far behind as 5 points in a 10pt game can end up winning vs others who had 7 to 9 points (like LA + VPs + building for the win).  SoC is also my first German/-style board game, so that in itself was a refreshing concept.  I also like how there's many ways to go about getting the pts needed to win games

Same friend who tought us how to play then told me about Sea3d.  It's a freeware version of the game for PC (using java, C++, and OpenGL in its implementation).  It doesn't have Single Player, and hotseat mode (multiple ppl on the same PC) isn't very good, but online play is VERY convenient and fast.  It has implementations for both Settlers and Seafarers game expansion, standard 3-4 player and 5-6 player expansion, variants like deserts and volcanoes, as well as tile sets.  Ever since I started playing SoC there, I've gotten my stasifying fill of Settlers AND Seafarers of Catan despite no having any more IRL games.  

As with typical online gaming, u may need to deal with foul language, passive quitters, and those who quit bef the game ends to keep others for winnign ladder games and themselves from losing rating points, but the cheating moderators for that game work diligently in keeping the unpleasant players in check while being unbaised in theri judjements.

I ended up getting physical board games of Settlers of Catan, Seafarers, and theri 5-6 player expansions anyways.... for the rules, and so that if there is a group of ppl, we could play a game on the spot.  I also gotten Cities&Knights of Cata, but didn't have time to even go beyond opening the box.

Answer 5

Yes, I play it with my friends every now and then.  Great game.  I love getting a corner on the market for one resource.

Answer 6

Yes.  It's very good game, vastly superior to Monopoly and most die-rolling games, where as has been said, the person in front tends to win.

Hence it's often a great and pleasant surprise to people who've only played traditional boardgames. The "German game" revolution has really been a major step forward.

It still isn't "The perfect game" however.

I often play where some people are unfamilar with the new boardgames, and Catan shows a high expertise advantage.  A beginner gets creamed playing with experts.

This does not have to be the case, without reverting to mere snakes and ladders.

Games have been designed which reward instinctive play, or where the best an expert in the game can achieve is an "edge" over a beginner.

Game length can also be an issue, so I've gradually put together a range of games from the last twenty years to suit all tastes.  

Popular currently "Tutanchamun"  by Reiner Knizia

A simple set-collecting game, except it's not quite simple.  Tactics and games vary time after time.

Answer 7

I love Settlers!  I think the best expansion is Cities and Knights.  I usually play for numbers as opposed to resources...to get the best numbers I can and to be collection resources on every roll is the ideal.  One reason it's so great is the 'tiled' board...the fact that the board is different every single time.  It is the best board game out there, I think, though there are some other good ones...Puerto Rico is another fun game for example.