How to play Catan

How to play

Setup: For a first game, use the rulebook's Fixed Setup, which places the island and everyone's starting pieces for you. Later, use the Variable Setup: shuffle and join the six sea frame pieces, lay the 19 terrain hexes face up at random inside, and place the number discs in the letter order on their backs, spiralling counterclockwise from any corner and skipping the desert, then flip them. The robber starts on the desert. Roll for first player; highest goes first. Going clockwise, each player places a settlement and a road touching it; then, in reverse order, a second settlement and road. Take one resource card for each hex next to your second settlement.

On your turn: In the production phase you may play one development card, then roll both dice. Every hex showing that number produces: each player with a settlement on one of its corners takes one matching resource card, or two for a city. Then, in the action phase, trade and build in any order as often as you can pay, and pass the dice to your left.

Resource types: Hills give brick, forests give wood, pastures give wool, fields give wheat and mountains give ore. The desert gives nothing.

Building: A road costs brick and wood and goes on an empty edge joined to your own road or building; you can't build onward through a rival's settlement. A settlement costs brick, wood, wool and wheat, must touch your road, and needs every neighbouring corner empty. A city costs two wheat and three ore and replaces a settlement. A development card costs wool, wheat and ore. You have only 5 settlements, 4 cities and 15 roads.

Trading: On your turn you may trade with any player on any terms you agree. The others may trade only with you, not with each other. You can't give cards away or swap a resource for the same kind. You can also trade with the supply: 4 of one resource for 1 of another, or better with a settlement or city on a port printed on the frame: 3:1 at a general port, 2:1 at a port for that resource.

The robber: When a 7 is rolled, nothing produces. Everyone holding more than 7 resource cards discards half, rounded down. Then you must move the robber to a different hex and steal one random resource card from a player with a building on it. That hex produces nothing while the robber stays.

Development cards: Keep them hidden. You may play one per turn, before or after rolling, but not on the turn you bought it. A Knight moves the robber and steals, with no discards. Road Building gives you two free roads, Invention takes any two resources from the supply, and Monopoly makes every player hand you all of one resource you name. Victory Point cards stay hidden until they win you the game.

Winning: Settlements score 1 point and cities 2. The first player with a continuous route of 5 roads takes the Longest Route tile and the first to play 3 Knights takes the Largest Army tile, each worth 2 points; either tile passes to anyone who beats it. Reach 10 points on your own turn and you win at once.

Strategy

Opening placement: Your two starting settlements shape the whole game, so spend your thinking there. The dots on a number disc show how many of the 36 dice combinations roll it. 6 and 8 (five ways each) are the best producers, then 5 and 9 (four ways each). A 7 is the most common roll of all (six ways), but it never produces; it sets off the robber instead. Look for corners whose discs add up to plenty of dots, and try to reach all five resources between your two settlements, or claim a port that covers the gap. Outward or upward: Wood and brick build roads and settlements, so a start rich in them wins the race for open land. Wheat and ore build cities and development cards, so a start rich in them grows upward instead. Both work. A start with neither usually stalls. Cities early: A city doubles what its corner produces without needing new land, and you only have five settlements, so upgrading is how you grow once the island fills up. Plan where your third and fourth settlements will go before a rival's road or building takes the spot. The bonus tiles: Longest Route and Largest Army are 2 points each, a fifth of the way to victory, and both can change hands. A rival can cut your route by building a settlement on a free corner along it, so don't trust a long thin road. Knights pay twice: they count toward Largest Army, and they let you move the robber off your own best hex when you choose. Trading: Every trade helps both sides, so ask what it does for the other player. Refuse the card that completes a leader's city or settlement, even at a generous rate. Deal fairly with players who are behind; a table that won't trade with you costs you almost as much as the robber. The robber: Put it on the hex that hurts the leader most, ideally one you don't touch yourself. Remember that Victory Point cards are hidden: a player showing 8 points with several unplayed development cards may be one turn from winning. Late game: Keep your hand small when the leader is about to roll, save a Knight to free your own hex, and play Monopoly right after a roll that paid everyone the resource you want.

Tips

- Try to end your turn with 7 or fewer resource cards; every rolled 7 costs anyone holding more than that half their hand. - Development cards don't count toward that limit and can't be stolen, so buying one is a safe way to spend spare wool, wheat and ore. - A 2:1 port for a resource you roll often turns every pair into a card of your choice. - You can trade only on your own turn, so ask for what you need then; on someone else's turn you may deal only with them. - Don't hand the leader the last card they need, even at a generous rate. - Build roads toward land you mean to settle, not just to lengthen your route. - Keep a running count of each player's visible points and unplayed development cards.

Player count & time

The base game is for 3–4 players and takes about 60–90 minutes. The 5–6 Player Extension adds hexes, number discs, pieces and cards for larger groups; its 6th Edition rules use paired turns, where a second player takes an action phase (without trading with other players) after each regular turn, in place of the older special building phase. For two players, the Catan for Two variant is in the Traders & Barbarians expansion.

Expansions to explore

All four classic expansions were reissued for the 6th Edition in 2025, each with its own 5–6 player extension. Seafarers adds ships, sea hexes and islands to reach. Cities & Knights adds knights who defend the island from barbarians, city improvements and commodities, and it replaces the development deck with three decks of progress cards. Traders & Barbarians collects five scenarios, including Rivers of Catan and Merchant Trains of Catan, plus four variants such as Catan for Two, event cards that replace the dice, and the Friendly Robber. Explorers & Pirates sends ships out to explore unknown waters and complete missions. Buy expansions for the same edition as your base game: the 6th Edition cards have new backs and don't mix with older printings.

First game tip

Use the Fixed Setup shown in the rulebook for your first game. It sets out the island and everyone's starting settlements and roads, so you can start rolling at once and learn the rules through play. Switch to the Variable Setup once everyone knows the game: choosing your own starting corners is where much of the skill lies.

Common misconceptions

You can trade only during your own turn. On someone else's turn you may trade only with that player, never with another player or the supply. You can't play a development card on the turn you bought it, and you may play only one per turn; Victory Point cards are the exception when they take you to 10. A Knight moves the robber but makes nobody discard, since only a rolled 7 does that. The robber must move to a different hex every time. Longest Route and Largest Army pass only to a player who beats the holder; matching them isn't enough.