Simply Catan Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• A. Game Overview
• B. Rules of Play
  • Building the Island
  • Game Preparation
  • Game Play Overview
  • Game Play Details
    • 1. Harvests
    • 2. Trading
    • 3. Building
    • 4. The Robber!
  • Game End

Introduction

To make learning the game as easy as possible, we are using a simplified version of the Simply Catan rules system, which consists of three parts: A, B and C.

• A) Game overview and setup for beginner players
• B) After this introduction, please read the short rules summary on the other side. You can start playing the game afterwards.
• C) Specific rules questions can be looked up in the Simply Catan Almanac. You'll also find examples and additional rules variants to enhance your game play.

A. Game Overview

1. The island of Catan lies in front of you. It consists of 19 land spaces, surrounded by ocean. Your job is to settle the island.
2. Catan features a desert as well as five different landscape types; each type produces a different raw material.
   • Forests = Wood
   • Pastures = Wool
   • Fields = Wheat
   • Hills = Brick
   • Mountains = Ore
   • (Desert = produces nothing)
3. You start the game with 2 Settlements and 2 Roads. With the 2 Settlements, you already have 2 victory points. The first player to reach 7 victory points wins the game.
4. To get victory points, you have to build new Roads and Settlements, as well as expand existing Settlements into Cities. Each City is worth 2 victory points. Anyone who wants to build will need Resource Cards.
5. How do you get Resource Cards? Simple: During each round the land spaces that produce goods are determined. This is accomplished with 2 dice - and this is why there are round number chips on each land space. If a 3 is rolled, for example, then any land space with a 3 on it produces goods - for example this would be a Forest (Wood) and Mountain (Ore).
6. Goods can only be claimed by those players who own a Settlement or City adjacent to the land space. In our example, a red Settlement A is adjacent to the Field, and a white Settlement D is adjacent to the Forest. When a 10 is rolled, the red player receives a Wheat card, while the white player receives a Wood card.
7. What's even better is that a Settlement (or City) is always adjacent to more than one land space (up to a maximum of 3), and so - depending on the dice roll - can 'harvest' different Resource Cards. In our example, Settlement C is adjacent to 3 spaces: Forest, Mountain and Hill while Settlement D, along the coast, can harvest resources from only 2 spaces (Forest and Field).
8. You are a hard working settler now, gathering your harvests. But, since you don't have Settlements all over the island, you'll have to do without resources of one kind or another. This is difficult, since you need very specific combinations of Resource Cards in order to build new buildings and roads.

B. Rules of Play

Please first read the Game Overview A on the other side. Then read the short Game Rules of Play B on this side - you should then try your first game. We recommend, however, that the rules be read in a quiet time before playing for the first time. Hints and explanatory examples can be found in the Simply Catan Almanac, arranged alphabetically by keyword. Should questions arise, look it up in the Simply Catan Almanac: an icon indicates that the keyword may be found in the Almanac. There is a simple version and an advanced version of Simply Catan. Learn the simple one first and after a few games move on to the advanced game.

This page of rules contains all the important information you need for the game! If you need more information during play, please refer to the appropriate entry in the Simply Catan Almanac.

Building the Island

Basic setup for beginners

Even though the board setup is variable, we recommend the Beginner's Setup on the Game Overview Section A: With this setup, each player's position is balanced. Build the game board exactly as shown on the page. Fold the board out onto the table and lay the hex strips into the cut out area. Place the number chips onto the hexes as shown.

Setup for experienced players

The game is naturally more fun with the variable game board. You can make the board variable by randomly choosing different sides of the hex strips and placing them into the game board. All relevant information to play this way can be found under Setup, Variable in the Almanac. Useful hints can be found under Setup Phase and Tactics.

Game Preparation

Basic setup for beginners

• Each player chooses a color and receives 5 Settlements, 4 Cities, and 15 Roads - no more, no less! Each player places 2 Roads and 2 Settlements onto the game board (see figures on other side). The players' remaining Settlements, Roads and Cities are placed in front of himself or herself. If there are only 3 players, then all red playing pieces are removed from the game.
• Each player has a Building Cost Card printed on the board to show you what types of resources are needed to build certain things.
• The special card Longest Road is placed next to the game board, as are the 2 dice. (The Largest Army card is played in the advanced game version.)
• The Resource Cards are sorted into 5 piles and placed face up on the appropriate spaces on the board.
• The Development Cards are shuffled and placed onto the appropriate space on the board. (These are played in the advanced game version.)
• Finally, each player receives their first Harvest. The player picks one Settlement to receive Harvest. For each land type that this Settlement is next to, the player takes one corresponding raw material from the supply. For example, blue receives 2 Wood and 1 Wheat for the Settlement near the top of the board.
• Resource Cards are kept hidden in each player's hand.

Game Play Overview

Pick a starting player. On a player's turn, they perform the following actions:

1. Player must roll the dice to determine the Harvests for this turn (the result counts for all players).
2. Player may trade: exchange Resource Cards - with opponents or supply.
3. Player may build Roads, Settlements, or Cities, and/or buy Development Cards.

Steps 2 and 3 may be done in any order or concurrently.

In addition, the active player may play one of his or her Development Cards at any time of their choosing (before or after the roll.)

It is then the next player's turn and continues the game with action 1.

Game Play Details

1. Harvests

• The player starts his or her turn by rolling both dice. The sum of the numbers rolled determines the land spaces that produce resources!
• Each player with a Settlement on a Corner, adjacent to one of the rolled land spaces, receives 1 raw material for this space. Example: If a player has 2 or 3 Settlements around a rolled land space, then naturally receives 1 Resource for each Settlement.

2. Trading

After rolling the dice, the player whose turn it is may trade (see Player and Harbor Trading below), to obtain the Resource Cards he or she wants!

a) Player Trading

The player whose turn it is can trade Resource Cards with all other players. He or she can say which materials they need and what they are willing to trade for them. But the player can also listen to the offers that other players make and make counter-offers.

Important: Players may only trade with the player whose turn it is. The other players may not trade among themselves.

b) Harbor Trading

The player whose turn it is can also trade without involving the other players!

• Players can always trade 4 for 1 and trade in 4 identical Resource Cards for 1 Resource of choice. The player places the four cards on the proper space on the board and takes one Resource card back.
• If a player has a Settlement at a Harbor, then he or she can trade on better terms: Either 3 for 1 or even 2 for 1 at special Harbors (those with the Resource symbols.)

Important: The 4:1 trade is always possible, even without a Harbor Settlement.

3. Building

The player whose turn it is can also build, in order to increase the player's Victory Point total!

• To build, the player must pay specific combinations of Resource Cards (see building costs card). He or she then takes the corresponding number of Roads, Settlements or Cities from their supply and places them onto the game board.
• No player may build more than they own - so a maximum of 5 Settlements, 4 Cities, and 15 Roads.

a) Road requires: Brick + Wood

• A new Road must always be added next to the player's existing Settlement or Road.
• No more than 1 Road may be built along any path.
• As soon as a player has a continuous line (branches don't count) of at least 5 Roads, he or she receives the special card - Longest Road. If another player builds a longer Road than the current Longest Road later in the game, then the player immediately takes the special card from the previous owner (and the 2 victory points the card is worth).

b) Settlement requires: Brick + Wood + Wool + Wheat

• Important while building - the Offset Rule: A Settlement can only be built on a Corner when the 3 adjacent corners are NOT occupied by Settlements - regardless of whom they belong to.
• The Settlement must connect to at least one of that player's Roads.
• The Settlement owner receives 1 raw material from each adjacent land space when it produces goods.
• Each Settlement is worth 1 victory point.

c) City requires: 3 Ore + 2 Wheat

A City can only be built by upgrading a Settlement to a City!

• If a player upgrades a Settlement to a City, then the Settlement is returned to his or her supply and replaces it with a City on the board.
• The City owner receives 2 Resource Cards from each adjacent land space when it produces goods.
• Each City is worth 2 victory points.

d) Buying Development Cards requires: Ore + Wool + Wheat

• In the simple rules of Simply Catan, Development Cards are not available to purchase. Please see the Simply Catan Almanac to learn more about buying and using Development Cards in the more advanced version of the game.

4. The Robber!

a) Rolling 7: Robber is activated

• If the player rolls a 7 on the turn, then no Resource Cards are produced.
• All players who currently have more than 7 Resource Cards, choose half of their Resource Cards and discard them to their respective piles. Uneven numbers are rounded down (for example, a player with 9 cards would have to discard 4.)
• Then, the player must move the Robber as per 1) and 2) below.
  1. The player must immediately move the Robber onto the number chip of another, different land space.
  2. The player then robs 1 Resource Card from a player with a Settlement adjacent to this land space. The player randomly chooses a card from the other player's hand - the player being robbed first removes any Development Cards, however. If more than one player has a Settlement or City on that land space, then he or she gets to choose a player to rob.

Important: If the number rolled matches the land space that the robber is sitting on, then the owners of the adjacent Settlements and Cities receive NO Resource Cards. The robber doesn't move.

Game End

The game ends on the turn in which a player reaches 7 or more victory points. To win, it must be the player's turn and he or she must have reached at least 7 victory points.

You have just completed learning the simplified version of Simply Catan in which you play to 7 points and do not play with Development Cards or Largest Army Cards. To play the more advanced version, please read the sections in the Almanac titled Advanced Game.