Settlers of Catan

Awhile back, I wrote a blog post about the best lawn game in the whole, wide world (Kubb!), and now I'd like to post about the best board game in the whole, wide world: Settlers of Catan (affectionately shortened to "Settlers" by those of us who have spent many an hour playing). If you haven't played this game, I feel sorry for you.

The reason I even bring it up is that I played with four of my lovely, smart friends the other night... and I kicked their lovely, smart asses!

Some people complain about it being complicated, but you know what? Those people are just stupid people, and no one wants to hang out with stupid people. The board is made up of a bunch of hexagonal pieces, which are put into a random sequence each time you play. Therefore, this game is never the same. I repeat: This game is different every time you play it. It's the perfect game for Playas and Slutbags (that is, those people who get bored easily...). You put the pieces together to form the Island Nation of Catan, which each player is trying to Settle (hence, the name). This island is surrounded by water (most islands I've heard of are), so there are ports. The player who most successfully takes over Catan wins. You do this by earning Victory Points. Each settlement and city you build earns you points, you can get points for having the longest continuous road (my personal favorite way of achieving victory), the largest army, etc. You get resources each time the dice are rolled, based on what hexagons your buildings are touching. It's great, it's good, like God and stuff.

So, this is the Island Nation of Catan:

This is a settlement:

This is a city:

This is a road:

And this is someone's attempt at taking over Catan:

So, you roll the dice on your turn, and each roll corresponds to a number that is on each hexagon:

Then, you collect the resource cards that correspond to the hexagon that number was on:

AND, did I mention how incredibly good at this game I am? No? Well, I'm officially mentioning it. Me= Awesome.

So, three to four people can play, unless you get the expansion (which Chris and I have), which allows five to six people to play. Another fun factor in this game is that you can trade cards with each other. So, deals are made, curses and insults thrown around, alliances formed and promptly broken, and it's wonderful and fun and the best game in the whole, wide world.

ALSO, this game is so awesome that there are several different expansions you can buy so that the game changes. Cities and Knights is the best. The game takes anywhere from 1-2 hours, and is better with wine.

In college, for a period of a couple months or so, my friends and I played this game once or twice a week. One friend of ours used to win every single time, for such a long time. But I've since usurped him as Queen of Catan.

So, that being said, if you're trying to figure out what to get a game lover for Christmas, I highly recommend Settlers of Catan. I think it is ages 12 and up. And, once you learn how to play, consider getting the Cities and Knights Expansion. It adds two or three more things you have to keep track of, and is quite fun and challenging. Also, there is no way you can beat me, so don't beat yourself up.