 
      The Settlers of Catan Rules


           

            The Settlers of Catan
            Hello. Welcome to The Settlers of Catan. You didn't buy this game 
            for reading material, so I'm going to try to make this quick. You 
            don't have to read this whole rule book before you play. This little 
            introductory section will give you enough info to get you started, 
            and then you can come back and read all the picky little details 
            once you've got the basic idea.

            The first thing to do is set some things up. Normally, you'd make a 
            different board for each time you play, but for your first few 
            games, just flip this rule book to its backside. There you'll see a 
            lovely diagram. Your goal is to recreate this diagram in the comfort 
            and safety of your own home. Make sure to put the blue hexes with 
            lines and numbers (these are port hexes) in the correct places AND 
            facing the correct way. You will be graded.

            After a few moments of respectfully admiring your beautiful Settlers 
            board, everybody rolls the dice. Whoever rolls highest will get to 
            go first and gets first pick of colors. Everybody should take one 
            color of little wooden pieces and claim them as their own. When it's 
            not your turn, you can arrange them into neat little geometric 
            patterns and try to balance the houses on the roads.

            What do we do with beautiful, pristine, undeveloped land? Build 
            things on it, of course! There are two ways to start this, and one 
            is easier than the other, but I'll tell you both ways anyway. The 
            easy way is to just duplicate the arrangement of little wooden 
            houses (AKA settlements) and little wooden roads that you see on the 
            back of the rule book. Then pick one of the settlements of your 
            color and take a resource card for each hex around it. If you're 
            playing with 3 players, you'll have to remove one color. Pages 5-6 
            in the rules tells you which hexes produce which resources. Once 
            you've done that, you can skip the next few paragraphs (up to the 
            "OK" on the next page), and start playing. But that's the easy way 
            out and it gets repetitive if you try it too many times (especially 
            since red always wins), so I'd recommend the more detailed startup 
            rules.

            The first player takes one of his little wooden houses and one of 
            his little wooden roads and places them on the board. Houses go on 
            the intersection of three hexes; roads go on the edge between two 
            hexes. See the back of the rule book if this isn't clear. Make sure 
            your road is right next to your settlement (it's a rule). There's 
            all sorts of complex strategy to consider here, but ignore that for 
            now. Just toss them anywhere you want.

            Go around clockwise and let each player place a settlement and a 
            road. The only new rule to worry about is all settlements must be at 
            least two intersections away from any other settlement. Other than 
            that, just have fun.

            Once all players have placed one settlement and one road, the player 
            who went last gets to place another settlement and another road. 
            Yep, that player gets two in a row. Then go back around 
            counter-clockwise until all players have two settlements and two 
            roads on the board. And as an added bonus, when you place your 
            second settlement, you get free stuff. Free stuff means one resource 
            card from each hex which that settlement touches.


            OK, now you're ready to start playing. When it's your turn, roll the 
            dice. Find all the hexes which have that number on them. Everybody 
            gets one resource card for each settlement they have that touches 
            that hex. After you roll the dice, you can trade resource cards with 
            any other player. You can also trade in 4 of any one resource to the 
            bank for 1 of the resource of your choice. And what do you do with 
            all these lovely resource cards? Buy things. The exchange rates are 
            shown on the handy Building Cost cards. Pull one out and look at it.

            ROADS: You've already seen how to place them. Just give a wood card 
            and a brick card to the bank and it's yours. Small rule: any new 
            roads you build must connect to something you've already built.
            SETTLEMENTS: You've seen these, too. Like roads, any new settlements 
            you build must touch a road you already have.
            CITIES: Settlements not good enough for you? Then get ready for the 
            big time. When you build a city, remove a settlement you already 
            have and replace it with one of the big wooden houses. From now on, 
            whenever any of the hexes that it touches are rolled, you get 2 
            resource cards instead of 1.
            CARDS: If you like randomness, development cards are for you. They 
            do all sorts of stuff; the text on the card should give you the 
            basic idea. More detail is available on pages 8-9 of the long rules.

            If you roll a "7" at the start of your turn, nothing produces, 
            anyone with more than 7 cards must discard half of their cards 
            (round down), and the robber moves to a new hex. The robber halts 
            production on that hex until he is moved again and allows the player 
            who moved him to steal a random resource card from one player who 
            has a settlement or city touching that hex.

            If you build on a port hex (remember those? no? They're the water 
            hexes with numbers and lines), you can make special trades. If it 
            says "3:1," you can trade 3 of the same resource for 1 of any 
            resource. If it says "2:1," you can trade 2 of the resource printed 
            on the hex for 1 of any resource.

            That's basically how you play the game. The only important thing I 
            haven't mentioned is how to win. To win, you must have 10 Victory 
            Points (VPs)at the end of your turn. Settlements are each worth 1 
            VP, cities are each worth 2 VPs, some Development cards give you 
            extra VPs, and having the longest contiguous road of at least 5 
            roads or the largest army of at least 3 Knights (which are one kind 
            of Development card) is worth 2 VPs. That's all you need to know for 
            now.

            Once you're familiar with this stuff, I strongly recommend you read 
            the long rules. They have all sorts of useful information: random 
            setup rules for when you get bored of the board on the back of the 
            rule book, advanced strategy so you can always win, and all those 
            nit-picky rules that will help you avoid getting into fist fights 
            over whether or not Art can play his Knight card before he rolls the 
            dice (he can). Thanks for playing. Have fun.
            OVERVIEW
            In Settlers of Catan, each player represents a group of settlers who 
            have landed on the remote island of Catan. The goal of the game is 
            to become the dominant group on the island by acquiring Victory 
            Points. Victory Points are earned by building settlements and 
            cities, by having the longest road or the largest army, or by 
            purchasing certain cards.

            Building requires resources. Each settlement or city receives 
            resources based on the nearby terrain. Forests produce wood, 
            mountains produce ore, hills produce bricks, plains produce grain, 
            and pastures produce sheep. Players can use these resources to build 
            settlements, roads, and cities. Resources can also be exchanged for 
            development cards that contain knights or other advantages.

            The game is played in turns. Going clockwise, each player starts 
            their turn by rolling two dice. The number rolled determines which 
            terrain produces resources. All players who have settlements or 
            cities adjacent to those areas gain the corresponding resources. 
            After rolling, a player can trade resources with other players or 
            with the bank, and can buy settlements, roads, cities or cards from 
            the bank with these resources. The winner is the first player to 
            have 10 Victory Points on their turn.
            SETUP
              1. Lay hexes 
              2. Lay numbers 
              3. Distribute stuff 
              4. Roll for first 
              5. Place starting cities 
            Lay Hexes
            The hexes are used to create the game board. First, separate the 
            land hexes from the water hexes. Take the land hexes and shuffle 
            them (face down). Once they have been thoroughly mixed up, arrange 
            them into a hexagon. Any method that keeps the placement random will 
            work, but the method shown in Figure 1 is recommended: start by 
            laying five hexes in a straight line. Then add four hexes on the 
            right of the five, four on the left, three on the right and finally 
            three on the left.

            Now take all the water hexes and separate them into port hexes (with 
            lines, numbers and symbols on them) and plain water hexes. Shuffle 
            the port hexes face down and place them around the edge of the 
            island. Starting with the far edge of one of the corners of the 
            board (preferrably the closest one), place a port hex in every other 
            available spot (Fig. 2). Rotate the hexes so they face toward the 
            center of the board (Fig. 3). The sets of ports that touch two land 
            hexes (i.e., 2&3, 5&6, 8&9) should be parallel to each other, each 
            facing a row of 4 land hexes. Once all the port hexes have been 
            placed, fill in the remaining spots with plain water hexes, as in 
            Figure 3.
            Lay Numbers
            The number counters have a letter on one side and a number on the 
            other. The size of the number correlates to the probability of 
            rolling that number on 2 6-sided dice (see Probabilities). This 
            number is used to determine when the hex produces resources.

            Flip all the counters over so only the letters are visible. Start by 
            placing the "A" counter on a corner hex (preferrably the closest 
            one). Place the rest in alphabetical order on all land hexes 
            skipping over the desert hex (Fig. 4), progressing counter-clockwise 
            around the entire outer circle. Once the outer circle is complete, 
            continue counter-clockwise into the middle circle, starting with the 
            hex just inside of the first hex (marked "A"). Finally, place the 
            last letter on the middle hex (unless it is the desert). The 
            completed arrangement is shown in Figure 4. Once all the letters 
            have been placed, flip them all over so the numbers are visible.
            Distribute stuff
            Each player selects a color and takes the 5 settlements, 4 cities 
            and 15 roads of that color. Each player also receives a Building 
            Cost card, which shows the cost of all the items that can be built 
            or purchased.

            Sort the resource cards into five piles and set them aside, face up.

            Shuffle the development cards and set them aside face down.
            Roll for first
            Each player rolls two dice. The player who rolls the highest number 
            goes first. If two players tie for the highest number, they re-roll.
            Place starting settlements
            Each player starts the game with two settlements and two roads. Each 
            player places one settlement and one road at a time, starting with 
            the player who rolled highest.
            How to place settlements:
            Settlements are placed on the intersection of three hexes (see 
            capital letters in the diagram on the next page). Settlements can be 
            placed on any intersection that includes a land hex, including 
            intersections that touch water hexes. All settlements must be placed 
            at least two intersections away from any other settlement.

            Each settlement touches three different hexes. These hexes determine 
            the resources that the settlement can produce. The number on each 
            hex is the number that must be rolled for that hex to produce its 
            resource.
            How to place roads:
            Roads are placed on the edge between two hexes (see lower case 
            letters in diagram on the next page). One of these hexes must be a 
            land hex. Each road connects two corners. When a player places a 
            road during setup, it must connect to the settlement that he places 
            with it.
            Example:
            This example shows the first round of setup building in a three 
            player game. Arne places settlement A and road a. Since settlement A 
            touches a pasture, a hill, and a mountain, it can produce sheep, 
            bricks, or ore depending on which number is rolled. Amy places 
            settlement B and road b. Since settlement B touches a port hex, she 
            will be able to make special trades, as explained below. Since her 
            settlement only touches two land hexes, this settlement can only 
            produce two different resources. Chuck tries to place settlement X. 
            Since this is only one corner away from settlement A, this is an 
            illegal play. He reconsiders and places Settlement C and road c.

            Continue clockwise until the last player places a first settlement 
            and road. That player then places a second settlement and road, and 
            placing continues counter-clockwise from that player.

            When a player places his second settlement, he receives one resource 
            from each hex touching that settlement. These (up to three) 
            resources are that player's starting resource hand. Once all players 
            have placed two settlements and two roads, regular turns begin. The 
            player who rolled the highest goes first, and play continues 
            clockwise.
            Example (continued):
            Since Chuck placed the last settlement in the first round of 
            building, he places the first settlement in the second round. He 
            places settlement D and road d. Since settlement D touches a forest, 
            plain and pasture, he collects a wood, a grain, and a sheep as his 
            starting resources. Amy places settlement E and collects two grain 
            and one brick. She tries to place a road on edge X, but realizes 
            that this does not touch the settlement she is playing, so she plays 
            road e instead. Arne places settlement F and road f and collects his 
            resources. He will now take his first turn, and play will continue 
            with Amy.
            HEXES
            There are eight types of hex: plain, pasture, hill, mountain, 
            forest, desert, port, and water. Five of the six land hexes produce 
            specific resources:
            TURN SUMMARY
            During a player's turn, he rolls the dice to determine which hexes 
            produce resources, then he can trade resources with other players 
            and build settlements, roads. or cities. A player can trade and buy 
            in any order, even going back and forth from one to the other and 
            can trade and buy as many times as he wants during one turn. If a 
            player has 10 Victory Points at any time during his turn, he wins.
            HOW TO PLAY
            A player begins his turn by rolling two dice and adding them 
            together. The number he rolls indicates which hexes produce 
            resources. All hexes whose number equals the roll produce their 
            resource. All players (even if it's not their turn) gain one 
            resource card for each settlement touching any of those hexes and 
            two resources for each city that touches the hex. If there aren't 
            enough cards of one resource to give every player all that they 
            deserve, no players receive any of that resource this turn. If a 
            player rolls a "7," no hexes produce resources and the robber moves, 
            as explained below.

            After rolling, a player can trade resources with other players. All 
            trades must involve the player whose turn it is; other players may 
            not trade amongst themselves. Players need not offer an equal number 
            of resource cards. Players are allowed to discuss what they have in 
            their hand with other players to facilitate trading. Once a trade is 
            agreed upon, both players exchange the stated resource card(s); they 
            cannot cheat the other player by giving anything other than what was 
            offered. Each trade must contain at least one resource card from 
            each player. Trades can never include Development cards.

            In addition to trading with other players, a player can trade 
            resources with the bank. On his turn, a player can trade four of any 
            one resource to the bank in exchange for one of any resource. This 
            is the only type of trade that can be made with the bank unless a 
            player has a settlement or city touching a port hex, as explained 
            below.

            In addition to trading, a player can use his resource cards to build 
            settlements, roads, or cities, or to buy cards. The exchange rates 
            are shown on the building cost cards. To build something, a player 
            must discard the appropriate resource cards and take his purchase. 
            When a settlement, road, or city is built, it is immediately placed 
            on the board, as explained below. Each player can only build as many 
            settlements, roads, or cities as he has tokens of that type. Each 
            player has five settlements, four cities and fifteen roads.
            PLACING SETTLEMENTS
            Settlements cost one brick, one wood, one grain and one sheep to 
            build. They are placed at an intersection where three hexes meet. 
            Settlements can be placed on any intersection of any land hex, 
            including intersections that touch water hexes. All settlements must 
            be placed at least two intersections away from any other settlement 
            or city.

            After setup, a player can only place settlements on intersections 
            that connect to his roads. If none of that player's roads touch the 
            intersection he wishes to build on, he must first build roads to 
            that intersection. A player can build at any point along his roads, 
            not just at the ends. Other player's roads do not influence where a 
            player can build settlements.
            PLACING ROADS
            A road costs one wood and one brick. Roads are placed on the edge 
            between two hexes, connecting two intersections. At least one of 
            these hexes must be a land hex. Once a player has built on that 
            edge, no other player can build there; there can only be one road on 
            each edge.

            Every road that a player builds must connect to one of his existing 
            roads, settlements, or cities. If a player builds a settlement or 
            city at the end of one of another player's roads, the second player 
            cannot build from that intersection. If a player builds a settlement 
            or city in the middle of a chain of another player's roads, the 
            second player can still build roads connecting to the roads on 
            either side of that settlement or city.
            PLACING CITIES
            Cities cost three grain and two ore. They replace settlements. When 
            a player purchases a city, he removes one of his settlements from 
            the board and places a city on that intersection. A city produces 
            two resources instead of one from all adjacent hexes. Note that a 
            player can build a settlement on an intersection and immediately 
            upgrade it to a ciy if that player has sufficient resources.
            Example:
            Amy has been saving up her resources for a while. She decides to 
            splurge and build one of everything. She gives three grain and two 
            ore to the bank and buys a city. To place it, she removes the 
            settlement she had at spot A and replaces it with a city. Then she 
            considers building a city at spot B. Unfortunately, she does not 
            have roads connecting her to this spot, so she cannot build a 
            settlement there. Instead, she pays one wood and one brick to the 
            bank and builds a road on spot c. She then pays one wood, one brick, 
            one grain and one sheep to build a settlement at spot B.
            ROBBER
            If any player rolls a "7" at the beginning of his turn, strange 
            things happen. No hexes produce resources that turn, players with 
            too many cards must discard the excess, and the robber moves.

            All players with more than seven resource cards must discard half of 
            their resource cards (rounded down). The player who is discarding 
            chooses which of their resource cards to discard. For example, a 
            player with nine resource cards when a "7" is rolled must choose 
            four of them to discard.

            Moving the robber does two things: he blocks production in the new 
            hex, and he steals a resource card on the behalf of the player who 
            moved him.

            The player who caused the robber to move takes the robber token and 
            places it on any land hex on the board. The robber must be moved; it 
            cannot stay on the same hex. The robber can be moved to a hex that 
            no players touch. While the robber remains there, that hex cannot 
            produce any resource, even when its number is rolled. The only way 
            to revitalize the hex is to move the robber token again.


            The player who placed the robber token can steal one resource from 
            one player who has a settlement or city touching the hex (i.e., 
            adjacent to) where the robber was placed. This resource card is 
            taken at random from the player's hand.

            The robber can also be moved by playing a Knight card. See 
            "Development Cards" below for details.
            PORTS
            Ports are indicated by semi-circles on the corners of some water 
            hexes. If a player has a settlement or city built on an intersection 
            that contains a port, that player can make special trades with the 
            bank. These trades may be made immediately upon building the port, 
            even during the same turn. Note that not all corners of port hexes 
            have ports; only those with semi-circles are actually ports. There 
            are two types of ports: generic ports and specific ports.

            Generic ports have a question mark in the center of the hex. They 
            allow a player to trade three of any one resource for one of any 
            resource, instead of the normal four for one rate.

            Specific ports have a resource pictured in the center of the hex. 
            They allow a player to trade two of that specific resource for one 
            of any resource. The resource that can be traded at that port is 
            indicated by the icon shown on the port hex. No other resources can 
            be traded at specific ports, but the player can still make normal 
            four for one trades involving other resources.
            DEVELOPMENT CARDS
            By paying one sheep, one grain, and one ore, a player can draw a 
            card from the top of the development deck. There are three types of 
            cards in the development deck: Progress cards, Knights, and Victory 
            Point cards. All players should keep their development cards hidden 
            from other players until they choose to play them. Development cards 
            can be used at any time during a player's turn, but not on the turn 
            that they are drawn (except VP cards). Since a player's turn 
            officially begins before he rolls the dice, a player can play a card 
            before rolling the dice. For example, you could play a Knight card 
            before rolling to move the robber from one of your hexes. A player 
            can play only one development card (except for Victory Point cards) 
            each turn.

            Progress Cards
            These cards are played once and then discarded.

            Road Building:
            When a player plays this card, he can immediately place two road 
            segments onto the board, as if he had just built them.

            Discovery:
            When a player plays this card, he can immediately take any two 
            resource cards from the bank and add them to his hand. These can be 
            two different resources or two of the same resource. They may 
            immediately be used to build.

            Monopoly:
            When a player plays this card, he must announce one type of 
            resource. All other players must give the player who played this 
            card all of their resource cards of that type.

            Knight Cards
            When a player plays a Knight card, he must move the robber. The hex 
            where the robber rests does not produce resources until the robber 
            moves off that hex. See Robber for more details. Also, the player 
            who played the Knight card can steal one random resource card from 
            any player with a settlement or city touching that hex. Unlike 
            rolling a "7," no one has to discard cards after a Knight.

            Once a player finishes resolving the robber, he adds the Knight to 
            his army by placing it face-up in front of him. The card no longer 
            has any effect, but the number of face-up Knight cards a player has 
            is used to determine who gets the Largest Army bonus.

            Victory Point Cards
            VP cards provide an extra Victory Point towards winning. They are 
            played differently from other developement cards. VP cards are kept 
            hidden from the other players until their owner has 10 Victory 
            Points, including the cards. The owner then plays all his VP cards 
            at once to achieve victory. A player can play as many VP cards as he 
            wants (even if he has already played another Developement card), and 
            can even play them on the turn that they are drawn.

            Special Bonuses
            There are two other ways to gain victory points. Players who build 
            impressive armed forces or monumental roads can gain extra points 
            for their achievements. The player with the longest road of at least 
            five road segments and the player with the largest army of at least 
            three knights each gain two extra points. When a player achieves one 
            of these goals, he receives the appropriate card, which represents 
            the two bonus VPs.

            As these rewards are only for the largest and longest on the board, 
            there can only be one player with each award at any point. If a 
            player already has the card and another player exceeds (not just 
            equals) that player's total, then the new player takes the card (and 
            the points) away from the old player.

            Notes on the longest road:
            If a road forks into separate branches, only the longest branch 
            counts. If a player has a city or settlement on another player's 
            road, it disrupts the second player's road when counting for the 
            longest; a player can only count the road segments on one side or 
            the other of any other player's settlement. A player's settlements 
            or cities do not interrupt his own roads.
            VARIANTS
            If a player wants a change of pace, try some of these alternate 
            rules:
            1. Victory Point cards are played like all other Development cards. 
            Only one can be played each turn, and they cannot be played 
            immediately upon drawing.
            2. All players must play with their hand of Resource cards face up 
            (useful for beginners).
            3. Instead of playing Development cards at any time, a player cannot 
            play them until after he rolls the dice on his turn.
            4. In the first two complete turns, any roll of "7" is ignored and 
            rolled again.
            5. Any time a player rolls a "7", he can choose to ignore it and not 
            move the robber. That player forfeits his right to steal a resource 
            card.
            6. Once a player starts building, he cannot make any more trades.
            7. At the end of a player's turn, he must have at least one 
            settlement on the board.
            8. Knight cards may be used to interrupt immediately after any 
            player moves the robber. The player who plays the Knight card places 
            the robber where he desires and gets to steal a card from another 
            player. The player who used to be moving the robber gets nothing. A 
            Knight card can be played to interrupt another player's Knight card, 
            leading to a chain of Knights.
            PROBABILITY
            When rolling two dice, the probability of rolling certain numbers is 
            greater than others. Since there are 6 ways to roll a "7" (1+6, 6+1, 
            2+5, 5+2, 4+3, 3+4) and only 1 way to roll a "12" (6+6) or a "2" 
            (1+1), 7 comes up much more often than 12 or 2. The size of the 
            number on the counters in the game represents this probability; the 
            larger numbers are more likely to be rolled. The probabilities are 
            listed here:
   "2" & "12"              3%
        "3" & "11"              6%
        "4" & "10"              8%
        "5" & "9"               11%
        "6" & "8"               14%
        "7"                           17%





            