Overall Family Rating: 5 Meeples
Ages 10+
3-4 Players (You can add an expansion pack to play with more players)
About 60 minutes
Catan is a game that includes building roads, settlements, and cities.
You set up the board with hexagonal tiles that are kind of like a puzzle. The tiles have pictures of resource such as sheep, ore, wood, wheat, and brick. The tiles have numbers on them, and whenever that number is rolled whoever has a city or a settlement there, gets that resource card. If you roll a 7 you get to “rob,” or steal, a card from another player.
Once you collect enough cards you get to trade them in for settlements, cities, or development cards (which are each worth different amounts of victory points). You can also get points for having “The Longest Road” or “The Largest Army”.
The first person to get 10 victory-points wins! Watch our video below for an overview.
Kid Ratings
Sister
5 Meeples
I like when you get to do the robber because you can block people from getting cards, and you get to steal one of their cards.
Brother
5 Meeples
I like being the resource banker. I’m good at it and I get to hand out the cards every roll!
Parent Ratings
Mom
5 Meeples
This is a game we started off playing with adults in the family. We originally thought it was too hard for the kids to play. We got Catan Jr to teach the kids the basic game, and soon our oldest was able to play the original with us. While the strategy is too hard for our youngest, he’s the “resource banker” and gets to hand out cards after every roll. He loves it so much now that he says it’s one of his favorite games. I love that it’s an adult strategy game that we can enjoy with the kids.
Dad
5 Meeples
Catan is one those games that is different every time. Strategy comes into play from the outset and it evolves throughout the game. We’ve been playing this game for over ten years and it’s still as enjoyable now as when we first played it! You can play to block others from expansion & growth, play in your own small area, or play to aggressively expand throughout the board. Regardless of how the game takes shape, it’s a lot of fun for the whole family. My wife and I also have the Catan app that we like as much if not more than the original board game!
Important Parent Question:
Would you play this without kids?
Mom and Dad
Yes!
We also really enjoy playing this with our high school and college-aged nieces and nephews.
Interested in getting this for your family? Click here to order Catan, or click here to order Catan Junior.
We will be reviewing Catan Junior in a future blog post – stay tuned!