Catan Studio celebrates the 30th anniversary of its best-selling board game with the release of Catan 6th Edition. The base game, along with its core expansions, Seafarers and Cities & Knights, is currently available to buy now, with Traders & Barbarians and Explorers & Pirates to follow. The term “expansion” is back after changing to “extensions” in the 5th edition. This new edition does not make too many game-changing mechanics but focuses on improved design, term changes and rule simplification.
Created by designer Klaus Teuber and launched in 1995 by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag in Germany under the title Die Siedler von Catan, the game was awarded the prestigious Spiel des Jahres or “Game of the Year” award. An English-language version published by Mayfair Games as The Settlers of Catan followed. At the game’s 25th anniversary, it was re-branded under the simpler name Catan for the title’s fifth edition. Over 30 years, the game has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide and has been translated into numerous languages.
Catan 6th Edition’s core set contains 19 terrain tiles, a six-piece board frame, 18 number discs, four player aids, two bonus victory point tiles, six sea frame pieces, one robber, 96 wooden playing pieces, two card trays, two dice, 25 development cards and 95 resource cards. The 5-6 Player Expansion to the base games adds 11 terrain tiles, 25 resource cards, two paired player markers, 48 wooden playing pieces, nine development cards, four sea frame pieces, two player aids and 28 number discs.
“The community asked, and Catan Studio answered. Catan 6th Edition implements more game organization elements.”
Catan’s latest edition updates the core mechanics everyone remembers and features updated components designed to offer inclusive play. The rulebook is revamped with additional images and examples of play to streamline the learning process for new players, and the artwork has been redone.
The community asked, and Catan Studio answered. Catan 6th Edition implements more game organization elements. Seeing the included card trays is a godsend, adding clean storage for the resource cards—similar to Monopoly’s money tray. The angle of the holes tucks the cards snugly and prevents cards from scattering all over the table. Everyone at our table enjoyed building storage boxes to house their wooden pieces, a change from keeping pieces in Ziploc bags or having a scattered pool on the table.
For the cards themselves, the redesigned artwork is vivid and stunning. The game box artwork alone looks higher quality, too, appearing more like a well-painted piece of artwork, which bleeds into the card and hex tile artwork, too. From a new art design perspective and organization improvement, the interior walls of the game box clearly label where every game piece can be stored with pictures. I’m not sure if it is intended to do this, but the box even held the 5-6 Player Expansion’s game pieces, too, without squishing or forcing anything in.
Getting into the new rules and term changes, we appreciated the slight laminated paper for the rulebook—making the rule rulebook feel more durable and of higher quality. As we are experienced Catan players and had five players, we played out Catan 6th Edition’s 5-player variable setup using the brand-new paired player rules.
The new paired player rules replace the Special Build phase in Catan 5th Edition. Rather than allowing all other players to build after the player with the dice has finished their full turn, only one player can take an Action phase. The addition of the Player 1 and Player 2 markers made sense immediately with the thorough explanation and visuals in the rulebook. Essentially, it is similar to the Big Blind and Small Blind in Poker.
From our gameplay and collected feedback, we enjoyed the new paired player rules. To a certain extent, it serves as a great catch-up feature in a way the Special Build phase was lacking. The new paired player Action phase allows Player 2 to trade with the supply, build and/or play one Development card.
Having more options in this extra phase and the exclusivity for only one player versus everyone is a dynamic feature that lets another player in the back half of the current player stay in the game. The paired player system adds more interactivity, too, as Player 2 has to think about their Action phase while Player 1 is taking their turn. Also, it is an extra opportunity to get rid of some extra materials to avoid losing them if someone rolls a seven to activate the robber.
Only one aspect still needs to be considered: playtime. The estimated play time for a five or six-player game is 90+ minutes, but our game was about five hours. At first, the paired player rules do not get used too much at the beginning when everyone is still gathering resources. But by the mid-game and endgame, gameplay for Players 1 and 2 extends for a couple of minutes. Of course, playtime is dependent on player-to-player game experience and different situations.
One of the biggest gameplay changes we noticed was how fast building happens with the paired player system. One of the struggles in the fifth edition is how slow it is to build out in 5 to 6-player games. Our game with Catan 6th Edition had one player build a whole route across the map as they contested the Longest Route bonus VP card.
Catan 6th Edition supports games with two to four players and has an MSRP of $49.99 USD. The 5-6 Player Expansion expands the player limit up to six players and has an MSRP of $29.99. The pricing is surprisingly $10 cheaper than the previous edition, feels fresh and offers more.
Overall, our whole group agrees this is the cleanest Catan has ever looked before. The rules and examples are easy to understand, leaving little discrepancies and providing more options for the randomization elements of the game. Every board game collector will appreciate every detail added to this edition’s organization solutions. This may be the most accessible version of a beloved game to me and millions of people around the world, and what a suitable way to honour its 30th anniversary.
- EXPLORE THE ISLAND OF CATAN: Settle the uninhabited island of Catan by gathering resources, building infrastructure, and nurturing trade relationships.
- STRATEGY AND COMPETITION: Compete with 2-3 opponents to expand your settlements and cities while managing resources and avoiding the robber.
- EXPAND YOUR CATAN EXPERIENCE: Add up to two additional players to your CATAN game, bringing even more trading and building excitement to the island.
- INCLUDES EXTRA COMPONENTS: Features additional roads, settlements, cities, and resource cards to seamlessly integrate more players into the game.
