In this article, you can read about the basic rules of the game The Settlers of Catan and learn how to play. The object of the game is to be the first person to have 10 victory points.
You receive one victory point for each settlement you have and two victory points for each city you have. If you control the longest road you receive two points. And, the largest army gives you two as well. Finally, some development cards are worth victory points too.
Setup
Shuffle the land hexes and evenly distribute them on the table in the shape of a hexagon. Next, place the water ports around the board every other hex making sure the numbers point towards the longest series of land tiles. Fill in the gaps with blank water hexes.
Next, starting at the corner of the board place the numbered tokens on this terrain hexes in alphabetical order proceeding counterclockwise towards the center skipping the desert. Place the robber token in the desert.
Separate the five different types of resource cards brick, ore, wool, lumber, and grain. And, place them face-up on the table. Shuffle the development cards in place facedown on the table. Everyone chooses a color and takes the corresponding pieces.
Rolling dice
Roll dice. The highest number goes first. Players take one turn placing one settlement on any available hex intersection and one adjoining Road. Settlements may not be placed adjacent to another settlement.
After each player has placed one settlement and road then starting with the last player and going in reverse order players place one more settlement and one more adjoining road. After you play your second settlement and road take one resource card for each resource that that settlement is touching. The desert and water do not produce resources.
Once every player has placed their second starting settlement and road then the game begins with the starting player. The game continues clockwise until there is a winner.
On your turn, before you can buy or trade you must roll both dice. Then, based on what number is rolled, the corresponding resource hex that has that number produces its resource to all players who have a settlement or city touching that hex.
You receive one of the resources of that hex for every settlement touching it. And, you receive two of the resource of that hex for every city touching it.
Rolling seven
There is no hand size limit. However, if any player including you roll a seven then any player with more than seven cards must discard half of them rounded down. Additionally, whoever rolled the seven must move the robber to a different terrain hex.
The robber may not be returned to the desert nor shall it be moved to a water hex. Whichever hex you choose, place the robber covering the number on that hex showing that the terrain cannot produce resources when that number is rolled.
When the robber is moved, if any other player has a city or settlement touching the affected hex, you must pick one card at random from one of their hands and steal it. You then continue your turn as normal.
After you roll dice and collect resources or move the robber you are allowed to trade with other players. Or, the bank and/or buy things. Only the player whose turn it is can initialize a trade. And, you can only trade with other players who have resources. You cannot gift resources.
Trading
Trade with a player is whatever you agree on but you cannot trade development cards and like resources. Both players have to agree on the trade. Additionally, on your turn, you may trade with the bank for one resource for one of any other.
If you own a settlement or city that is touching a port on your turn you are allowed to trade with that port specifics. Three-two-one ports allow you to trade three of one resource for one of any other. Two-to-one ports allow you to trade two of one very specific resource as indicated by that port for one of any other. You don’t have to trade if you don’t want to.
You may also buy when it is your turn. Pay the bank the proper resources and you can buy road settlements cities and development cards. Roads cost one brick and one wood and must be placed between two hexes connecting to one of your existing pieces so long as a road isn’t already present.
If you have the longest continuous road and it is greater than five pieces then you take possession of the longest Road card no matter who has it. The longest road is worth two victory points.
Settlements
A settlement must be placed on an available intersection connecting to one of your roads. No settlement may be adjacent to another settlement or city. You may only upgrade one of your existing settlements into a city. Remove that settlement and replace it with the city.
Anytime during your turn even before you roll you may play a development card. You may not use the development card the turn you purchased it. You may only play one development card per turn unless it is a victory point. Then, you may reveal as many as you have to allow you to win.
Game end
All the cards say what they do and the most and card is the soldier. The soldier allows you to move the robber to another space. When you play a soldier it plays in front of you and stays there for the rest of the game. When it is played in acts just like you roll the 7 except it does not affect the number of cards in player’s hands.
If you have the most soldiers in play and that number is greater than 3 then you take control of the largest army card. Which is worth two victory points. If you cannot buy or trade or you choose not to your turn ends and the next player clockwise goes. Play continues until one person has ten or more victory points on their turn. Then, that player is the winner.
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