The Settlers of Catan (including expansions and variants)

i remember the episode of parks and rec when the guys play it for ben's bachelor party. ben's so pumped to have won. it produced some good laughs, but i figured they made the game up for the show. a couple months ago, a friend of mine got ahold of me and asked if i wanted to come over for game night. he said he had this new boardgame called settlers of catan and wanted us all to give it a go. after a few minutes to get over the fact that he wanted to play a boardgame, and then another few to remember where i'd heard that name before, i then responded, "wait... that's a real game!?"

so i've played it once. it's not bad. as far as boardgames go, though, there's still nothing better than axis and allies.

EDIT: and now i'm just noticing that the original post is from 2005. wow.

 

i haven't. the ww1 version sounds interesting.

i actually just played settlers of catan last night. the last round before i won was one of those rounds where the perfect storm struck in my favor. you know, you can build your settlements/cities in the best spots, but if no one ever rolls the right numbers, the best laid plans are worthless. the two people before me rolled the right numbers and i hit the jackpot. so when it was my turn, all i had to do was avoid rolling a seven. i'd already had to cough up half my cards at the expense of that cursed roll four or five times that game. thankfully, i avoided it, and i was able to build two settlements and a road to take the win. good times.

 

It is very fun. Catan is one of several games me and my family will play when we get together. If not Settlers we'll play Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and recently added PowerGrid to the list of options.

 

I'm not sure about the relative popularity of board games now versus the days of yore, but I think there still exists a group of young'uns who are interested in the broader world of gaming.

Wil Wheaton has an online show called TableTop that has a strong following and is relatively popular. I'm sure there are others, too.

 

I can't remember why I decided to watch an episode, but I'm glad I did. To me, the thought of watching other people play a board game isn't exactly thrilling. However, they do a good job of editing the episodes so that you get a sense for how the game is played without it being a "how-to-play" video.

 

Actually, I haven't played any of the Catan games. It's on the "to purchase" list. Probably will go with Star Trek just for nostalgia.

You recommend one version over another?