You settle an island, collect resources from the dice rolls, and trade with the other players to build roads, settlements and cities. The first to 10 points wins.
Box says 10+
We suggest 8+ with an adult helping, 10+ on their own.
There is a lot to learn before the first turn: resources, building costs, trading and the robber. Eight-year-olds who like maths can play with an adult guiding their trades. Ten and up can handle it alone, though the robber stealing cards can sting.
Players can steal from each other. Players can block each other. Content: None
Rated from the rulebook, checked 2026-10-08
Rules as of the CATAN 6th edition English rulebook (CN3081).
Checked against the CATAN 6th edition English rulebook (CN3081). These steps follow the fixed setup the rulebook recommends for your first game (page 4). It uses the same island every time, so you can copy the pictures in the rulebook.
Want a different island next time? The rulebook also has a Variable Setup that shuffles the board and lets players choose where their starting pieces go (pages 11 and 12).
Scroll through the lesson. The board follows along, and in step 4 you get to roll the dice yourself.
You and your rivals are settling a new island. You earn victory points by building settlements and cities, and by a few special achievements. The first player to reach 10 points on their own turn wins.
Everything else in Catan is about one thing: getting the right resources to build.
The board is 19 land tiles. Each type of land produces one resource. The desert produces nothing. Tap a land below to find it on the board.
Every tile has a number disc. When that number is rolled, the tile produces. The dots under the number show how often it comes up. More dots, more often.
Settlements go on the corners where tiles meet. A settlement touches up to three tiles and collects from all of them. Roads go along the edges and are how you reach new corners.
At the start, everyone places two settlements and two roads. One rule to remember: no settlement can be right next to another one. There must be at least two road lengths between them.
Each turn starts with a roll of two dice. Every player with a settlement touching a tile with that number collects one of its resource, not just the person who rolled. Try it.
With two dice, 7 comes up most. Then 6 and 8, which is why they're printed in red. 2 and 12 are rare.
After rolling, you can build as much as you can afford. Each thing has a fixed recipe. Coral just upgraded a settlement to a city, which now collects two resources instead of one.
You'll rarely roll exactly what you need. On your turn you can trade.
Ports sit on the coast. Build a settlement on a port corner to unlock its better rate.
A 7 means nobody collects. Instead:
On the board, Mint rolled a 7 and parked the robber on Coral's brick 6. Rude, but very Catan.
This is everything that scores. Check after each build.
| Each settlement | 1 |
| Each city | 2 |
| Longest Route, 5 or more roads in a row | 2 |
| Largest Army, 3 or more Knights played | 2 |
| Victory point development card | 1 |
Set up the board first, then teach one turn while you play it. Roll for the kids on the first turn and let them see the island produce something. The rest makes more sense once they have cards in hand. The publisher suggests ages 10 and up, so a 9-year-old may want a little extra help in the first game.
Racing to 8 points instead of 10? Say 8 in the first line.
If you forget everything else, remember this. It's the whole game on repeat.
Then back to roll for the next player.
Count points from settlements, cities and Victory Point cards, and give the Longest Route and Largest Army tiles to whoever holds them. The tracker adds it up for each player and shows a message when someone reaches 10.
The bit you forget between game nights. Pull this up on your phone at the table, flip it for build costs, and skip the rulebook hunt.
Settlements need two road lengths between them.
Spotted a mistake or got a suggestion? Tell us
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