My strange addiction: Settlers of Catan
The longest road to regain my sanity.
“What is a catan?”
No! Catan is not a thing — it’s a board game. In fact, it’s the best one. To say I am addicted may be an understatement and I crave winning more than any reasonable person should.
It’s a game I’ve gotten more people obsessed with than I would like to admit. But before you join them, I think it’s helpful for a bit of context on how I caught the bug.
I first heard of “Settlers of Catan”, “Catan” for short as a junior at university. (For the rules and context, see here) A couple of my friends would always get together to play. They were always thrilled to start, but at least one of them always returned home (without exaggeration) despondent. They would go from having a great day to locking themselves in their rooms once home.
‘What kind of sick game can have such an effect on these guys?’ I always thought to myself.
Why is it so fun?
It wasn’t until I played my first match did I actually understand. Even for the most mild-mannered people, it’s impossible to not get emotionally invested. Your feelings and trust are constantly played with by everyone at the table. I learned that those who really take winning seriously (i.e. most people) will do whatever it takes to get the W — even if it means going back on a deal with their partner which may result in sleeping on the couch that night. I absolutely do not speak from experience.
After my first couple rounds, I was hooked. One minute your dopamine is spiking, the next, your cortisol. Anyone who has played the game knows the feeling of when you are on track to win, but then have your chances mercilessly stripped away.
On the flip side, even when you’re ‘losing’, this can actually help keep the target off you — thus staging a comeback. Even when your position may seam bleak, there’s always a series of trades that could help set you up for the win.
This is where “table talk” comes into play — easily my favorite aspect of the game and where I find my biggest edge. This is the dialogue and manipulation that goes into influencing one another. Naturally, depending on whom you’re playing with, there can be a high variance of how much people deliberate. There is a lot of game theory involved and is a constant balancing act to figure out how much you are helping yourself vs. helping/hurting others.
Not to mention, based on the personalities involved, games can range from civil to extremely heated. I will confess that I have been involved in yelling at the table; funny enough, even in matches everyone was a complete stranger.
Speaking on behalf of everyone, there is not one person who is not surprised at how worked up they can get when playing soon after learning the rules. Catan can get very emotional.
Doesn’t it get boring?
Not in the slightest.
What helps keep the game from ever getting old is that the board is different for every match. Based on what the map looks like and who you’re playing against, your approach must always adjust accordingly.
Often times, I will be asked, “Are you a largest army or longest road type of guy?” and my answer is always “It depends”. If you stay wedded to a single path to victory, you will never be able to win consistently. If you’re against people who know your play isn’t flexible, they will use this knowledge against you.
One of my favorite sayings that I tell people is that Catan is easy to learn, hard to master. Like chess.
Since it’s inception, as a testament to how loved the game is, over 40 million boards have been sold and 20 million people play regularly.
How much percent luck vs skill is it?
Luck vs skill. The age old question of many games. Early on in my Catan career, yes I said career, I would have said it’s mostly luck (probably when I lost a lot more), but I have grown to understand it more as I play it. Of course, there is chance (just like there is poker) as you can’t control the dice, but the more you play, the more the skill differential shows. Just as a professional poker player can’t be confident they will beat an amateur in 100 hands, if you play 1,000, you better believe they feel pretty good. The same premise applies to Catan (maybe more along the lines of 5–10 games to be evident).
In my opinion, I would put the overall split at 80% skill / 20% luck.
Although, note that this does not mean someone will win 80% of the time. In a match of four players with equal ability, the expected win percentage each is 25%. Thus, someone who is well better than the rest will win a small amount more — from my experience, ranging up to 40% over a large sample size.
However, even calculating a fair win percentage is not so simple. There are many moving pieces (figuratively and literally) to consider before determining if the best player at a table may win. For example, if 3 players in a match know the 4th player is very skilled and sneaky, they may consciously target him/her more even deep into a game when they are highly unlikely to win. Naturally, it is different when all four players do not know each other and go into a round without any bias.
Geez, you take this Catan thing pretty seriously…
There’s a competitive circuit for almost any popular game — yes, this includes Catan, along with Scrabble, Monopoly and tons of others. For the last couple years, I have found myself in the Catan scene, within a group chat of New York City’s most obsessive players (weird flex, but okay).
In total, I have been to 10 tournaments — including a trip to Columbus, Ohio in 2022 to compete at Nationals (yes, you already know I take this too seriously). Of these 10, I am proud to share that I have won TWO of them. Most notably and recently, was in December 2022 at one in New York City. This is the country’s most competitive regional tournament with the strongest players. To my knowledge, at the time, this was the 3rd largest regional tournament ever held with nearly 100 players. You can find the standings here. This win qualified me again for the National Championship which takes place in September in Minneapolis. Yes, I’m attending.
For all you money addicts — no, the prize is not a trip to Hawaii or a new Rivian. The incentive to win is 1. bragging rights and 2. an invitation to play at Nationals. In my case, I did also receive $300 (there was a $20 entry fee to enter that tourney), but usually these regional competitions don’t have much of an award, if any.
Are you the best to ever play the game?
After this track record #humblebrag, I think a bit of modesty is warranted. While I believe my table talk sets me apart and I would love to call myself the Magnus Carlsen of Catan — there are definitely players that are better than I. A few come to mind, but I think appropriate to shout-out my good friend Bo Peng whom I would consider the best in the world, at least at this moment. He won the U.S. Nationals Tournament in 2021, going 10–0. You can find his televised final match on Youtube here.
Whether you are new to the game or a veteran, it’s an entertaining watch. Bo was far behind much of the match, but through some clever decision making and good fortune, he managed to pull out the win. He is a great ambassador of Catan and his success attests that both studying and frequent practice with strong players are needed to compete at the highest level. There is a lot more than meets the eye to a beginner.
Final remarks
If you now have the bug and want to get playing, check out the website colonist.io. It is the best Catan website out there and is widely used. Give it a try — you won’t regret it.
Settlers of Catan may be a board game and maybe I am being dramatic, but it’s had a meaningful impact on me. I have made a ton of close friends from it and enjoyed more hours of fun than I would have ever expected when I first learned how to play.
If you are interested in learning advanced strategies to win more games, follow my Medium so you don’t miss out. I will be covering a lot of unique tactics that will help a lot in experienced play. Maybe a bit too much effort and analysis has gone into what I have drafted in the strategy guide thus far, but I am excited to share my learnings.
Now, if you’ve gotten this far and enjoyed it, you owe me a non-block.
