One complaint some people have about
Settlers of Catan is that the luck involved in rolling dice can have a strong impact on the outcome of the game. The Catan Event Cards, designed by Klaus Teuber and published by Mayfair Games in 2006, are designed to change that.
Producing Resources in Settlers
In Settlers of Catan (game review), players build towns and cities next to areas which produce various resources, such as ore and wood. Each area has a number from 2 to 12, and two dice are rolled each turn to see which areas produce resources. If a 4 is rolled, for example, every area marked with a "4" produces.
Theoretically, this means that the areas marked with a "6" or an "8" are the best to build next to. (Rolling a 7 in Settlers does not cause production; rather, it activates the robber and can cause players to lose resource cards.)
But there will be games in which a 5 or 9, or even a 2 or 12, will be rolled more often than a 6 or an 8. Some players don't mind this, believing that the element of luck only enhances the experience of playing Settlers of Catan. But for players who prefer a more strategic game, the dice are an unwelcome element.
What the Catan Event Cards Do
Using the Catan Event Cards removes the dice from Settlers of Catan. The deck includes cards marked with every number from 2 to 12. (The distribution is listed at the end of this article.)
To use the deck, the 36 event cards are shuffled together and five are placed face down on the table. The "New Year" card is placed face down on top of those five cards, and the other 31 event cards are then placed on top of the New Year.
On a player's turn, instead of rolling dice, he simply turns over the top card from the Event deck. In most cases, the card simply includes the number of the areas which will produce on that turn.
Some cards, however, also have new special powers. For example, one of the "5" cards includes this: "Tournament: The player(s) with the most soldier cards revealed takes 1 resource of his choice from the bank." If you like the cards but don't like these special powers, it's very simple to ignore them and use the cards purely to replace dice rolls.
When the New Year card is revealed, all of the event cards are shuffled together and the steps outlined above are repeated.
Are the Event Cards Good or Bad?
Whether or not you prefer playing Settlers of Catan (or Cities and Knights of Catan) with dice or with the Event Cards is entirely a matter of taste. If you enjoy random elements in games, the dice will be better. If you would rather play a more strategic game, the Event Cards are the way to go. I can enjoy Settlers either way.
Card Distribution
There are 36 cards in the deck representing various dice rolls.
# on card / # of cards with that number
2 / 1
3 / 2
4 / 3
5 / 4
6 / 5
7 / 6
8 / 5
9 / 4
10 / 3
11 / 2
12 / 1
Other cards in the deck:
New Year: When the New Year card is revealed, all of the event cards are shuffled together again.
Victory Points: Six cards are included which can be used to track victory points. To use these cards, a bead or coin is needed for each.
Rules: One card in the deck contains the rules for using Catan Event Cards.
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