Two years ago, I wrote about the delightful
Dread Pirate family board game. This is to recommend
another excellent game:
Settlers of Catan. Settlers was first published in 1995 in Germany
by Klaus Teuber, available from Kosmos. My
daughter Jessica and her
boyfriend Matt started playing it last year, then brought Settlers to family
camp in August. Settlers was a big hit, with players from ages ten to fifty
having a very good time. During our family’s week at the
Lair of the Golden Bear, we played Settlers, Dread Pirate, Wheel & Deal,
hearts, or poker most nights.
Jessica and Matt gave our son Paul his own Settlers game set
for his birthday. We have played it several times after Paul’s homework
is done. It takes a few games to develop a feel for strategy and rules.
John and Paul and I played last night; it took several turns for me
to realize I already had enough points to win!
What I like about Settlers is its focus on trading and relationships.
In an
Interview with Klaus Teuber, the game designer said:
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“I was always fascinated by the Vikings and their exploratory journeys. One widely held view of the Vikings is that they were marauding and violent hordes descending on Europe. Another side of the story is that in many places where Vikings settled they actually built progressive and peaceful societies as well as sophisticated trading systems. They were the first European explorers to leave the security of the coast and sail out into the open ocean, which led them to discover and settle Iceland, Greenland and Northern America.”
My 16-year-old son Paul particularly enjoys smash-’em-up and shooter video games.
For example, he likes the science fiction shooter game
“Halo” and
a disturbingly fun and popular video game called
“Pain”. In Pain
“Gamers attempt as much damage to themselves as possible by flinging themselves from a rubber-band catapult.” Fortunately, Paul also loves
“Zoo Tycoon”, a
business simulation video game. Zoo Tycoon rewards both creative and
constructive behavior and wild destructive behavior. Players make money and
get awards for building a successful zoo (but once the zoo is built, the tycoon
can lock the gates and drop the fences to let the carnivores eat the tourists).
Settlers is a well-designed board game in which there are consequences for
smash-’em-up behavior. For example, last night I was slowly building a road
from one of my settlements (in a wood, wheat, bricks resource area) to an area
on the other side of the board where I could win other kinds of resources
(sheep and rocks). Paul intentionally blocked my progress by adding his own
road in my path. So, I refused to trade him resources he needed for several
turns. Eventually, Paul started offering me very favorable trades
in order to reestablish his reputation. I like this game!
Dread Pirate was published in 2003. The Settlers of Catan was published in 1995. Wheel & Deal was published in 1967. More about these and other
board games is available on
BoardGameGeek. Photos:
Settlers of Catan
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Dread Pirate
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Wheel & Deal
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Images Copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
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