Almost a month ago Lindsay from Bytes of Memory wrote a great review of the original Settlers of Catan. I was intending to follow it up with a review of the other 4 versions that I own. And then I got distracted by Easter preparations. So, here you go, the next 2 games of Settlers of Catan.
This is the quintessential homeschoolers game. Don’t believe me?
I did the hard work for you and found this video, it required me to watch lots and lots of their videos. I might have laughed a lot……..
By accident, I actually own: Settlers of Catan – Portable Edition
In my defense, two of those were bought on clearance, and two were given as Christmas presents (this year). I plan to give my portable edition to a friend because I like the Simply Catan version better.
Settlers of Catan Portable version
Same general game play as the original you’re building roads, settlements, and cities.
Here’s the differences:
You see those big plastic numbers there? The arrangement of the numbers does not change in this version, it’s always in the same place. This is more ideal for young kids because you always know where the ideal settlement is, less than ideal for teaching them to cope with less than ideal circumstances.
The settlements, roads, and cities now have a specific place to be dropped into, keeping the pieces in place.
In many ways this makes the portable version ideal for teaching young kids how to play. It’s harder to knock the pieces around, and the board is smaller so it is easier for them to move around.
Simply Catan
Again it has the same game play as the original Settlers of Catan, but the set up is a little easier, and since it’s aimed more at kids the pieces are a bit more colorful.
Here’s the differences:
Instead of putting in individual tiles, it’s sets of 3 or 4 to put in. This cuts down on the versatility of putting the board together, but makes it easier to put together.
The cheat sheet for what you need is also printed on the board, making it impossible to lose.
The pieces for the roads, cities, and settlements are plastic pieces that stay in place a bit better, they’re also very bright and kid friendly.
The cards are a bigger and thicker than the portable version.
Here are our adaptations for young kids:
- The thief moves to a specific spot on a 7, but instead of stealing from the player you get to take that resource from the bank. It helps make the thief less painful.
- They get the resources from all of their properties, which helps you get a head start on building.
- The first several times we played the thief did not keep you from getting resources. We do not use this adaptation when it’s just the boys playing, but we still do with Princess (Princess is not a big game fan).
If you’re interested, I’m collecting game posts on my Games pinterest board. Feel free to look for more game ideas there.
Love this post! We are huge Catan lovers here, and I’m excited to begin getting my daughter into it as well.
I will have to come back to this when I don’t have Easter on the brain. If you like it so much, I am sure we would, too.
I bet you guys would too. Next Friday I’ll be sharing my favorite version of Catan. I think it adds in some fun variations.
Emma thinks this game looks fun!
That’s quite a compliment.
Settlers of Catan has been on my wish list for 2 years. I just need to go ahead and buy the thing! Thanks for sharing about the differences!
You’re welcome! I’ve discovered a few changes can make for a big difference in game play.
Wow, you are really a fan of Catan! One of these days we have to teach Anna to really play it too.
Ironically enough, we’re not actually huge fans of it, Jeff actually doesn’t like the game, but I do like some of the variations they’ve come up with, especially the last two versions I’m going to share.
What fun! I haven’t heard of either of these variations. The only have 2 adaptations of it. We have Rivals which is a 2 player card game version and Catan Junior which Sammy is still a little too young to play.