Catan Rules: How to Play, Setup & FAQ

By Edwina Larkspur · house pen name of the Rulenook editorial team · how we write
Updated Oct 12, 2026 · Rule source: CATAN GmbH

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Catan at a glance

Rulebook facts and what players say · checked 2026-10

Players: 3–4 (5–6 with the 5-6 Player Expansion) · Publisher website
Play time: 60–90 min · Publisher website
Age: 10+ · Publisher website
Complexity: Medium (4 kinds of action per turn (rulebook turn overview)) · Rulebook (our method)
Mode: Competitive · Rulebook
Publisher · Year: CATAN GmbH / CATAN Studio · 1995 (6th edition 2025) · Publisher website
Works for: Family (mixed ages)
Less suited to: Under 10, 2 players, Short sessions

Table traits · from the rulebook and player discussion

Field	Level	Basis
Learning curve	Low Basis Based on recurring player discussion on BoardGameGeek and Reddit	Based on recurring player discussion on BoardGameGeek and Reddit
Player interaction	High Basis Rulebook: trading, robber steals; confirmed by recurring player discussion on BoardGameGeek and Reddit	Rulebook: trading, robber steals; confirmed by recurring player discussion on BoardGameGeek and Reddit
Replay variety	High Basis Rulebook: variable setup, modular board	Rulebook: variable setup, modular board

Catan is for 3 or 4 players, ages 10 and up, and a game runs 60 to 90 minutes. You roll dice to collect brick, wood, wheat, wool and ore, then trade and build toward 10 victory points. The rules fit on a few pages. The trading is what keeps the whole table talking, even on other people's turns.

This guide follows the current 6th edition rulebook from CATAN GmbH. Older editions use a few different names, such as Year of Plenty for the card now called Invention, but the rules below match.

Seven blank hexagon tiles in yellow, teal, red, mint, blue and white beside two plain white dice, next to the title Catan rules

What's in the box and how to set up

The 6th edition box has 19 terrain hexes, 18 number discs, 95 resource cards, 25 development cards and 1 robber. Each player color has 5 settlements, 4 cities and 15 roads.

There are 5 kinds of land, and each makes 1 resource:

Terrain	Produces	Hexes in the box
Hills	Brick	3
Forest	Wood	4
Fields	Wheat	4
Pasture	Wool	4
Mountains	Ore	3
Desert	Nothing	1

For a first game, use the fixed setup printed in the rulebook. Build the sea frame, lay the hexes and number discs as shown, and put the robber on the desert. Each player places 2 settlements and 2 roads where the diagram shows. Then everyone takes 1 resource card for each hex next to their second settlement. In a 3-player game, leave the white pieces in the box.

Beginner setup, schematic: 19 hexes inside the sea frame, the robber on the desert, and 2 settlements with 2 roads per player.

Once everyone knows the game, try the variable setup. Hexes go down at random, number discs follow in A-B-C order around the board, and players place their own starting pieces. Round 1 goes clockwise. Round 2 goes back the other way, so the last player places twice in a row. Every settlement must sit at least 2 edges away from every other settlement.

How a turn works

Turns go clockwise. Each turn has 2 phases, always in this order.

Production. You may play 1 development card first. Then roll both dice and add them up.
Collect. Every hex showing that number produces. Each settlement on it earns its owner 1 card, and each city earns 2. The hex under the robber produces nothing.
Or resolve a 7. Nothing produces on a 7. Anyone holding more than 7 resource cards returns half of them, rounded down. Then you must move the robber to a new hex and steal 1 random card from a player with a building there.
Action. Trade, build and play 1 development card, in any order and as often as your cards allow.

One turn in 4 steps: optional development card, roll, collect or resolve a 7, then trade and build.

Not every number comes up equally often. With 2 dice there are 36 possible rolls. A 7 comes up 6 ways, a 6 or an 8 comes up 5 ways each, and a 2 or a 12 only 1 way each. So a hex marked 6 produces 5 times as often as a hex marked 2. Starting next to 6s and 8s pays off.

Roll	Ways out of 36	Roll	Ways out of 36
2 or 12	1 each	5 or 9	4 each
3 or 11	2 each	6 or 8	5 each
4 or 10	3 each	7	6

Trading

On your turn you can trade with anyone. Other players can trade only with you, not with each other. Name what you want and what you'll give, and let the table make offers. Gifts aren't allowed, and neither are swaps of the same resource.

You can always trade with the supply at 4 of a kind for 1 card of your choice. A building on a 3:1 port lowers that to 3 of a kind. A 2:1 port trades 2 of the resource shown for any 1 card.

Building

Build	Cost	Worth
Road	1 brick, 1 wood	0 points
Settlement	1 brick, 1 wood, 1 wheat, 1 wool	1 point
City	2 wheat, 3 ore	2 points
Development card	1 ore, 1 wool, 1 wheat	Varies

A new road must touch one of your roads or buildings, and it can't start on the far side of an opponent's building. A new settlement must touch your road and obey the 2-edge distance rule. A city replaces one of your settlements, which goes back to your supply. Since you only have 5 settlements, upgrading to cities frees them up again.

Development cards

The deck holds 14 Knights, 5 Victory Point cards, and 2 each of Road Building, Monopoly and Invention. You may play only 1 per turn, and never on the turn you bought it. Victory Point cards are the exception: you can reveal any number of them, even new ones, to reach 10 points and win.

Card powers in plain words

Knight: move the robber and steal 1 random resource card from a player with a building on the new hex. Played Knights stay face up and count toward Largest Army.
Monopoly: name 1 resource, and every other player hands you all their cards of that type.
Invention: take any 2 resource cards from the supply. They can match or differ.
Road Building: place 2 roads free.

A first turn, step by step

Say it's Blue's opening turn after setup, holding 1 brick, 1 wood and 1 wool. Blue rolls a 9. One of Blue's settlements touches a 9 field, so Blue takes 1 wheat. Now Blue holds brick, wood, wool and wheat, which is exactly 1 settlement.

But a settlement needs a road to reach a legal spot first, and a road costs brick and wood. So Blue offers the table 1 wool for 1 brick. White accepts. Blue builds a road with brick and wood, and passes the dice. The settlement waits for next turn.

That small trade is the whole rhythm of Catan. Roll, collect, bargain, build. Almost every turn ends with someone asking the table for a card, which is why a game of 4 rarely goes quiet.

Scoring and how to win

The first player to have 10 points on their own turn wins at once.

Source	Points
Each settlement	1
Each city	2
Longest Route tile (first to 5 connected roads; taken over by a longer route)	2
Largest Army tile (first to play 3 Knights; taken over by more Knights)	2
Each Victory Point card	1

Here's a worked example. Orange has 3 cities for 6 points and 1 settlement for 1 more. Orange also holds the Largest Army tile for 2. That's 9. On Orange's turn, they buy a development card and it's a Victory Point card. Orange reveals it right away for 10 points and wins, before anyone else gets another roll.

Player count variants

3 players. Use the same board and rules, with the white pieces left out. The island feels roomier, so blocking matters less.

5 or 6 players. You need the 5-6 Player Expansion. It adds 11 hexes, 4 frame pieces, 25 resource cards and 9 development cards, and it replaces the base number discs with its own.

The 2025 edition uses a paired-players turn. Player 1 takes a normal turn. Then the third player to their left takes an Action phase as player 2, with one limit: player 2 can't trade with other players. If player 1 reaches 10 points first, the game ends before player 2 acts.

2 players. The 6th edition rulebook has no official 2-player mode, and the box says 3 to 4 players. For two people, Ticket to Ride plays officially at 2.

How it compares

Game	Players	Play time	Age	Complexity	Source
Catan	3–4 (5–6 with expansion)	60–90 min	10+	Medium	Publisher website, rulebook
Ticket to Ride	2–5	30–60 min	8+	Light	Rulebook
Carcassonne	2–5	30–45 min	7+	Light	Publisher website

Catan is the one with open trading, so it suits tables that like to bargain out loud. Ticket to Ride has no trading at all and plays at 2. Carcassonne is quieter, with players taking turns laying tiles to build one shared map.

Expansions

The CATAN 5-6 Player Expansion is the one that changes who can play. It's what you need to seat 5 or 6 people, and it uses the base game's pieces plus its own. Make sure the edition matches your base game: the 6th edition extension goes with the 6th edition base.

Common Rules Questions

Can players trade with each other on someone else's turn?

No. During your turn, the other players may trade only with you. They can't trade with each other or with the supply until their own turn. So if Blue wants wool from White during Orange's turn, Blue has to wait. Orange can still offer a deal to either of them.

Do development cards count toward the 7-card limit?

No. When a 7 is rolled, only resource cards count. Development cards stay hidden in front of you, don't count toward your hand, and can't be stolen by the robber. A player with 8 resource cards and 3 development cards returns 4 resource cards.

Can you play a development card the turn you buy it?

Not a Knight, Monopoly, Road Building or Invention card. Those must wait until a later turn, and you can play only 1 per turn. Victory Point cards are different. You can reveal any number of them, including one bought this turn, if they bring you to 10 points.

Can a road pass through an opponent's settlement?

No. You can't build a road that starts on the other side of an opponent's building. A settlement built in the middle of someone's road also cuts that route in two for Longest Route. If that breaks their route below the longest, the tile moves to whoever now has the longest route of at least 5 roads.

Who gets resources when the supply runs out?

If the supply can't cover everyone's production of one resource, nobody gets that resource this roll. The only exception is when just one player is owed that resource. That player takes whatever cards are left.

If you like Catan, try these

More board game guides are on the way, including Carcassonne and Rummikub. Until then, Ticket to Ride is the closest fit for a table that likes Catan's pace without the haggling. For a quieter engine game with no trading, try Wingspan. You'll find everything else in our board games section.

Sources

CATAN GmbH, CATAN The Game rulebook, 6th edition (2025)
CATAN GmbH, CATAN 5-6 Player Expansion rulebook (2025)
catan.com, CATAN game page (players, age and play time)
Z-Man Games, Carcassonne game page (players, age and play time)
Days of Wonder, Ticket to Ride rules (2025 edition)

How we check rules and build the intro card: our methodology.