settlers

Take Catan mobile (but not for cheap)

You can now find all the familiar addicting gameplay of The Settlers of Catan spiced up with music, sound effects, and game stats on Android. Catan is a turn-based game in which you play as settlers on a newly explored island.

The goal is to gather a certain amount of victory points before the other players (the standard game requires 10). You can earn points by gathering resources and building settlements, accomplishing achievements, or buying victory point cards. Gather resources by building settlements on a resource-generating tile or trading with other players or the bank. Mastering the art of trade … Read more

Settlers of Catan coming to Microsoft Surface

Now, it's no secret that I am a Settlers of Catan enthusiast. Just ask the kind folks at TechFlash who made the mistake of letting me play in their tournament.

So I, like many devotees of the German board game have been hoping to see it make its way to Microsoft's Surface tabletop. Well, the good news is that it is indeed happening.

Enthusiasts at this week's Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio, will be the first to see Catan running on the Microsoft tabletop computer, although the game is still in development. The final version is … Read more

Cardboard meets OLED as game pieces go digital

Board games are already experiencing a renaissance as they move from the tabletop to the desktop (think Lexulous and Scrabble), but researchers from Canada's Queen's University are trying to further advance the ol' board game with a technology that essentially turns each piece into a graphics-saturated mini-display, thus merging the tangible aspects of board games with software-generated action normally seen in strategy games such as World of Warcraft.

Queen's Human Media Lab Professor Roel Vertegaal and HML graduate Mike Rooke say their technology (PDF) would let groups of people play electronic games in a sociable, physical setting … Read more

Beyond Binary named 'Lord of Catan'

SEATTLE--If the goal of a reporter is to observe and remain separate from the action, I was a very bad reporter on Tuesday night.

In town for other reasons, I happened to notice that Seattle-area tech site TechFlash was hosting a tournament of the board game "Settlers of Catan." Knowing TechFlash co-founder Todd Bishop quite well, I dropped a note to see if I could take part, or at least watch. As many friends know, I am a bit of a Catan addict, an obsession fueled by the game's recent release for the iPod Touch (leading the … Read more

Beloved boardgame Settlers of Catan comes to iPhone

If you've never heard of Settlers of Catan, you owe it to yourself to read the Wired story, Monopoly Killer: Perfect German board game redefines genre.

Then you owe it to yourself to buy a copy, as I did, and find two or three friends for one of the best board game experiences you'll ever have.

No friends? No problem: Settlers of Catan just landed on the iPhone and iPod Touch. And you don't need 2-3 available humans, 3-4 available hours, and a flat surface to play it.

For the uninitiated, Catan unfolds on an island. It'… Read more

Kolonists: Like 'Settlers of Catan' for iPhone

Good news for fans of the board game Settlers of Catan: There's an app for that. Specifically, the new iPhone game Kolonists offers decidedly Settlers-like gameplay.

In other words, it's a strategy game of empire-building for 3 to 4 players. (If you've never heard of Settlers, check out the Wired story, Monopoly Killer: Perfect German board game redefines genre.)

Like Settlers, Kolonists unfolds on an island, which here fills in for Roman Empire-era Rome. Your goal is to rise to power by developing and capturing territories, which involves resource-gathering, trading, bribery, and some inevitable plundering.

Unlike Settlers, … Read more