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Catan

From Board Game Barrage Wiki

Perhaps the most famous hobby board game, Catan (once titled "Settlers of Catan") is about expanding and building settlements to acquire goods, then collecting and trading those goods to build cities and developments for points.

Catan won the Spiel des Jahres in 1995.

Episode 339: One and Done
Episode 339
Episode 339

Sometimes once is enough, you know? Doesn't mean it was bad, but it might just be that you can have too much of a good thing. We're talking about board games that we'd recommend everyone play once, but only once. Before we hit and run, we talk about KaivaiEast India Companies, and Vantage.

Released: July 24, 2025

Episode 334: Nothing's Done It Better
Episode 334
Episode 334

Well, we finally did it. We played CATAN, and it was ... good! And then we started wondering, is there anything that's done quite the same thing that that game is doing? And then that got us wondering how many games there are like that, where it's genuinely hard to say that nothing has done it better since. And then that got us wondering if, instead of all this wondering, we should record a podcast episode. Before we wander, we talk about Box Two, Catan: Cities & Knights, and An Infamous Traffic.

Released: May 15, 2025

Episode 329: All the Stars Are Here!
Episode 329
Episode 329

I'm not sure why you'd make a hall of fame that's not also a sidewalk, but that's exactly what BoardGameGeek have gone and done - they've curated 25 games into their hall of fame, and we're here to judge them for their choices. It's weird that they didn't come to us first, honestly. Before we deck the halls, we talk about Arborea, Beyond the Horizon, and Taiwan Night Market.

Released: March 6, 2025

Episode 317: Fantasy Draft: Overrated Games
Episode 317
Episode 317

So we've done a lot of these drafts before, but I don't think we've done one quite like this. This time we're each trying to draft a set of five games that we think you might agree are incredibly overrated. What does that mean exactly? Well that's up for debate too. What isn't up for debate is that you could win $100 just by voting! Before we widen our delta, we talk about Undaunted 2200: Callisto, Nature, and Barcelona.

Released: October 3, 2024

Episode 231: Why Fight When You Can Negotiate?
Episode 231
Episode 231

Yes, you could make the argument that every game is a negotiation game if you try hard enough, but for a lot of games it’s more integral to the design. We look at games that we think integrate negotiation mechanics especially well, and ask how much is too much (or too little) when it comes to negotiation. Before we compromise, we talk about Septima, and Kremlin.

Released: June 23, 2022

Episode 222: Are You the Gatekeeper?
Episode 222
Episode 222

There are many ways that we can accidentally contribute to gatekeeping in the hobby - pushing those who want to embrace it away. Whether it's to those outside, or even, bizarrely, to those already in, we break down the subtle (and unsubtle) ways we do it, whether or not we mean to. Before we find the keymaster, we talk about San Marco, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, and Ghosts of Christmas.

Released: April 21, 2022

Episode 57: Where There's a Will, There's a Gateway
Episode 057
Episode 057

Gateway games are an often requested topic, but we wouldn't be us without a big old debate about them first. Are they important? Should you be trying to convert your friends at all? Isn't every game a gateway game if you just talk slowly enough? Before we raise the portcullis, we also talk about Targi, and Catan.

Released: February 28, 2019

Episode 45: Green Letter Episode?
Episode 045
Episode 045

It's question time again! After last week's massive success, we couldn't resist the urge to have you, loyal listener, once more do all the work for us. Before we turn the microphones around, we also talk about Brass: Birmingham, Exodus: Paris Nouveau, and Werewords.

Released: December 6, 2018