I once read an article somewhere about how he spent huge amounts of time thoroughly playtesting the entire game with his children. This is what made the game balanced and easy to grasp.
My favorite mechanic is the way each dice roll potentially gives everyone at the table some sort of payoff. This keeps everyone at the table engaged and paying attention.
You only come up with mechanics like this if you put in the time playtesting.
> My favorite mechanic is the way each dice roll potentially gives everyone at the table some sort of payoff. This keeps everyone at the table engaged and paying attention.
We've actually found this to be very off-putting. It often ends up with certain players remaining stuck in long droughts, often unable to do anything.
As a result, we tend to play with "welfare". Essentially, a secondary currency system that can be exchanged for any resource. Cost scales with the amount of victory points you have, so it becomes less valuable as you advanced closer to victory.
We've found this helps create a bit of balance and ensure that everyone has a chance to stay engaged.
Not just with his family. He actually wrote himself an AI with some 60 page Excel monster which could play the game quite well. I worked with him for a short time around end of the nineties and he was incredibly dedicated to his game. He experimented a lot with different game scenarios, for example there is a quite fun Catan card game out there. And he came up with a bunch of scenarios for the PC game we were doing back then. He was also was a super friendly, down to earth person who showed up at game fairs talking to his player base.
> My favorite mechanic is the way each dice roll potentially gives everyone at the table some sort of payoff. This keeps everyone at the table engaged and paying attention.
I find the variance here way too high. Coupled with being a long game, this essentially bums out a few of the players who end up missing out in resources in early or mid-game and then just stagnating and getting bored. When I'm forced to play the game, I've played by taking the average of a set of dice rolls (essentially shaping your result into a distribution that approaches normal as you have more rolls) but honestly I just don't bother playing Catan when given the choice.
I certainly credit Catan for being my cohort's gateway into the world of board games, a lifelong hobby, and for that Mr. Teuber has my eternal gratitude.
The famous and much maligned, but actually good game, Monopoly of course has the characteristic that the best stuff happens to you on opponents' turns. It's a great characteristic for a lot of groups.
It's also a fairly rare characteristic despite two of the largest tabletop games
ever, Catan and Monopoly, having versions of it.
Machi Koro is an excellent more modern game with the same characteristic.
The game is very poorly balanced for current standards. If you choose the start location poorly you automatically lose.
Then due to the 'robber' mechanic you cannot follow any strategy, since you randomly lose resources.
To add more: trade is almost never worth it. I think some expansion introduced small currency coins to try to facilitate more trade.
After 2-3 hours the game ends since somoene managed to buy the cards that give victory points. This didnt happen due to any grand strategy, they were just lucky not to lose their resources to the robber.
Those cards are a built in timer.
Cathan could have been good in 1995, but now mechanically the game is very outdated and there are much better 'gateway' games. For example Carcassonne, which has very elegant mechanics.
Cathan has this problem that your decision options are very limited: trade is often worth it only for one side - so the common strategy is to never trade; then you cannot do any long term strategy, since if you try to accumulate resources you randomly lose them to the robber.
Catan helped show me that board games had evolved beyond the games of my youth.
Went down a huge rabbit hole afterwards and most of my closest friends today I've met through game nights, and I've designed several games since that will eventually get out there (one is signed by a publisher but not yet released, hoping to get two more signed this year).
If not for that I'd probably still exclusively be working on video games in my spare time.
Thanks Klaus, for having such a massive influence on the hobby that the industry has had an incredible period of growth and many cool and interesting games that almost certainly wouldn't exist otherwise. RIP.
As I've gotten older I've had to pick and choose from time intensive hobbies I've collected over the years, and board games that rank on board game geek and - in the same way folks serious about their movies use 'film' - often get referred to not as board games but 'tabletop' are something I don't spend time with as much anymore (with real humans, digital editions have been nice). But I can still play Catan and get people to play with me.
Catan is game that scratches my game geek itch, but is fun and learnable by most people interested in a board game at a holiday. I am thankful for Catan. Thank you Klaus Teuber for bringing us Catan.
> board games that rank on board game geek and - in the same way folks serious about their movies use 'film' - often get referred to not as board games but 'tabletop'
There are lots of games that are "tabletop games" and not "board games," and not because anyone's being a snob.
Dominoes, cards, miniatures, for example. If you actually dig deeper into BGG than the links of new hotness, you can find many more types.
Also, anyone who's into Catan hasn't earned their snob status yet. ;-)
Catan is the game that got me into modern board games 20 years ago. Following board game nights made me meet people who are still close friends today and introduced me to the mother of my children.
My life would have been so different without Mr Teuber creations. Thank you and reset in peace.
Years ago, one of my first wood working projects was a custom Catan board. I used a router and carved every hex myself. I used a wood burning tool for all the symbols.
Settlers of Catan is the perfect "bridge game" - accessible enough to people who are used to playing Monopoly, but complicated and fun enough that it gets people interested in more involved German-style board games.
Most board game aficionados end up not playing Catan very much, but it's hard to think of a game that has introduced more people to the genre successfully.
I'd consider myself pretty into board games. My family played them (and card games) regularly when I growing up. And it's now something I do with friends regularly (and still with family). But I have a strong preference for games in this "bridge" category. Games that are interesting and have an element of strategy but
- take 30-90 minutes on average, not hours or days
- have a relatively simple set of rules without too many special cases
I'd suggest that the super complicated/involved are just one niche that some people are into. And much like books or movies, different people are different things.
Took the words out of my mouth. I love complex boardgames taking hours (twilight imperium is probably my favorite), but I can play settlers. My parents like games with few rules (not necessarily simple ones), but they also can do settlers, so that is where the family meets.
More’s the pity, IMO. I really like Catan, but I’m not really interested in becoming a board game hipster and learning a new board game every time I play.
I came here to say exactly this. I don't know anything about the man except that he brought a good deal of tangible joy into my life and the lives of many many others. As far as epitaphs go, you can't ask for much better than that.
RIP. Settlers Of Catan and Uwe Rosenberg's Bohnanza were my intro to boardgames beyond Monopoly. I always hated Monopoly, and all board games by extension. Thanks to Catan and Bohnanza I discovered that board games didn't have to be bad/boring.
Implementing Bohnanza was the main project of the advanced programming class at my Uni. Was really fun, we were allowed to pick any programming language and had to incorporate one or more of the "advanced" techniques the professor taught. I picked CoffeeScript and aspect oriented programming and it was so much fun. Still one of my best programming experiences. AOP lends itself perfectly to boardgames.
Bohnanza is a quite remarkable game. Ruthlessly mathematical in a way that you don't need to process to play and have fun. (I like it. But I don't like to play too often or it starts to feel like work. )
Catan was my intro to modern board games. I haven't played it in 15 years or so, but it is the reason I now have nearly 400 boardgames. I prefer many other games over it now, but it will always have a fond place in my heart.
My best friends are those I play catan with regularly. There is no other game so enjoyable, which can inspire such anger towards friends for their transgressions, yet allow such easy forgiveness. Rest in peace, Klaus.
RIP, this man's creation helped me and my friends make many boring evening better. Also lead to arguments but that's okay, was part of the fun. He really left a huge legacy.
Catan, and the many other games made possible after it's success, have brought me a lot of happiness over the years. I'm thankful for the life and work of Mr. Teuber.
Responsible for millions of divorces and vendettas everywhere.
I stopped playing Catan and switched to cooperative euro games after realizing that the way I play Catan (threatening, holding grudges, taking revenge, creating chaos...) is not how everybody else plays or wants to play. I play to win whatever the cost, but after having strong arguments with my friends and loved ones I decided to just stop playing.
Unfortunately in German only. A superb „OMR“ podcast episode with Klaus and his son as guests talking about past, present and future as well as some insights.
[+] [-] scyzoryk_xyz|2 years ago|reply
My favorite mechanic is the way each dice roll potentially gives everyone at the table some sort of payoff. This keeps everyone at the table engaged and paying attention.
You only come up with mechanics like this if you put in the time playtesting.
[*] RIP
[+] [-] SkyPuncher|2 years ago|reply
We've actually found this to be very off-putting. It often ends up with certain players remaining stuck in long droughts, often unable to do anything.
As a result, we tend to play with "welfare". Essentially, a secondary currency system that can be exchanged for any resource. Cost scales with the amount of victory points you have, so it becomes less valuable as you advanced closer to victory.
We've found this helps create a bit of balance and ensure that everyone has a chance to stay engaged.
[+] [-] coffeeaddicted|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Karrot_Kream|2 years ago|reply
I find the variance here way too high. Coupled with being a long game, this essentially bums out a few of the players who end up missing out in resources in early or mid-game and then just stagnating and getting bored. When I'm forced to play the game, I've played by taking the average of a set of dice rolls (essentially shaping your result into a distribution that approaches normal as you have more rolls) but honestly I just don't bother playing Catan when given the choice.
I certainly credit Catan for being my cohort's gateway into the world of board games, a lifelong hobby, and for that Mr. Teuber has my eternal gratitude.
[+] [-] furyofantares|2 years ago|reply
It's also a fairly rare characteristic despite two of the largest tabletop games ever, Catan and Monopoly, having versions of it.
Machi Koro is an excellent more modern game with the same characteristic.
[+] [-] rvba|2 years ago|reply
Then due to the 'robber' mechanic you cannot follow any strategy, since you randomly lose resources.
To add more: trade is almost never worth it. I think some expansion introduced small currency coins to try to facilitate more trade.
After 2-3 hours the game ends since somoene managed to buy the cards that give victory points. This didnt happen due to any grand strategy, they were just lucky not to lose their resources to the robber. Those cards are a built in timer.
Cathan could have been good in 1995, but now mechanically the game is very outdated and there are much better 'gateway' games. For example Carcassonne, which has very elegant mechanics.
Cathan has this problem that your decision options are very limited: trade is often worth it only for one side - so the common strategy is to never trade; then you cannot do any long term strategy, since if you try to accumulate resources you randomly lose them to the robber.
[+] [-] cableshaft|2 years ago|reply
Went down a huge rabbit hole afterwards and most of my closest friends today I've met through game nights, and I've designed several games since that will eventually get out there (one is signed by a publisher but not yet released, hoping to get two more signed this year).
If not for that I'd probably still exclusively be working on video games in my spare time.
Thanks Klaus, for having such a massive influence on the hobby that the industry has had an incredible period of growth and many cool and interesting games that almost certainly wouldn't exist otherwise. RIP.
[+] [-] CatWChainsaw|2 years ago|reply
Gonna have to gather together a group to play a round in his honor.
[+] [-] acheron|2 years ago|reply
Not sure what is special about "dicebreaker.com" but here's an official announcement from the Catan site https://www.catan.com/catan-fans/news/we-mourn-passing-klaus... as well as a memorial on the Spiel des Jahres site https://www.spiel-des-jahres.de/trauer-um-klaus-teuber/ though that one is in German.
[+] [-] libraryatnight|2 years ago|reply
Catan is game that scratches my game geek itch, but is fun and learnable by most people interested in a board game at a holiday. I am thankful for Catan. Thank you Klaus Teuber for bringing us Catan.
[+] [-] drewcoo|2 years ago|reply
There are lots of games that are "tabletop games" and not "board games," and not because anyone's being a snob.
Dominoes, cards, miniatures, for example. If you actually dig deeper into BGG than the links of new hotness, you can find many more types.
Also, anyone who's into Catan hasn't earned their snob status yet. ;-)
[+] [-] Jimmc414|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ponytech|2 years ago|reply
My life would have been so different without Mr Teuber creations. Thank you and reset in peace.
[+] [-] xahrepap|2 years ago|reply
https://imgur.com/a/HGe528s
My kids and I just got it out again a few days ago and started playing again. What a great game. RIP.
[+] [-] vxNsr|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chimeracoder|2 years ago|reply
Most board game aficionados end up not playing Catan very much, but it's hard to think of a game that has introduced more people to the genre successfully.
[+] [-] nicoburns|2 years ago|reply
- take 30-90 minutes on average, not hours or days
- have a relatively simple set of rules without too many special cases
I'd suggest that the super complicated/involved are just one niche that some people are into. And much like books or movies, different people are different things.
[+] [-] Semaphor|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] philwelch|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Havoc|2 years ago|reply
Well played
[+] [-] jrussino|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kiernanmcgowan|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joemi|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marcod|2 years ago|reply
Love Bonanza too!
[+] [-] tinco|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dgacmu|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ycombinete|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mLuby|2 years ago|reply
Unrelated, the website claims this cookie is "legitimate interest" and so can't be disabled:
Why do they need to identify a logged out visitor?[+] [-] Y_Y|2 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] larkinrichards|2 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] jakespencer|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] charlieyu1|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Ikatza|2 years ago|reply
I stopped playing Catan and switched to cooperative euro games after realizing that the way I play Catan (threatening, holding grudges, taking revenge, creating chaos...) is not how everybody else plays or wants to play. I play to win whatever the cost, but after having strong arguments with my friends and loved ones I decided to just stop playing.
[+] [-] 3xa|2 years ago|reply
https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/omr-podcast/id10563120...
[+] [-] vxNsr|2 years ago|reply