Catan

Klaus Teuber. Catan GmbH, 1995.

3–4 Players | 60-120 Mins | Age 10+

Catan, designed by Klaus Teuber, is a multiplayer game in which players compete to create the dominant settlement on the fictional island of Catan. Players compete for space and resources, and build roads, towns and cities until the island has been effectively colonised (where, as Greg Loring-Albright has asked, are the island’s indigenous peoples?). With resource gathering, trading and building as its core actions the game is well suited to discussions of sustainability and climate change and given its popularity it is unsurprising that the game has been the subject of discussions of sustainability (Assadourian and Hansen 2011; Chappin, Bijvoet and Oei 2017; Illingworth and Wake 2020). There are a number of expansion and scenario packs that have previously been developed for Catan. Notably these include Catan Scenarios: Oil Springs (Assadourian and Hansen, 2011), which introduced oil as a tradeable resource and which explores environmental degradation and the unofficial free scenario Catan: Global Warming (Illingworth and Wake, 2020) which focuses attention on the complex interplay of individual and collective actions in the process of global warming.

How to play:

Catan Oil Springs

In Catan Scenarios: Oil Springs settlers arriving on Catan will cry “Eureka!” as they discover black gold on the island for the first time. This resource brings great opportunity but also danger to the intrepid settlers as they make their mark on the island, claiming it for their own. First, the good news: Oil can increase resource yields and allow a settlement to grow much faster than normal. The bad news is that players need to monitor the damage their oil use does to the environment and will eventually have to contend with global climate devastation which can result in all players losing the game!

Catan: Global Warming

In this new expansion the settlers of Catan face their greatest threat yet: Global Warming. It has become apparent that the resources used to build the roads and settlements on the island are not as limitless as first thought. The destruction of the natural landscape has resulted in emissions of Greenhouse Gases, and if these continue to increase the resultant warming effect will have potentially catastrophic effects. The inhabitants of Catan must now decide whether to tackle Global Warming with sustainable development, or if individual victory should be pursued, no matter what the cost…

The game was developed to promote learning and engender dialogue around global warming whilst providing engaging and meaningful gameplay. The designers introduced innovative game mechanics along with the educational material to help use Catan: Global Warming in a classroom setting.

See more at https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/620325/.

Adapted from the Ecogame Ludography entry written by Seth Etchells, Charlotte Gislam, Lucy Roberts, Chloé Germaine, Paul Wake and Jack Warren.

References

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