The Event Card deck is a deck of cards intended to replace the two regular dice in a regular game. There are 37 cards in the deck, one for each combination of the two dice, and one card directing players to reshuffle the deck.

Appearance

There are two versions of the Event Card deck: one depicting the red die, and one that does not. As with all card decks, English and international cards are different in size, with English size using the bespoke “Catan size” (54mm x 80mm) cards and international sets using the mini European size cards (43mm x 67mm).

Each card depicts a Number Disc, and optionally a specific event.

Gameplay

• At the start of the game, the 36 Event Cards are shuffled, and the New Year card is placed sixth from the bottom.
• Whenever a player rolls for production, an Event Card is drawn instead. Resolve the event, if any, and use the Number Disc on the card for production. Place the drawn card in a discard pile.
• New Year: If the New Year card is drawn, gather all the Event Cards and reshuffle the deck, once again placing the New Year card sixth from the bottom. Then, draw another Event Card and resolve it.
• Events: The following events may occur whenever an Event Card is drawn:
  • A Beautiful Day: No event occurs.
    • This event was only specifically named prior to the English 6th edition.
  • Calm Seas: The player(s) with the most buildings placed on ports may take one resource card from the supply.
    • This card was named Calm Sea (singular) prior to the English 6th edition.
  • Conflict: The player with the Largest Army scoring bonus, or, if absent or unclaimed, the player with the most Knight development cards played, may steal a resource from any opponent.
    • If the Largest Army scoring bonus is absent or unclaimed, and there are two or more players with the most Knight development cards played, no event occurs.
  • Earthquake: Each player takes damage on one of their roads.
  • Epidemic: This turn, cities collect only one resource whenever adjacent hexes produces resources.
  • Good Neighbors: Each player with at least one card in their hand must pass one card from their hand to the player on their left.
  • Helpful Neighbor: The player(s) with the most victory points must give one card from their hand to one player of their choosing with fewer victory points.
    • This card was named Neighborly Assistance prior to the English 6th edition.
    • If the player(s) have no cards in their hand, no cards are given out.
    • In the English 4th edition (2nd international edition), the player(s) with the most victory points must give each remaining player one card from their hand.
      • If a player does not have enough cards to give, no cards are given out by that player.
  • Plentiful Year: Each player takes one resource card from the supply.
  • Robber Attacks: Each player exceeding the hand limit must discard half of their cards, rounded down. Then, the Robber is moved, and a resource is stolen from any player with an adjacent building at the Robber’s new location.
    • Note that this is not an event, but merely a reminder for the standard procedure whenever a 7 is rolled for production.
    • This event appears only on cards showing a 7 number token, and no other cards.
  • Robber Flees: The Robber is expelled from the board. It is placed on an available Desert hex, or off the board entirely, based on the specific scenario in play.
  • Tournament: The player(s) with the most Knight development cards played takes one resource from the supply.
  • Trade Advantage: The player with the Longest Route scoring bonus may steal a resource from any opponent.
    • Prior to the English 6th edition (4th international edition), if the Longest Route scoring bonus is absent or unclaimed, the player with the most roads placed on the board may steal a resource.
      • If there is a tie for the most roads placed, no event occurs.
    • In the English 6th edition (4th international edition), if the Longest Route scoring is absent or unclaimed, no event occurs.

The following additional rules are in effect when playing with Seafarers:

• The Pirate may not be moved as a result of the “Robber Flees” event. Only the Robber may be moved.
• Ships may not be damaged as a result of the “Earthquake” event. Only roads may be damaged.

The following additional rules are in effect when playing with Cities & Knights:

• The Event Die must also be rolled normally, and is resolved before the event shown on the Event Card is resolved.
• When using a deck without the red die, the red die must be rolled. Its purpose is solely to determine if Progress Cards are drawn based on the outcome of the Event Die.
  • Note that this may cause an otherwise impossible outcome to occur compared to decks with the red die, or compared to rolling the dice without Event Cards - for example, drawing the card with and having a red die value other than a 1.
• Events: The following changes to the events are observed:
  • Calm Seas: Players may not take a commodity card from the supply; only resoruce cards may be taken.
  • Conflict: The player with the highest total strength of activated Knights may steal a resource from any opponent.
    • If there are two or more players with the highest total strength, no event occurs.
  • Epidemic: Cities do not collect commodities this turn.
  • Good Neighbors: A player may choose to pass a commodity card instead of a resource card, and must do so if their hand consists entirely of commodity cards.
  • Helpful Neighbor: A player may choose to give a commodity card instead of a resource card, and must do so if their hand consists entirely of commodity cards.
  • Plentiful Year: Players may not take a commodity card from the supply; only resource cards may be taken.
  • Tournament: The player(s) with the highest total strength of activated Knights takes one resource (not commodity) from the supply.
• The “Alchemy” Progress Card works independently of the Event Card deck. Whenever it is used, no Event Cards are drawn, and no event associated with the production roll occurs.
• The “Diplomacy” Progress Card cannot be used to repair or remove a Damaged Road.
• The “Road Building” Progress Card may be used to repair a Damaged Road.

The following additional rules are in effect when playing with Explorers & Pirates:

• Do not resolve any events shown on the card. The events shown on the were not designed with compatibility with this expansion in mind.

Manifest

1 Event Card deck was included with each of the following products:

• Catan Event Cards standalone product (with red die in English, without red die in international)
• Atlantis, without the red die
• Traders & Barbarians
  • With the red die in English 4th and 5th edition sets
  • Without the red die in English 6th edition sets, and all international sets

The distribution of events on Event Cards is as follows:

Event	Roll(s) with Red Die
Calm Seas	(6) (6)
Conflict	(1)
Earthquake	(2)
Epidemic	(1) (2)
Good Neighbors	(3)
Helpful Neighbor	(4) (5)
Plentiful Year	(1)
Robber Flees	(2) (3)
Tournament	(3)
Trade Advantage	(4)