Catan Scenario and Variant Guide

Comprehensive scenario and variant guide for Catan

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Catan: Seafarers, originally titled The Seafarers of Catan, was the first full expansion to the base game. Released in 1997, its color in the color-coding system is light blue, though it was briefly purple for the first international edition.

The key attraction to this expansion is new rules and mechanics so as to allow for boards with multiple islands, and the means to expand between them. It is this expansion, in particular, that gave rise to the scenario that we know today, as the Seafarers manual introduces setups and special rules to get people familiar with the mechanics therein.

Because of the age of Seafarers, its scenarios are some of the most extensive. Few scenarios can lay claim to having more distinct setups and/or minor balance changes owing to the evolution of the game. It is this expansion that arguably evolved Catan from a singular game to a full game system, further enhancing its replayability.

Scenarios

The scenarios included with Seafarers have changed over time; the current scenario lineup has been established since the English 4th edition / 2nd international edition.

The general narrative of Seafarers is that the settlers of the base game island have moved on to find new lands to settle. Along the way, they discover uninhabited islands with new resources, as well as inhabited islands with friendly native tribes that wish to establish trade relations.

The current scenario lineup is as follows:

The English 3rd edition / 1st international edition scenario lineup is as follows:

Parts List

Seafarers includes the following:

The Seafarers extension includes the following:

Notes: