Hot take: Catan is actually terrible and I'm done pretending it's fun

I spent last Saturday at my buddy's place in Austin playing Catan with four other people. It took almost 3 hours for one game. Two people got knocked out early and just sat there on their phones. The dice rolls decide everything, strategy barely matters. I brought up my favorite game, Rising Sun, and everyone groaned that it was "too complicated." But sitting through a 3 hour dice fest is fine? I just don't get the hype. Has anyone else moved on from Catan or am I the only one?

3 comments

3 Comments

grantc8011d ago

The dice are the whole problem, but have you tried the Seafarers expansion or are you done with the system entirely?

the_rose11d ago

The real problem nobody talks about is how Catan makes you feel bad for having a good time. You trade with someone, they pull ahead, and suddenly you're the villain for not handing out resources for free. Rising Sun has clear alliances and betrayals built right in. Everyone knows what they're signing up for. Catan just turns into a weird grudge match where the person who barely got a road down holds the whole game hostage. That tension isn't fun, it's just stressful. Have you tried any games that actually reward negotiation instead of punishing it?

finleym3711d ago

Man I feel this so hard. My group tried to play Catan last month and it was the same exact thing - two players were basically eliminated by turn 20 and just sat there scrolling TikTok while me and another guy fought over sheep for an hour. The dice really do run everything, I had the best setup once and still lost because the numbers just didn't hit. It's wild how people will call Rising Sun "too much" but think Catan's random chaos is fine. You're not alone in this, plenty of us have outgrown it.