More Converts to the Cult of Settlers

A winning Settlers board.

M* and I have successfully turned his family into Settlers of Catan fans. I brought the game with us on our visit, thinking, mistakenly, that I had included the expansion edition to use with my long term gaming group in Los Angeles. However, we were able to convince M*'s youngest sister, Lindsey, and her fiance, Jason, to try a game—even though Jason was skeptical due to his less than enthralling experiences with traditional American games. When we started discussing the strategy involved in Settlers—the bartering, the amassing of resources, the building of settlements and cities—he quickly became excited to play.

Lindsey and Jason picked-up the rules of Settlers faster than any first-time player I've encountered. There was no eyes-glazing-over moment as I explained, for example, that you can trade four of any one resource for one of another kind on your turn but if you have a settlement or city on a marine port you can do three or two for one. The four of us had a challenging match—a great end to our time in Phoenix over New Year's.

M*, as the one in last place, was relegated to the role of photographer after the game.

Buoyed by this successful Settler's conversion, we turned to our next challenge: M*'s parents. They were willing newbies, but I almost lost them as I went over the rules. At one point, M*'s dad even exclaimed, "What pervert invented this game?!" (Sorry Klaus Tuber.) Luckily they were willing, albeit baffled, to try a practice game with M* and I giving advice throughout. While I sensed that M*'s mom was being a bit too nice to her son during some trades, we enjoyed watching her become competitive as she and M* vied to be the first to reach 10 points. M* did pull ahead and win, and I had my worst showing to date.

M* and his mom reconcile after a hard-fought battle for first place.

M*'s dad eventually came to truly enjoy the game—he was very impressed with how entertaining and challenging the playing of each turn could be. A few days later when I told him that I had extended my stay in Los Angeles, he relayed that the first thing that crossed his mind was, "We'll have time for another game of Settlers!" And we did.