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.

Victorious!

Finally a Settlers of Catan win! Yes, I had won a while back—but I was playing against people who had never played before. It was a solid win—reaching 10 points first by building 4 cities and two settlements. However, it was not quite as sweet as beating Eric J. Lawrence—the game warden back in my LA gaming group.

Savoring victory.
The winning board. The red cities, settlements and roads are mine.

International Gaming: Second Match

Settlers of Catan winners:
James and Manuela
While M* and I had a good time playing as a team, once again we lost a game of "Settlers of Catan." The same group (James, Manueal, Tialda, Michael, M* and me) gathered, and James and Manuela were the victors. The game does not require assigning second, third, fourth places, but I'm very much aware that M* and I came in last of the three groups. However, it was a good match with each group able to give the impression that they could be the winners. I admit that my attention wanes if my impending loss is too obvious to ignore, but, this time, the only other object of my interest was the TV showing music videos directed by Michel Gondry. Having never had MTV, I couldn't resist sneaking peeks.

Not only were James and Manuela the winners, they also hosted and provided tapas (pumpkin soup, tortilla Espagnol, baked aubergine/eggplant with tomatoes and cheese). James is taking the cheese class that I took last term at Hills Road Sixth Form College, and, towards the end of the game, he brought out a few of his favored selections. The St. Gall (Irish) and Croltin de Chavignol (France) were so good that a trip to the cheese shop has been added to my To Do list this week. I provided a sweet dessert of homemade, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, which were devoured by the end of the game.

International Gaming

M*, James, Manuela, Michael and Tialda gathered around Settlers of Catan.

We finally hosted our first gathering. Two of M*'s classmates and their partners came over for a meal--including my (very popular) GF chocolate chip cookies--followed by a game of Settlers of Catan. We played in groups, and M* and I were at a strategic disadvantage: the others could plan their next moves by speaking in a language only they could understand. Tialda and Michael devised in Dutch, and Manuela and James schemed in Spanish. M* and I had to whisper softly while keeping the interchange hidden behind our hands. This reminded Manuela of a joke:
"What do you call someone who can speak three languages? Trilingual. Two languages? Bilingual. One language? American."

M*, James and Manuela had played the game once before. I introduced them to it in December--I was the victor then, most likely because I had previously played Settlers three or four times. Michael had never played before, but Tialda pulled their team to victory as she is a seasoned Settlers player. She's even played Seafarers of Catan. We're scheduled to play again in three weeks, and we may even break out the Settlers of Catan 5 and 6 Player Expansion.