The Settlers of Catan

Posted by Jeff Carter
on July 14th, 2010

Sometimes when you are on vacation, things happen. We were up in Grand Marais, MN. Our place is in the middle of the woods, and since we don’t have Verizon, we don’t have any phone or internet service. Hint, ATT, get your butts up there and build some cell towers! One day, it began to rain. Biblical rain. Our little area of the woods got around 2 inches, and it rained from around 9 AM to 6 PM solid.

We also don’t have electricity, so no television. Our place has solar power. The radio reception is really poor as well. When it pours, there is literally nothing to do except read a book or play a game.

After reading about Settlers of Catan in the Wall Street Journal, we went out and purchased it. Fortunately, we brought it up to Minnesota with us. The gameboard was given a marathon workout on this rainy day. Some very competitive games were played.

Settlers is a game that never plays the same way twice. The board is different every time, and so is the play since it uses dice. It’s a fantastic game to teach anyone about entrepreneurship. It’s random. It’s strategic. It’s competitive. It’s collaborative. Wonderful game. According to the article, many CEO’s in the Silicon Valley play the game.

Essentially, you look at the game board and decide on your strategy. Then the game play begins. Invariably, your strategy blows up. Not really any different than putting on a trade or trying to implement a business plan. Nothing ever goes as planned. Even if one of your strategies is blocked, you can be creative and think of another way to win.

Because play relies on the roll of the dice, what happens can be totally random. The game goes really fast. Most of them last just under an hour. It is not like playing Monopoly or Risk, but combines the best elements of both.

Play also relies on cunning. You can trade commodities with other people, trying to improve your hand or position. Some trading is strategic, trying to get assets to trade again, or exchange at a port for a different commodity.

It’s a great game, and we are really enjoy playing it. You need a minimum of three people to play.

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

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