Catan Event Cards From Mayfair Games

Catan Event Cards
From Mayfair Games

Drop the dice and spice up your Settler's of Catan or Cities and Knights games with this new set of cards. The Catan Event Cards feature thirty-six cards that act as a deck of dice, replacing the need for dice in your Catan game. Special events are triggered by these cards each time they are turned over, adding an exciting new element to your Catan play. Also included are 6 score keeping cards, the rules card, and a reshuffle card. Forty-four cards in total.(Expansion only, Requires Settlers of Catan.)

Product Details

• Brand: MayFair Games
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds

Features

• Drop the dice and spice up your Settler's of Catan or Cities and Knights games with this new set of cards.
• The Catan Event Cards feature thirty-six cards that act as a deck of dice, replacing the need for dice in your Catan game.
• Special events are triggered by these cards each time they are turned over, adding an exciting new element to your Catan play.
• Also included are 6 score keeping cards, the rules card, and a reshuffle card.
• Forty-four cards in total.

Customer Reviews
Not for everyone
This seemed like it would add a lot of fun to the game, and it seemed like a great idea. Upon trying them though, it's just not the same. The "events" can be pretty game altering and are not that much fun, adding more random elements to a game I believe is already perfectly balanced in terms of strategy/chance.

You could just use these cards for the numeric portion of them, if the dice really don't do it for you. Although we hated how the dice tend to fall into "trends", we quickly went back to the dice after this. It's just not catan if once in a while there aren't four 7's rolled in a row :)

You may enjoy these cards, they aren't to expensive and are worth a shot if you think you may be interested. Our group of players however, opt to not use them.

An interesting tweak...
As a long time Catan player, I was looking for something to spice up gameplay without dropping $40 on another expansion. The Event Cards were a great option.

The cards are drawn from their deck in place of rolling a dice. Regular Catan gameplay is followed otherwise. Several cards have basic gameplay instructions (harvest crops, activate robber, etc.) while adding in new gameplay elements like Earthquakes, Good Neighbors, and Epidemics, among others. The Earthquake for example might damage an existing road, and no new roads can be created until the road is repaired. Another card might call for the player with the largest current army to give production cards to all other players. Or the player with the most ports might get their choice of a free production card.

I wouldn't say gameplay is radically different by using the Event Cards, but the little tweaks are fun. When used with the 'Cities & Knights' expansion, several additional changes are listed on the cards. I have not tried this with the C&E expansion, but it looks to effect gameplay even more than in a traditional game.

My only knock is that the 'roll of the dice' are much more predictable. There are x amount 9's, 12's, etc. So the randomness of the dice is completely absent. If you're sitting on a 3 and an 11, you're pretty well stuck for the duration of the game. On the upside, they'll definitely come up at least once, but not over and over as the dice might provide. It leads to a somewhat stagnant feeling if you have weak placement.

Overall, it's a nice little addition to change up the game for familiar players, and at an affordable price, but is lacking the excitement the regular dice provide.

A different way to play Catan
I have been playing Catan for several years now. My brother, myself, and my parents play every time we get together. So, when I saw this variation I was excited. We finally played it last weekend and the reviews were mixed.

My brother, myself, and my mom loved the variation. My dad hated it. It does change the game a lot, and you need to adjust your strategy accordingly. All of the numbers are represented as they should be. There are six 7s, five 6s and 8s, four 5s and 9s, three 4s and 10s, two 3s and 11s, and one of each 1 and 12. 36 cards total. They give you a "New Year" card that instructs you to reshuffle the deck and start again from the top. The instructions tell you to put 5 cards face down and then the "New Year" card on top of them. Basically you take 5 cards out of deck for that round. It adds a little randomness. When we played, we added more randomness (for my dad) by simply shuffling the "New Year" card in to the deck.

Knowing what numbers will come up changes your strategy. There really isn't a point of putting yourself on an 11 and hoping the dice will save you. Two 11s will come up each time through the deck. You can predict what numbers will come up based on what has already come up. This should change where you put the robber and where you put your cities, if you keep track of the cards that have come up.

So, depending on what kind of games you enjoy you may or may not like this variation. For me, the game was much more "fair" and each player was still in it at the end. I have seen too many games where the dice determine the winner of the game. I get frustrated by this, so I welcomed the cards. My dad is a gambler and enjoys the luck factor. He appreciates the randomness that the dice provide.

I don't think I will play with the cards every time, but it is yet another welcome variation to the Catan game. My favorite is Cities and Knights.

Buy Catan Event Cards From Mayfair Games