Settlers of Catan
It's from 1995, before you were born.
- Maker
- Klaus Teuber / Kosmos
- Type
- Board game (strategy)
- Debuted
- 1995
- Note
- Launched the modern board-game renaissance
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About
As of 2026, it's 31 years old.
The Settlers of Catan, designed by German dental technician Klaus Teuber and released in 1995, is widely credited with kicking off the entire modern 'designer board game' boom — the wave of strategic, replayable 'Eurogames' that turned board gaming from a kids' rainy-day activity into a serious adult hobby.
Building roads and settlements, hoarding wheat and ore, and engaging in tense trade negotiations ('I'll give you two sheep for one brick') made it a phenomenon, even as it generated its own brand of table-flipping fury when someone blocked your spot or the robber landed on your number for the fifth time.
Strategic, tradeable, and genuinely revolutionary, Catan is the game that dragged board gaming into a golden age and taught everyone the true value of a single brick.
Settlers of Catan through the years
Catan launches in Germany
Sparks the modern designer-board-game renaissance worldwide.
