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CATAN Das Duell Das Kartenspiel
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CATAN Das Duell Das Kartenspiel
Rivals for CATAN

Rivals for CATAN

Enjoy playing Rivals for CATAN, the comprehensive, revised edition of the successful former CATAN Card Game!

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Rivals for CATAN Basegame Box
10+
2
30-75 min.

Also available as a digital version on CATAN Universe!

About the Game

Submerge yourself into the bustling life on Catan - be the prince or princess of Catan and decide on the fate of its settlers. In addition to settlements, roads, and cities, you also construct the buildings where your subjects work, hire heroes that make things more difficult for your opponent, and build ships to boost your trade.

Playing time:

  • Introductory Game: About 30 minutes
  • Theme Game: About 45 to 60 minutes
  • Duel: About 60 to 75 minutes

In Rivals for CATAN you are building your principality with cards. Each player starts with a small principality consisting of two settlement cards connected by a road card.

Each settlement is diagonally adjacent to a region card. Each of you has 6 regions where - should the dice roll result be favorable - you can harvest resources such as lumber, brick, and ore, just as in the CATAN board game.

Each settlement is worth 1 victory point, and if you upgrade a settlement to a city, you receive another victory point. The easy-to-play Introductory Game The First Catanians takes about 30 minutes and is exclusively played with the cards of the Basic Set. The first player to have 7 (or more) victory points wins the game.

Simply using the resources you harvested to build roads and settlements or to upgrade settlements to cities won't be enough to come out as winner. It is also important that you place heroes, buildings, and trade ships above and below the settlements and cities because these cards are important in the competition for the trade advantage and the strength advantage, both of which give you additional victory points and pave your road to victory.

Once you have mastered the Introductory Game, new challenges await you in the three Theme Sets of Rivals for CATAN. Each Theme Set takes about 40 to 60 minutes and is played together with the cards of the Basic Set, which you are already familiar with at that point.

In the set The Era of Gold, the struggle for the trade advantage becomes more intense, and the resource “gold” gains in importance through new buildings. In The Era of Turmoil, Traitors, Archers, and Arsonists make the competition between you and your opponent a little tougher. The set The Era of Progress is more peaceful again; if you rely on the University, cards such as Three-Field System or Mineral Mining allow you to enjoy the fruits of progress and leave your opponent behind.

Once you have played all three Theme Games and are familiar with the cards, you should go for the Duel of the Princes. In Duel mode, you play with all Theme Sets, that is, with a slimmed-down version of them. This version of Rivals for CATAN offers you and your opponent even more strategic and tactical possibilities and thus, even more exciting and sophisticated games.

principality Rivals for CATAN

Special Cards for Rivals for CATAN

At the Internationale Spieletage (International Game Fair) in Essen, Germany, which takes place in October each year, Klaus Teuber often gave away the special cards for the game Rivals for CATAN during his signing session at the Kosmos booth Some of these cards were also available at the CATAN Shop and are part of the English Deluxe edition of Rivals for CATAN.

Please note: The special cards presented here are only intended for use with the game Rivals for CATAN. They cannot be used with the old CATAN Card Game.

2020

As part of the #StayAndPlay campaign, this card was released as a Print & Play version.

Fortunately, there are hostels on Catan that offer traveling merchants excellent room and board. You can use these special hostel cards as an addition to the Rivals for CATAN introductory game and when playing the theme games.

CATAN Rivals The Hostel

2016

The first card of this year is called Michael, the Daring. The portrait of Michael Fleissner, the managing director of Kosmos Verlag, served as a template. With the card, Klaus Teuber thanks Michael Fleissner for the good cooperation.

The card has the following function:

You may play this card when the event Brigand Attack is rolled. Michael defeats the brigands. You do not lose any resources. Instead, choose 1 gold field or 1 pasture and receive up to 3 resources in that region.

Rivals for CATAN - Special Card Michael

The second card for 2016 is called 20th Anniversary - Catan Card Game for 2, which exactly happened in that year.

The card has the following function:

Choose an action: Take 1 resource or select a specific card from a draw stack. Your opponent may perform the action you didn't choose. If you won a Town Hall, you can take 2 resources or select 2 cards from a draw stack.

Rivals for CATAN Special Card 10 Anniversary

2015

The title of the first card is Ron, the Well-Travelled Man You can use the card with the theme set The Era of Progess. If you play Ron you may rotate 1 empty region up to 3 resources.

A picture of Ron Magin, the product manager for CATAN at CATAN Studio Inc., was used as a model for the card. By means of this card, Klaus Teuber thanks Ron Magin for many years of successful collaboration.

The card has the following function:

Ron shares his rich experience with the council. You may immediately rotate 1 empty region to the highest level (3 resources). Requires: Town Hall.

Rivals for CATAN Special Card Ron

The title of the second card is Heiko, the Master-Swimmer. At a Celebration event, Heiko supports you when building a street, settlement or city.

A picture of Heiko Windfelder, the Publishing Director Toys at Kosmos Verlag, was used as a model for the card. By means of this card, Klaus Teuber thanks Heiko Windfelder for many years of successful collaboration.

The card has the following function:

If the event is Celebration: Heiko wins the swimming contest and gets your settlers excited. During your build phase, it costs you any 2 resources of your choice less to build 1 road, 1 settlement, or 1 city.

Rivals for CATAN Special Card Heiko

Because of the CATAN - Big Game Event at Gen Con and of the games fair in Essen that year, an additional special card was produced. The title of this card is Participation in the Big Game.

The card has the following function:

If you have registered for a Big Game or would like to participate in the next Big Game, in addition to the resources you receive as a result of the production roll you also receive the same resources your opponent obtained.

Rivals for CATAN Special Card Big Game

2014

The title of this card is Arnd, the Fisherman. You can use the card with the theme set The Era of Gold. If you placed Arnd adjacent to one of your gold fields, instead of taking 1 gold you may rotate the other adjacent region to the next higher level when the number of the gold field is rolled.

A picture of Arnd Fischer, since spring 2014 the CATAN games editor at Kosmos, was used as a model for the card. By means of this card, Klaus Teuber thanks Arnd Fischer for the previous years, during which he - in his capacity as a training manager - introduced many people to CATAN.

The card has the following function:

Place Arnd adjacent to a gold field. When the number of the gold field is rolled, instead of taking 1 gold you may rotate the other adjacent region to the next higher level.

 

Rivals for CATAN Special Card Arnd

2013

The title of the card is Gavin, the Polyglot. If the Polyglot is on your side, one time during your turn you may trade a resource for another resource 1:1, provided that the region your resource comes from has a total of three resources.
A picture of Gavin Allister, CATAN GmbH's German to English translator, was used as a model for the card. By means of this card, Klaus Teuber thanks Gavin for many years of successful collaboration.

The action card has the following function:

Your treasures have been recounted in your favor. If you are in the lead, immediately take any 1 resource of your choice; otherwise take any 2 resources of your choice. Requires: Prince or Princess.

Rivals for CATAN Special Card Gavin

2012

The title of the card is Alexander and Sebastian, the Bookkeepers.

If you assign the two bookkeepers to your princely treasury, you'll be pleased to find out that your treasures are more valuable than you thought. Photos of Alexander Zbiek and Sebastian Mellin, the two programmers for the (no longer available) PlayCatan game Die Fürsten von CATAN (Rivals for CATAN) were used as models for the card. By means of this card, Klaus Teuber thanks Alexander and Sebastian for many years of successful collaboration.

The action card has the following function:

Your treasures have been recounted in your favor. If you are in the lead, immediately take any 1 resource of your choice; otherwise take any 2 resources of your choice. Requires: Prince or Princess.

Rivals for CATAN Special Card Alexander and Sebastian

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the CATAN Mobile, which rolled on Germany's streets fully loaded with games for young and old, the popular mobile was immortalized on the new special card for all fans of the bright red school bus, the photo of which served as a template.

The card has the following function:

When a neighboring region produces, add 1 resource. Then immediately move CATAN Mobile to another open building site, even your opponent's. If there are none, discard CATAN Mobile.

Rivals for CATAN Special Card Catan Mobile

Carol, the Game InstructorEven more a novelty card than the other special cards, the German version was only handed out to members of the Kosmos group of game instructors, while the English version is part of the Deluxe Edition of Rivals for CATAN.

The card has the following function:

At the beginning of the game, place Carol into your principality. 1x during your opponent's turn, they may ask you a question. If you answer it correctly, each of you receives a resource of your choice from a region adjacent to Carol.

Rivals for CATAN Special Card Carol

2011

The title of the card is Johannes, the Advokat. When your opponent plays an action card that costs you resources, the consequences can be mitigated if the "Advocate" is on your side. A picture of Dr. Johannes Delmere, CATAN GmbH's lawyer, was used as a model for the card.

The action card has the following function:

If you lose resources as a result of an action card played by your opponent, you may pay 1 gold and roll the die. 1-3: Demand 1 resource from your opponent; if he leads, you may demand another 1 from him. 4,5: You get your gold back.

Note: The special card was produced in a small batch, independently from the regular production process. The corners of the cards may, therefore, have a slightly different curve radius than the standard cards.

Rivals for CATAN Special Card Johannes

2010

The title of the card is Axel, the Innovator. This card allows you to upgrade buildings on favorable terms.

A picture of Axel Meffert, Managing Director at Kosmos, was used as a model for the card. By means of this card, Klaus Teuber thanks Mr. Meffert for more than 15 years of great teamwork for the benefit of the CATAN product family.

The action card has the following function: Remove a building. Replace it with another building and pay the difference of the building costs in gold. Observe the building rules!

Note: The special card was produced in a small batch, independently from the regular production process. The corners of the cards may, therefore, have a slightly different curve radius than the standard cards.

Annotations to the Axel card:

  • If the removed building costs more than the new building, no gold is refunded.
  • When you remove a building, you may not build the same building again.
  • The new building replaces the removed building and, therefore, must be placed at the same location.
  • When you use Axel, a Building Crane does not give you any further discount.
Rivals for CATAN Special Card Axel

The CATAN card game was relaunched in autumn 2010 in both content and graphically revised version entitled The Rivals for CATAN. 
In the following blog posts, Klaus Teuber reports on the background to the revision and introduces the new illustrations of the cards. In order to better understand the reasons for the relaunch of the game, Klaus Teuber also gives deeper insights into the origins of the card game.

Here you can find the corresponding blog posts:

 


 

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CATAN Das Duell Wettfahrt
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CATAN Das Duell Bogenschütze
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CATAN Das Duell Gustav
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CATAN Das Duell Heinrich
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CATAN Das Duell Lager

Downloads for the Game

Expansions

You can combine the the Rivals for CATAN basegame with these expansions. 

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Rivals for CATAN Age of Darkness Box

Age of Darkness

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Rivas for CATAN - Age of Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

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CATAN Universe - Das Duell
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CATAN Universe Icon

Looking for Players?

CATAN Universe is the ultimate multi-platform version of CATAN for smartphone, tablet, PC and Mac.

Play Rivals for CATAN in the original version online with people from all over the world or compete against clever computer opponents. An account allows you to play on all available platforms.

More Questions?

We have collected important questions and answers about Rivals for CATAN. Just follow the link.

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CATAN Das Duell Kartenspiel