Catan: Event Cards

About this expansion

Catan: Event Cards is a card-based dice replacement for Catan for 3–6 players, with a playing time of about 90 minutes. Released in 2005, this Catan Series addition replaces dice rolls with a deck that also introduces a variety of events influencing the game.

The deck contains 36 dice cards, representing the 36 possible combinations from rolling two dice. Because each combination appears in the deck, the number results are distributed according to their probability. The cards also represent the roll of one die, allowing them to be used with the Cities and Knights expansion.

A New Year card adds an extra element of randomness. It is placed on top of the bottom five cards in the deck; when the New Year card is revealed, the deck is immediately shuffled, leaving five cards unused.

The event cards are distributed throughout the deck in several ways:

• Sixteen cards have no associated event.
• The six “7” cards trigger the Robber Attack event.
• Six other events appear once each.
• Four events appear twice each.

This structure combines the predictable probability distribution of a complete dice deck with event effects that can change the flow of a game. Catan: Event Cards expands Catan and is included in Catan: Traders & Barbarians.