Catan’s limited-edition 3D version is coming back
The sheep of things to come.
Catan’s 3D edition is making a return, 15 years after it was released as a limited-edition version of the immensely popular board game.
A new 3D version of Klaus Teuber’s classic beginner board game was spotted at this year’s New York Toy Fair. (Thanks, BoardGameGeek.)
The standard edition of Catan comprises hex tiles, wooden buildings, roads, tokens, and cards. In its 3D iteration, the resource tiles are replaced by full-colour 3D terrain, ports represented by ship figures and pieces such as settlements and cities depicted as sculpted models.
A similar Catan 3D Collector’s Edition, which contained over 170 game pieces including the likes of settlements, terrain and water tiles, was released in 2005 in a limited run of 5,000 copies. Currently, second-hand copies of the 3D Collector’s Edition sell for upwards of $500 (£386).
Unlike the previous 3D rendering of Catan, the upcoming version will reportedly use plastic instead of resin in its models.
The standard Catan board game, which turned 25 years old earlier this year, sees the players competing to achieve dominance on the island of the same name.
All tasked with building settlements, you’ll need to negotiate trade with other players to obtain resources crucial to expanding your nation, such as wood, grain and sheep.
Points are garnered through the building of cities and developments such as having the longest road or the largest army. Whoever reaches 10 victory points first wins.
Since its 1995 inception as The Settlers of Catan, the much-played family board game has seen a multitude of editions, spin-offs and expansions.
Catan has also been adapted into both a video game and an upcoming augmented reality mobile app.
A release date for the new 3D version of Catan is yet to be confirmed.