Catan Junior rules

2 to 4 players · ages 6+ · 30 minutes · kids' game

Catan without roads, without cards in hand, and with a parrot that helps out. Children aged six and up play it on their own after one game.

Set up in one minute

1. Put the board in the middle: with 3 or 4 players use the side with four parrots on top, with 2 players the side with two.
2. Choose a colour and take your 7 pirate lairs and 7 ships. Place 2 lairs and 2 ships on the starting spots in your colour; the rest is your supply. With two players you play with red and purple.
3. Put your building costs overview in front of you and place the ghost captain on his castle.
4. Sort the tokens by type next to the board and put one token of each type on the five lifebuoys: that is the market. Shuffle the Coco cards and place the pile with Coco facing up.
5. Everyone gets 1 wood and 1 cutlass. The youngest player starts.

How to play a turn

In short: you roll, anyone with a lair next to the number rolled gets a token, and with tokens you build ships and pirate lairs. A 6 moves the ghost captain. The first to have seven lairs wins straight away.

1. Roll the die. The roll counts for everyone at the table.
2. On a 1 to 5, everyone gets one token for each pirate lair next to a landscape with that number: wood from the forest, wool from the sheep pasture, pineapple from the plantation, cutlasses from the mine, gold from the river. Two lairs on the same space, two tokens.
3. On a 6, nobody gets tokens. You move the ghost captain to another landscape and take 2 tokens of that type from the supply. As long as he stays there, that space produces nothing for anyone.
4. Build what you can pay for: a ship on a free route next to one of your lairs, a lair on a free building spot next to one of your ships. Each spot holds one piece.
5. Trade if you are missing something. At the market you trade 1 for 1 once per turn: take a token from a lifebuoy and put one of your own back in its place. With the supply you trade 2 matching tokens for 1 of your choice, as often as you like.
6. Ask Coco for help for 1 pineapple, 1 cutlass and 1 gold. Turn over the top Coco card and immediately do what it says: build a ship or lair for free, take the tokens shown, or chase away the ghost captain and take 2 tokens. The card stays face up in front of you.
7. Done? The die goes to the left.

You may build, trade and use Coco in any order.

What costs what

It is on your overview card too:

What	Cost
Ship	1 wood, 1 wool
Pirate lair	1 wood, 1 wool, 1 pineapple, 1 cutlass
Coco card	1 pineapple, 1 cutlass, 1 gold

Coco does one more thing. The first player to turn over a Coco card places a lair on the dotted circle by the castle for free. That lair never produces tokens, but it does count towards the seven. If someone overtakes you in Coco cards, it goes back to your supply until one player has the most again.

When does the game end?

As soon as someone places their seventh pirate lair, the game ends immediately and that player wins. The lair by the castle counts. There is no need to count points: seven lairs on the board, that is all.

Frequently asked questions

Can I build two lairs in one turn?

Yes, as long as you have the tokens and there is a free building spot next to one of your ships. Usually you alternate (lair, ship, lair), because every new lair needs a ship of its own next to it.

What happens if the ghost captain is on my landscape?

That space is blocked: if its number is rolled, nobody with a lair there gets a token. He only leaves when someone rolls a 6 or draws a Coco card that chases him away.

Can I trade with the other players?

Not in the basic rules: you trade with the market and the supply. The rules do mention a variant for experienced players in which the active player also trades with the other players. Agree on that beforehand, because a six-year-old negotiates differently from a nine-year-old.

Can we play it with two players?

Yes, the board has a separate side with two parrots for that. You then play with red and purple; the other two colours go back in the box.

Is there a maximum number of tokens I can keep?

No. Unlike in the big Catan, there is no hand limit. If the supply of a type runs out, all players put back all their tokens of that type, and from the next round they are available again.

Tips for experienced players

• Build your second and third lairs next to landscapes with a different number from your starting lairs. That way you get something on more rolls.
• If you roll a 6, put the ghost captain on the space where your opponent has the most lairs, preferably a space whose tokens you can use yourself.
• Buy a Coco card early. The first one gives you a free lair by the castle, and that is a seventh of the way to winning.

The next step for young players

Does your child play Catan Junior without help by now? Then Splendor Kids is a good next game: the kids' version of Splendor, in which you collect gems and use them to buy cards. With older children and adults together at the table, Flip 7 works well. You explain the rules in a few minutes, and then you take turns flipping cards until you dare to stop.

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Do you play a house rule that is not listed here, or have you spotted a mistake? Let us know and we will update it.