Mayfair Games Catan: Seafarers Game Expansion 4th Edition

Seafarers of Catan offers a new dimension to the game: the ability to build a trading route to outlying islands across the vast ocean and settle there. This expansion requires The Settlers of Catan to play, and is equipped with 4 sets of ships, additional resource hexes, many sea hexes, additional number tokens, new harbor tokens, a pirate ship, and an extensive rules and scenarios book. The expansion uses much of the same rules as The Settlers of Catan. The biggest addition is that coastal settlements/cities can serve as links between the mainland and neighboring islands. A trade route of ships can be build from a coastal settlement/city along the coastline, or out to sea, much like building roads on land. 1 ship costs 1 Lumbar and 1 Wool to build. In addition, once per turn. 1 ship on the end of an open trade route can be moved to a new location, as long as it remains connected to the trade route or to a coastal settlement/city. This game mechanic increases players' abilities to expand and explore when they are ready to. Settling on islands can be beneficial as they may provide resources that are scarce on the mainland, or it can enable (a) player(s) to capitalize on significant (and sometimes) unrivaled production of certain resources. This is important because ports are typically located on the mainland in most scenarios, and will become extremely useful later on. There are also 2 Gold Hexes provided. Gold Hexes provide players who have built there with resources of their choice when the number on the token is rolled. Gold Hexes are located on outlying islands, and are usually worth the effort and resources to reach and settle there. Due to the extra cost of building ships, most games are played to 12 or more Victory Points. In addition, "The Longest Road" card is aptly renamed as "The Longest Trade Route", which includes the longest chain of unbroken ships and roads. The Robber has a new partner called the Pirate Ship. When a 7 is rolled, either the Robber or Pirate Ship can be moved. The Pirate Ship serves to prevent further extension of marine trading routes (i.e. no ships can be built along the sea hex border upon which The Pirate Ship is located). Adjacent ships cannot move away from the hex either. In addition, the turn player can take one resource card from a player whose ships are located next to the Pirate Ship. With the option to move either the Robber or the Pirate Ship, players can elect to keep the Robber on a desired hex instead of being forced to move it. This can severely diminish a player's lead. Like Settlers of Catan, Seafarers takes the most exciting aspect of the game and expands upon it. Seafarers offers a virtually unlimited number of board layout possibilities. The scenario booklet included profiles several scenarios such as: Heading for New Shores, The Four Islands, and The Fog Island (and a few more). Heading for New Shores employs the normal Settlers of Catan board, and adds outlying islands, which include the popular Gold Hexes. In The Four Islands scenario, players start on 1 or 2 "home islands" and earn additional points for settling on the others. Certain resources may be more abundant on the non "home islands". In addition, the various ports are distributed among the islands, providing additional incentive to expand. In The Fog Island, players begin on the mainland and build out to unknown, uncharted territory covered by fog. As ships extend from the coast, face down and randomly shuffled hexes are revealed as land or sea (if it is a resource producing land hex, 1 resource of that type is provided as a discovery bonus). 1 random number token is then assigned to the newly discovered resource producing island hex. Of course, players are free to create their own "New World" as they like and employ any or all of the new game aspects introduced. I highly suggest Seafarers for those who have only played Settlers and are seeking a modest game addition to enhance their Catan experience. The ability to generate new maps and scenarios is what keeps the game exciting for me, and it has been highly rewarding for me and my friends to expand and explore. If you are on the fence, search for Seafarers of Catan. You will see many images of how much fun people have had while playing this expansion. I hope you found this review to be helpful. Thank you.

We recently started playing Settlers of Catan and my kids, 10 and 7, LOVE it! So much so that my daughter wanted all the expansion packs for her birthday. I went online and read the reviews and Seafarers was recommended more highly than the other expansion packs so I decided to start with it first. I agree. It is a great addition to the original game. Lots of fun, but definitely adds more challenges to the original game. Of course, like the original Settlers, the initial setup takes a while, especially reading through all the instructions and scenarios, but once you get going, it's hours of fun. We've only played once but the manual has many different layouts for 3 and 4 players so we are looking forward to many more hours of family play. I highly recommend this if you like Settlers and want to add more dimensions to the game. My only gripe with both games (more so with the original) is the pieces sometimes don't stay flat so we have to bend the pieces a little to make them fit.

We have Settlers of Catan with the 5-6 player extension, we also have Catan: Cities and Knights expansion with the 5-6 player extension, and last but not least we have Catan: Seafarers expansion with the 5-6 player extension. Needless to say we are fanatics and we have turned most of our friends into fanatics too. We love it! The original Catan is needed to use the expansions. For the basic user, get Settlers of Catan and start there. (It's also a great way to get people hooked.) We got Cities and Knights next which was awesome and totally added to the dynamic of the game. Then we added Seafarers..... mind blown. The board is as big as a 6 person table with all 3 assembled, but who cares, it's a blast!!!! We play this almost every weekend and we are still not bored. The board is diverse and changes every time you play. It's never the same. The 8's and 6's are NOT rolled ALL the time. Sometimes 11's is the number rolled the most during a game, but again, it's a wonderful game and it takes up most of our board game bookshelf. ENJOY!!!!!

We have played the 'regular' Catan for a few years now and had heard the game expansions would add some different aspects. Seafarers did add that extra element and made for interesting game play however it still takes as long to set up as the original just start your game early so you can possibly be done before everyone falls asleep. It has different scenarios you can set up which I liked. NOTE: you must get the same version of Seafareres as your original Catan- I got Seafarers for Christmas a long time ago and bought adapters and everything and couldn't get it to mesh with my Catan game and finally broke down and my frugal self bought the correct one. I liked the sea part and the 'mystery' tiles you had a chance to draw. I also thought I would be smart and put on the back of the tiles if it was Seafarers- Seafarers expansion for 5-6 players and you can't do that bc of the 'mystery' tiles- that was me being uptight and trying to keep the pieces in 'order'. Would rec esp if you've been playing original Catan and need to add some spice to it.

Our family enjoys Catan and this expansion has been a great addition to our game nights. The extra sea hexes make the board playing area larger, and the addition of shipbuilding adds to the exploration aspect of the game. I also like the Gold hex which can be used for a resource of the players choice every time the correct number is rolled. After playing this game for a couple of months, then switching over to our other expansion (Traders and Barbarians) I realized how much smaller the original Catan board game area now seems. Some scenarios in this game are better than others - I'm rather partial to the "Fog Islands" because it has the element of the unknown - meaning that you don't know what the terrain hex is until you build a ship to it and it is revealed. My one complaint is that the manufacturers are pretty cheap with the game pieces. When you get to Scenario 8; "The Wonders of Catan" you find out that you are supposed to cut out or copy the 5 Wonders cards from the manual! Seriously? Would it have killed them to make 5 sturdy cardboard cards instead of making us ruin the manual by taking a pair of scissors to it? Don't get me wrong, we are enjoying this expansion, but C'mon don't be so cheap! We made color copies of the page than laminated the cards - but we shouldn't have to do that. And while I'm at it, they should have made a "Longest Trade Route" card instead of making us recycle the "Longest Road" card from the original game. I love Catan, but when you spent $35+ for a game, you shouldn't have to rip up your manual or make copies IMHO. Other than that gripe - the gameplay is fun and this is a definite buy for anyone who is looking to expand their Catan universe.

We bought this and a Wii set up for my husband's birthday (though the Wii was more for our teenage boys!). We've played the Wii a few times and really like it. If we take out Settlers, all four of us are at the kitchen table in a heartbeat! Settler's is a wonderful engaging game and we love this addition, too, as it gives virtually endless possibilities for games (although there were endless possibilities with the original game, too). Even if you were to set up the same board each time, each person's strategy can change, plus the random roll of the die, creating new games each time. I love that there are different maps to choose from. My boys on enjoy choosing which scenario and setting up the board (this takes about 5 to 8 minutes or so - well worth it!). In this expansion, you can sail to new islands (using the ships) and discover gold (which allows you to choose any resource) and set the pirate on anyone to halt their plans. Since we added this expansion we have not gone back to the original game, though I think we would still enjoy it. I rated this game a 5 for educational value as there is so much thinking, planning, good strategy - there is pleanty of learning going on! It's a 2 for durability as I do not see how the cardboard pieces, especially the outer frame, will hold up well over time. Maybe that's the beauty of it - it will still work, just will look well-loved. Note: Start with The Settlers of Catan . You must have this before you add the Seafarers expansion. We added the SETTLERS OF CATAN: THE FISHERMEN OF CATAN to our collection, too - a great addition. Keep in mind that you need the main game, the one I am reviewing here, in order to you Fishermen expansion. If you do end up enjoying Settlers as a whole, consider adding Carcassonne to your game collection, too. It's different, yet still strategic and doesn't take as much time to set up. Take the time to absorb the instructions of both games. They can seem daunting but it is well worth the time. More on Fishermen of Catan: My 14-year-old thinks this is cool - he always makes sure he places his settlements where he can get fish. We've found that the fish can keep the game moving, especially on turns where no one has anything to trade. We put the fish in a small cup and then draw them out when needed. As far as value, it escapes me why this is not part of the main game? The clever game creators have found a way to eek a bit more out of your wallet. That said, we love the Fishermen addition and no longer play the game without it.

Excellent addition to the Catan series. This add on offers such a diverse variation. As with Settlers of Catan itself, Seafarers has tremendous replay value and naturally, You'll never have the same game twice. Looking forward to trying more of the expansion sets. The addition of ships was a fun aspect as well as the "pirate". I knew going into it that Seafarers introduced a "gold" hex and I had wondered if it would give whoever built on it an unfair advantage, but it really doesn't. In fact, it seems to draw the robber to it! That's should be no surprise to veteran Catan players. Overall, I definitely recommend this expansion. However, there is a learning curve, so be patient while you adjust. It's worth it!

LOGISTICS: This is an expansion pack for the Original Settlers of Catan, which must be purchased first. It only expands the game for a 3-4 player version. There is a Seafarers 5-6 person expansion pack which must be purchased in addition to play Seafarers with that amount of players. Plan on sitting down for an hour to set up this game and learn it as it is different from the others. Is harder to set up but once you do it a few times you'll get quicker. There are many different versions within this game that you can play. All are similiarly themed but with some different rules, points and board structure. It is a good idea to go through the different versions (scenarios) in order to understand the game at its best. Once you have moved up to the more complex scenarios you will find some favorites and probably go back and play those most often. HOW IT IS DIFFERENT: The game takes slightly longer than the original Catan to play. In addition to roads, you can build ships out into the water and on the coastline. Ships can be moved after they are built. In addition to a robber baron on land, a pirate ship can steal and block ship building on the seas. Longest road goes for the ships too. Different scenarios have different points - some require 12 or 13 pts to win -some give additional points for building on a new island. Ships are built with wood and sheep while roads continue to be built with wood and brick, making your settlement placements all the more challenging and trading more necessary. Some of the scenarios use a new resource: gold. When the gold resource is distributed, the players may select any needed resource. We love gold! We fight over gold! We block gold!

Bought as a gift for my daughter. Her and her friends love this. Plays Catan lots and loves this. I couldn't have gotten her a better gift. I am glad I was able to order this from Amazon as no stores in my area carry these expansions.

Excellent, like all the other Catan games! A little more advanced than the base game. Comes with many variations in set up so you can play a lot of different versions of this same game.

I have bought many of these expansions for Catan and I notice with this one that it adds basically just water to the game. There are different scenarios and game pieces that you can add too but it takes too long to set it all up. Compared to Cities and Knights, I would definitely go with that one.

Although I truly enjoy Settlers of Catan, I found that is this was add on that did not add to the enjoyment, quite frankly, I'd call it, simply, " A money grab." The original game is certainly worth the money, though. Sue

My family loves the Catan games. Last summer we were looking for some expansion packs and discovered this. It's great, just like the other versions of Catan we have tried.