CATAN | Rivals for Catan Deluxe | Board Game | Ages 10+ | 2
CATAN | Rivals for Catan Deluxe | Board Game | Ages 10+ | 2 Players | 45 -120 Minutes Playing Time
| Dimensions: | 6.99 x 27.31 x 19.05 cm; 589 Grams |
| Model: | CN3134 |
| Material: | Cardstock |
| Colour: | Multicolor |
| Pack Quantity: | 433 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Age: | 10 – 18 years |
| Assembly: | No |
| Dimensions: | 6.99 x 27.31 x 19.05 cm; 589 Grams |
| Material: | Cardstock |
| Quantity: | 433 |
My boyfriend and I really enjoy playing CATAN with friends, and I stumbled upon this version for 2 players and couldn’t resist! We tried it as soon as we got it (it came earlier than expected so that’s always nice), and it did not disappoint! We felt like once you get the hang of it, rounds are not as long and we kinda mind our own business and just play for ourselves, as opposed to try to block roads and hustle faster than our opponent like in the original CATAN. In my opinion it was even a bit more enjoyable than the original game, but I might be biased as I won (for once), lol. Overall, 10/10 we recommend, and I will probably get more sets as it can also make a great gift for a fellow CATAN fan! 🙂
It takes up a lot more room than I expected. We thought we were missing a card because the instructions were a little unclear and that’s saying something since my husband is an engineer. It is not the same as Catan; but it works well for just two people and once you get the hang of it, it’s easier. However, it’s not intuitive and if you don’t have a good understanding of how Catan works or haven’t played in awhile (which was the case for us – it had been awhile) I would recommend watching a video or two about how to play it first.
So this is Catan but without the board, its straight forward once you have played it, however, you de need quite a bit of space so its not really a compact travel game, however, it is really good and highly addictive.
I like the game. It’s very different from the original, but it makes sense once you learn it. The instructions are loooooong and a bit confusing the first time, but I promise they’re worth reading.
If you’re wondering if you should get this, the answer is yes, get it.
My husband and I were introduced to Catan and absolutely loved the game. This is the perfect adaptation of the game for two people. I will say it is much quicker of a game than the original.
This card game is more involved, with with cards like characters, various ships and other buildings that can tweak your strategy as you go, this game steps out of the comfort zone for me and my wife.
If you play RPG and games like that you’d have no problem with it, but it took my wife and I a few times reading the instructions before we even thought we knew how to play LOL. I truly believe that’s just because of us and our gaming background, because others have had no problem learning the game. In fact, now that we know it I could train somebody to play it much easier than I could expect them to learn from the instruction booklet.
This deluxe edition has several expansion games with it which will make this purchase very well worth our money.
I seriously recommend this.
Important, this is just a two-player game.
The regular Catan seems more complicated than this 2-player card game. My husband and I love this version and it’s great to have a decent strategy game we can play alone. Recommend!
There aren’t many really good 2 player strategy games out there – this is one of our favorites! The included expansions (along with the separate one that can be purchased) add good variety too. We have had this game for over a year and have recommended/gifted it to friends.
Used to play Original Catan game with a few friends, we have multiple expansions. This version for 2 players is amazing also! About 30-45 mins per game and easy to learn.
I got this for my partner as we love the full Catan version but don’t often get to play it as you need a few players. I would say this 2 player version is actually better than the original! There are 5 different games you can play (4 different sets of cards and then a game with them all together). We’ve played this almost every day since Christmas and will be looking to get the expansion packs soon!
It’s a really good game that i would recommend to everyone. Works well with two people and not too long to finish it. It’s very similar to settlement of catan but different too which is nice.
My SO and I love playing this together. Needs a decent amount of space to set up but not bad overall. Easy to get a second round going after finishing up a game. We’ve really enjoyed it so far and we’ll continue playing it for quite a while. Definitely recommend as a two player game.
I bought this for my husband for Christmas but when we got locked down in October, I gave it to him early. We have a game almost every afternoon. What else is there to do during lockdown. Fun game that grows as you learn it.
We decided that one way to rectify this was to make a few additions and subtractions to better even out the game. First, we weakened the trade advantage to only give you the equivalent of the celebration or bountiful harvest– that is, if you role the trade die and you have the trade advantage, you get to choose any additional resource that you want rather than stealing from your opponent, which can be a devastating blow.
The second was to create a victory point for the holder of the harp/celebration advantage acquired through the heroes (I’m forgetting the real term for it at the moment). Without this alteration, the harp advantage (I think it is called skill points?) is essentially useless because the event die will only land on it one-sixth of the time and lets you get only one additional resource. It is vastly overpowered by the trade advantage, which provides both a victory point and the opportunity to steal resources (without our alteration, of course). This is on top of the many special abilities you unlock through cards that count towards your trade advantage, such as Marketplace or various resource-specific boats.
With these alterations, we essentially even out the Harp/Skill/whatever it is called and the trade advantage a bit. We have found that the game is much more enjoyable with these alterations and makes for a significantly more competitive game. Obviously, doing these alterations or “house rules” is not for the Catan rules purist, but we would rather alter the rules slightly and enjoy the game rather than get bogged down in the same issues time and time again.
Amazing game, easy to learn rules and fun to play. All is great but base deck of cards came glued all together and when i tried to separate- many cards got damaged. Wondering how can i get a replacement of the deck or shall i return entire box?
This game saved us during lockdown! We had already been fans of the original Catan board game, but this two player version has been hugely entertaining. If you are not familiar with Catan it may take a few games to learn and get used to it, but I highly recommend. Also it comes with three “expansions” so there is plenty of diversity. We have been playing it regularly for months now and not a moment has it felt stale or repetitive! I can not recommend it enough
I feel pretty safe saying that, now after a couple years, this is the best 2-player game for those who enjoy tabletop games that are strategy-oriented. My son (13) and I believe that this is a better playing experience than the full Catan; the game benefits tremendously from not needing 3+ players, like regular Catan. Yet, this game manages to be even more rich than regular Catan, closer In fact to the experience of playing Catan + Cities and Knights Expansion + Seafarer’s expansion. And this game gets a lot better with the various expansions, each of which offer different ways/combinations that can be played. This is probably the top choice alongside Dominion. Buy it.
I absolutely love anything catan. This is really fun because it mixes up the typical game. It is a bit different with the same idea so we love to play it to make sure we do not outplay the original version. I think this is well worth it and everyone should purchase. We have played original catan with two people, but I love how this is meant only for two people and more set up for a pair to play.
We really like this game. It’s fun, especially since my husband and I are more loners and aren’t really the type to have lots of people over or anything. It’s the perfect game for two people to play, and it was a great find since I had heard Settlers of Catan is a fun game from friends, but the traditional version of the game is designed for 4 or more players. The only setback is that the process of learning how to play took a while. We had to invest some decent time into reading the manual, and had to regularly refer back to it while we played. The game is also so complicated that they let you start on like a beginner version, and then you can amp up the difficulty and complexity with more cards and more aspects once you’ve got the hang of it. We’ve only played 2-3 times, the beginner version, but we had fun. I will admit that at some point at the beginning, I kind of felt exhausted by the amount of information needed to play and it started to feel not fun. However, we powered through and it ended up being worth it!
At first this game can seem quite daunting if you are not used to this genre of board games. But this game is excellently designed to guide you through your first game which helps enormously. Once you are familiar with the rules and start delving into the themes, the game really starts to come into its own and it’s true brilliance is revealed. A really engaging well thought out game, with real depth and elements of competition and sheer frustration, well worth every penny.
It is easy to set up once you know how but the rules are a bit disorganized which seems to be a running theme in many of these board games now-a-days. The makers should really give these instructions to brand new players and get feedback. The instructions need revisions to make them less confusing and easier to read.
Also, there is a confusing misprint in the instructions on Page 18. The top heading of the page is entitled “The Era of Progress” then continues to describe the cards in this theme set. The misprinted information is in the sub-heading below where it says “There are 28 cards in The Era of Turmoil.” This is the wrong information and should say “There are 31 cards in The Era of Progress.” to be accurate in the section and to avoid confusion. We were puzzled for quite a while as we were double checking the set cards until we realized the misprinted number and name. This brings me to my next point which is highly recommended – before playing the game, organize then count your cards/pieces as this is the 3rd board game we have gotten in less than a year that has had a missing item. In this case it was a card. However should you find something missing, you will be pleased to know that Asmodee online is very responsive to support requests and we already have our missing card.
On the second review, I don’t have a problem with them scoring it with 3 stars, but I will totally disagree that games are generally the same and that the first player to have a turn has a significant advantage. If you play without using any of the expansion sets, yes games can tend to be very similar. However, the different themes offer 4 additional ways to play that can significantly alter player strategy. And lastly, I don’t think that the player with the first turn has a significant advantage. They might have an advantage in certain strategies, but this is why there are multiple paths to victory. But it is important to note that luck and using all available strategies can make a big difference.
If you want more opinions about this game, I suggest that you look up the Amazon review for Rivals for Catan . The other version is not the Deluxe version and does not come with the card trays (a must in my opinion). But at least you can get some more opinions. FYI, if you are curious, there are other expansions for this game that are not included in this Deluxe package.
With that out of the way, let me give you some background about me. I played lots of the classic board games growing up (Monopoly, Life, Chess, Checkers, etc.). I have only played Settlers of Catan once, and that was years ago. My wife (my second player) also has a similar gaming history. We were looking for something fun that the two of us can do after the kids are in bed.
First, I will say that the instruction manual is intimidating. If you are a “gamer”, then you will probably have no problem with this. The manual is long and takes some time to absorb all of the rules. I suggest watching an instructional video on Youtube as that will help you learn the game quickly. You will probably have to consult the manual as you play and read some of the fine print after watching the video, but totally worth it.
My wife and I have played the game about 10 times. Our time playing probably ranges between 1 – 2.5 hours. If you are playing with a theme, then your game is going to be much longer as you need 12 victory points to win rather than 7. You also need lots of space as we essentially fill up an entire card table with our set up. I also want to throw in that I love the set up and the way you turn your cards to indicate how many resources you have. Its also nice that you don’t have to worry about losing tons of little game pieces as the only items in the box are game cards, card trays, two plastic coins, and 2 dice.
As far as the gameplay goes, it is very fun. There can be slow moments, but usually I am so busy thinking through my next few moves and all my options that I don’t care. I could see how the game might get old after many playthroughs, but we are far from that point. I could also see how the time commitment or barrier to entry could be a problem for some, but I think it is totally worth it.
Great game. I am thinking about buying additional expansions already just for the heck of it.