Summary
The Settlers of Catanis the perfect board game to open up a wider world of options to many players, but actually deciding where to go next can be difficult. With every passing year, the array of great board games becomes even more dizzying, and it’s easy to become paralyzed by choice.
The simplest method might be to take a look at what games share some similar features and point of appeal toCatanand picking something that aligns with any personal favorite aspects of theCatanexperience. Some games build on the same core elements for something more complex, while others might be even more accessible while still offering strategic depth.
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10Machi Koro Keeps Things Simple
Machi Korois a particularly good pick for anyone looking for something more fast-paced, as games tend to be quick and lightweight. It’s focused on development, but in a different way from Catan. All players are working to grow the same city of Machi Koro and build major landmarks, but they’re attempting to do it on their own terms.
Trading doesn’t have a place inMachi Koro, so it’s much more about simply allocating resources and completing projects faster than opponents do. Although it’s easy enough to pick it up after playingCatan, it could also go the other way around, working well as a stepping stone for something more focused before embracing the wider possibilities of theCatanexperience. There’s also a sequelMachi Koro 2, which changes around some aspects while retaining the same basic concepts.
9Stone Age Focuses On Worker Placement
Stone Ageis another game that involves rolling dice for resources, and the overall flavor of the experience is largely similar, focusing on settling and growing basic civilizations.It’s more of a worker placement game, however, with the individual tribe members serving important roles in completing the tasks necessary for their community to thrive.
The decisions to make inStone Agetend to be fairly basic, but actually deciding what direction to take can be challenging. Good balance makes every opportunity for advancement feel viable, and failing to keep up with basic elements like food can quickly incur penalties. A complex end game scoring system lends to the difficulty of figuring out the right direction toward victory, giving each game the potential to feel unique.
8Citadels Has An Interesting Twist
Citadels, unsurprisingly, is about erecting buildings rather than wholesale civilizations, and that reduction in scale brings some interesting concepts along with it.The most fascinating hook is the character aspect of the game, which pushes players into new roles each round based on who they hire to propel them to victory. Special abilities force players to interact directly with each other in interesting ways, some of which can be downright destructive.
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Citadelscan be a bit divisive, with an overabundance of downtime being a common complaint. With a group that knows how to keep up the pace, however, it can ultimately be a lot of fun. The more recent gameLibertaliaoffers an interesting piratical alternative with similar ideas, and both can be great options in their own right.
7Bohnanza Is All About Trading
Bartering is a big part ofCatan, and anyone who particularly loves that element could hardly go wrong withBohnanza.Although this game focuses on bean farming, a lot of its joy is found in trading. The overall experience is focused and simple, but the endless entertainment to be found in trade stops it from wearing thin too quickly.
One thing that makesBohnanzafeel unique is the fact that cards in a hand can never be rearranged, forcing players to prep for awkward situations and deal with bad eventualities. The positive social element of the game makes it an easy one to whip out at parties, but its nature as ahighly competitive board gamecan still provide a rewarding experience for even the most seasoned board gamers. It’s hard to find someone who outright dislikesBohnanza, and there’s good reason for that.
6Carcassonne Makes Land Expansion Creative
Carcassonneis all about land expansion, and it handles the concept in a way that feels excitingly organic and creatively satisfying. Trading in the hexes ofCatanfor square tiles that can be placed without an overall framework,Carcassonnefocuses on the way that features like rivers and roads connect. Every game will result in a unique arrangement, and it would be at least mildly entertaining with no rules at all.
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The actual focus, however, lies in completing these features and placing meeples in them to score points. Figuring out how to expand can be a dangerous game of back and forth, weighing options that would directly advance a player’s causes against those that would hurt an opponent’s efforts. It’s easy to learn and always fun to throw on the table, and games that resolve more quickly thanCatan’s are a big plus.
5Ticket To Ride Is Incredibly Accessible
Ticket To Rideis worth a mention in virtually any board game list as a masterclass in balancing approachability and depth. With instructions that are only a few pages long, it never takes too much trouble to teach someone how to playTicket to Ride.That doesn’t make it simplistic, however, and making decisions throughout the game can remain interesting for years after the few minutes spent learning things.
Ticket to Rideis all about completing train routes, forcing players to plan out acquisitions that can’t be completed at the drop of a hat. The risk-taking element is a necessary factor of good business, and big shakeups in a long point track can happen all the time. Progression might not happen across as many different concepts as inCatan, but when it’s this good, it doesn’t need to.
47 Wonders Uses Cards To Great Effect
7 Wondersfeatures the typical focus on resource gathering and expanding commerce, but it all works toward a particular goal that’s very different from just expanding a civilization.Everything focuses on building great wonders that will cement their cities as the stuff of legends, even if win conditions do involve successes in some other areas.
The card-based nature of7 Wondersmight not seem as immediately appealing as Catan’s hex-based layout, but everything remains intuitive and enjoyable in play. Keeping an eye on what an opponent is doing with their cards is just as important as personal development, making for interesting rivalries. 7 Wonders: Duel is also a smartalternative for two players, offering a level of depth and replayability that makes it a real standout in that niche.
3Castles Of Burgundy Offers Control Of A Princedom
The most obvious immediate similarity betweenCatanandCastles of Burgundylies in the player mats, which similarly place an arrangement of hex tiles in a larger hex pattern. In actual play, the experience is pretty different, but it isn’t without some key similarities. LikeCatan, there’s a focus on building settlements (and obviously castles, in this instance) with the goal of ultimately out-developing opponents.
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Castles of Burgundyplaces a lot of emphasis on working with the cards that have been dealt, or in this case, dice rolls that determine the options for any given round. It certainly doesn’t overload the relevance of luck, however, and its biggest strength lies in how its mechanics all work together in an intuitive and cohesive way.
2Concordia Gets Rid Of Randomness
Randomness is a huge part ofCatan, but it isn’t everyone’s favorite element.For those who want to get rid of that emphasis on luck entirely,Concordiais a logical next step. It isn’t significantly more complex in terms of rules, but making decisions can involve a wider array of factors, and thelack of dice rollsmeans that nothing is reducing the significance of every decision.
Concordiais ultimately all about economic development in the Mediterranean, so it definitely carries overCatan’s focus on building and trade (not in terms of negotiation between players, however). There are still elements of meaningful interaction between players, especially in sharing locations and benefitting from the work of others. It might seem intimidating at first, but falling in love withConcordiaoften doesn’t take much time at all.
1Terra Mystica Is A Lot More Complex
A lot of games in the vein ofCatanoffer similar levels of complexity or minor steps up, and some actually make things even more immediately approachable.Terra Mystica, on the other hand, takes things to a significantly more complex level.Jumping into it straight afterCatancould prove overwhelming, but anyone with a lot of board game experience looking for something that expands on some similar ideas toCatanshould look no further.
LikeConcordia,Terra Mysticaeliminates the elements of luck, focusing purely on actions and resources that are innately at the players' disposal. There’s also a big focus on terraforming, as land needs to be changed to make any one group prosper. Games can take several hours to resolve, but the satisfaction of building an economic engine for expansion that ticks is hard to overstate, and it’s a fascinating game to play afterTheSettlers of Catan.
