Catan Dice Game: Rules for How to Play

Objective

The objective of the Catan Dice Game is to score the most points in fifteen rounds.

Setup

Choose whether you are going to play the Island One or Island Two game. I will begin with the rules for Island One with the changes for Island Two addressed at the end.
Each player takes a game map and turns it to the side corresponding to the game that the players decided to play.
The youngest player takes the six dice and the pencil as they will start the game.

How to Play Catan Dice Game

On each of your turns you will take two actions.

Roll the Dice
Build

After you have finished taking both actions, your turn ends. Pass the dice and the pencil to the player on your left (clockwise). They will take the next turn.

Rolling the Dice

You will begin each of your turns rolling all six of the dice. Look at the dice and determine which you would like to keep. You can keep as many of the dice as you want. Set aside the dice that you want to keep.

First roll of the dice — The current player has rolled the dice. They have decided to keep the three dice on the left side. They will re-roll the three dice on the right side.

If you didn’t set all of the dice aside, roll the remaining dice again. Look at the symbols you just rolled and determine which you would like to keep. Set aside any dice you want to keep. If there are any dice that you set aside after the first roll that you no longer want to keep, you can add them to the dice that you will roll again.

Second roll and choosing which dice to keep — After their second roll, the current player has decided to keep two more of the dice that they rolled. They have one last die that they will re-roll for a third time.

You can then roll the dice for a third time. After your third roll, you have to keep the symbols that you rolled on the dice. There are two ways that you can change a die at this point. Check out the Resource Joker and Gold Trading sections below for details.

Final roll of the dice — For their final roll this player rolled one dice. The player has finished rolling the dice. They now have to figure out what they want to do with the symbols they rolled.

If you like all of the symbols you rolled in your first or second roll, you can forgo the rest of your rolls.

Resource Joker

Each time you build a knight, you will gain access to a special resource that you can use in the game. You can only use the resource once during the game. The resource pictured below the knight, is the resource that it gives to you.

If you would like to use one of these special resources during the game, you can mark the resource to show that you have used it. Then choose one of the dice you rolled and switch it to the side corresponding to the resource that you chose to use.

Resource Joker ore resource — When you acquire the one knight, you will gain access to an ore resource. Once during the game you can use this Resource Joker to turn one of your dice to the ore side.

The last knight has a ? symbol under it. You can choose what resource this knight will represent when you choose to use it.

Wild Resource Joker — When you acquire this 6 knight with the ?, it can be used as any resource once. When you use it you will turn one of your dice to any side of your choice.

You can use two or more of the knight resources on the same turn. Should you build a knight on a turn, you can immediately use its resource to change one of the other dice that you rolled on the same turn.

Using the special resources do not impact your score in any way.

Gold Trade

One of the symbols on each of the dice is gold. You cannot use gold to build anything. Should you roll two gold on the same turn though, you can use both of them in order to choose any other resource. If you choose to trade in two gold, you will turn one of the gold dice to the resource you want. Set aside the other gold die as you won’t use it for the rest of your turn.

Trading in two gold for another resource — This player has rolled two gold on the dice. They can use the two gold to turn one of the dice to any side they want.

Gold can only be used in groups of two, so individual gold resources can’t be used. If you roll four or six gold, you can choose two or three other symbols to turn the gold into.

Building

After you are finished rolling the dice, you will choose how you want to use the symbols that you rolled. Printed in the top left corner of the game map is a chart that shows the resource costs to build things in the Catan Dice Game. For example to build a road you need to use a brick and a road.

When you choose to build something, set aside the dice with the corresponding symbols as you can only use each symbol once each turn. Then make a note next to the corresponding section of your game map in order to show that you built it. You can circle it, make an x by it, or use some other sort of marking.

Building with the rolled dice — This player rolled a brick, lumber, wool and grain. They use these four resources in order to build the first settlement. To show that the player built the settlement, they circle it on their sheet.

Some things have specific building requirements that you must follow. See the corresponding section below for more details.

If you have the necessary resources, you can build multiple things on your turn.

Roads

Roads require one brick and one lumber to build. Each road is worth one point.

When building roads, you will build the next road along the path. The first road is built to start the game. The first road you build will be the road next to the one that is already built. When building roads you can ignore the settlements and cities along the path. You can keep building roads even if you haven’t built a settlement or city that is next along the path.

Building a road — This player has decided to use the brick and lumber they rolled in order to build the road below the three settlement. They circle the road to show they built it.

Settlements

A settlement costs one lumber, one brick, 1 grain, and one wool.

To build a settlement you must have built the road that is adjacent to it. If the road adjacent to a settlement hasn’t been built yet, you can’t build the settlement. When building settlements you will start with the settlement with the smallest number on it. You must build the settlements in order from the least valuable to the most valuable.

Building a settlement — This player has decided to build the 4 settlement pictured below the dice. They will use the brick, lumber, wool, and grain resources they rolled on the dice. They will circle or make some other mark next to the settlement to show that they built it.

Each settlement is worth the amount of points printed on it.

Cities

Cities require three ore and two grain to build.

To build a city you must have already built the adjacent road. If the road is not built next to a city, you can’t build the city. Like settlements you need to build the cities in numerical order starting with the lowest valued city and following the path to the next higher valued city.

Each city is worth the amount of points printed on it.

Knight

To build a knight you need to spend one grain, one wool, and one ore.

Knights must be built in ascending order based on their point value. The lowest valued knight will be built first, followed by the next most valuable knight.

Each knight is worth the amount of points printed on it.

Every knight also has an associated resource which you can use to change the resource on one of your dice during the game. See the Resource Joker section for more details.

Building a knight — This player has rolled an ore, wool and grain. They decide to use them to build the first knight. They will circle the knight to show that it was built. In the future the player can use the knight to turn one of their dice into an ore resource.

Scoring

After you have finished building, you will determine how many points you scored. Each thing you build is worth points depending on what it is. See the corresponding section above for more details. You will write your points on the next open space on the scoring track. If you built two or more things on your turn, you will add them all up, and place the total on one space of the scoring track.

If you fail to build anything on your turn, you will place an X in the next open space on the scoring track. You will lose two points for the round at the end of the game.

Receiving an X due to not building anything — This player was unable to build anything on their fourth turn. They will place an X in the spot.

Winning the Catan Dice Game

Catan Dice Game ends after all of the players have played 15 rounds. All of the spaces on the score track should be filled in.

Each player adds up all of the points they scored in all of the rounds. Remember each round you failed to build anything (spaces with x’s) is worth negative two points. The player that scores the most total points wins the game.

Final score in Catan Dice Game — This player scored 55 points in the game, but lost four points from the two rounds they were unable to build anything. The player ends up with a score of 51.

Catan Dice Game Island Two Rules

The Island Two game is mostly played the same as the Island One game. There are a couple differences which I will note below.

Setup

Everyone turns their game map so the Island Two side is showing.

The first player only rolls three dice on their turn. The second player rolls four dice. Each subsequent player rolls one additional die until a player rolls all six dice on their turn. At this point all of the players will roll all six dice on their turn.

Playing the Game

On each of your turns you will begin by rolling the dice up to three times. You can set dice aside like in the Island One game.

When building the rules mostly stay the same. There are a couple of changes though.

You do not have to build settlements and cities in order. If you have built the road next to a settlement or city, you can now build the corresponding settlement/city.
Knights can be built in any order.
The ? resources on the board have two knights above them. In order to get the wild resource, you need to build both knights.

Double Knight ? Resource — To acquire this ? resource on Island Two, you need to build both of the corresponding knights.

Scoring

Scoring is where the Island Two game differs the most. Instead of playing fifteen rounds and determining the winner by who scored the most points, the objective of the Island Two game is to score ten victory points.

You can score points in a number of ways.

Each settlement is worth one victory point and each city is worth two victory points. Roads and knights do not score any victory points. For each point you score from a settlement and city you will mark one of the boxes in the top right corner of your sheet.

Scoring a settlement on Island Two — This player has built the first settlement. They will score one point from it. They will place a check mark in the first box in the scoring section of the sheet.

Longest Road

Throughout the game the players will try to build the longest road. When a player builds a route of roads that reach the space shaded gray (five road spaces), they will claim the longest road. They will put a check mark in the corresponding section of their sheet. Having the longest road is worth two victory points.

Should another player build a set of roads longer than the player that currently has the longest road, they will claim the longest road. The longest road only counts a continuous line of roads and does not count any branches off of the main road. They will place a check mark in the corresponding section of their game sheet. The player who previously had the longest road, crosses of their check mark. The player with the longest road can change multiple times during the game.

Losing longest road — Another player has built a longer road. This player crosses off the longest road as they no longer have it.

Largest Army

The first player to build three knights places a check mark in the largest army section of their sheet. Having the largest army is worth two victory points. Using knights for their resources does not impact the size of your army.

Should another player have more knights than the player with the largest army, they will take control of the largest army. They will place the check mark on their sheet and the other player will cross their check mark off. Having the largest army can change multiple times throughout the game.

Losing the largest army — Another player has built a larger army than this player. They will cross off the largest army check mark as they no longer have it.

Winning the Game

The first player to acquire ten victory points wins the game. This includes victory points from building settlements and cities as well as currently being the leader for the longest road and/or largest army. The game ends as soon as a player acquires their tenth point.

Winning Island Two in the Catan Dice Game — This player acquired eight points from settlements and cities. They also have the longest road. They have a total of ten points, so they win the game.

Catan Dice Game FAQ

If you have any questions about how to play the game, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

Components

6 Resource Dice
Pad of Game Map Sheets
Pencil
Instructions

Year: 2007 | Publisher: Catan Studios, Mayfair Games | Designer: Klaus Teuber | Artist: Volkan Baga, Tanja Donner, Michaela Kienle, Harald Lieske, Michael Menzel, Klaus Teuber

Genres: Dice, Roll and Write

Ages: 7+ | Number of Players: 1-4 | Length of Game: 15-30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light-Moderate | Luck: Moderate-High

For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.