MayFair Games Catan
Kids of Catan From Mayfair Games

Product Description

Each player has a set of buildings to place. Placing a building uses a whole wagon load of resources: 1 each of wood, bricks, and wheat. The roll of the die determines how far the wagons will move. When any child stops beside a resource that they need, they can load the resource into their wagon. When your wagon is full, you get to build a new house! The house must be placed in the right spot in the village. Then the resources are returned to the board so they can be collected again! After you build all your houses, you begin collecting resources again to build the Town Hall. The player who builds the Town Hall wins the game!

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16323 in Toys & Games
• Brand: MayFair Games
• Model: 4098996
• Dimensions: 12.00" h x 3.00" w x 12.00" l, 3.00 pounds

Features

• Players: 2-4
• Ages: 4+

From the Manufacturer
Each player has a set of buildings to place. Placing a building uses a whole wagon load of resources: 1 each of wood, bricks, and wheat. The roll of the die determines how far the wagons will move. When any child stops beside a resource that they need, they can load the resource into their wagon. When your wagon is full, you get to build a new house! The house must be placed in the right spot in the village. Then the resources are returned to the board so they can be collected again! After you build all your houses, you begin collecting resources again to build the Town Hall. The player who builds the Town Hall wins the game! Of course, children are also encouraged to play with the wonderful wooden buildings by themselves, and to create their own games and adventures in Catan! The game is for 2-4 players and takes about 15 minutes to play. The game features extremely high-quality components.

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Customer Reviews

Now The Kids Can Help Build The Town
One of the newest games in the Settlers of Catan line, this one is designed for younger players but is fun for adults as well. This edition concentrates on a single town instead of the entire island.

Each player has a wagon that circles the town, and a collection of building to help build. As players travel around the board, they collect the resources for building,; wood, straw and bricks. Once a wagon is full with one of each type, they are traded in to build a building. But beware of the robber. If you land next to him he will grab the last thing on your wagon. Once a player builds all of their own buildings, they collect one more set to build the town hall (more that one player can build it at the same time). The first to build the town hall is the winner.

The game is made up of solid wooden pieces of various colors. the resources are arranged around the outside while the center rotates to simulate the wagons moving.

This is a fun game that I have played with kids and adults. Kids seem to like the big wooden pieces. The game teaches a little counting and a little set theory but kids don't seem to realize they might be learning something. If your kids liked Hi Ho Cherry Oh but want more of a challenge, this might be the game for them.

Boring
I am a big fan of Settlers of Catan, and so I got very excited when I discovered a version that I could play with my four-year-old. Unfortunately, this game is actually quite boring.

Kids of Catan (KoC) has a lot more in common with Candy Land than it does with Settlers of Catan (SoC). Like Candy Land, there is no strategy or decision making in KoC. No player has any real choices to make during his turn - just roll the dice and rotate the wheel. This means that the outcome of the game is completely random.

Some people will say that four-year-olds can't handle strategy games, and there's truth to that, but that doesn't mean that a four-year-old can't handle choices. I was hoping that KoC would, like SoC, provide choices for players, even if the choices don't affect the outcome of the game that much.

One other problem with this game is that my four-year-old has a hard time understanding how much to turn the wheel when she rolls the dice. You're supposed to turn the wheel the number of "positions" on the die roll (e.g. roll a 3, and rotate the wheel by three positions). For some reason, my daughter can't seem to keep track of the positions as she's rotating the wheel, so she's usually off by one.

I rarely play this game at home any more. I guess I'll have to wait until my kid is old enough to play SoC.

AHHHH, frustrating for little hands!
I have never written a negative review before, but tonight, after trying to play this game again I'm driven to write this.

I purchased this game based on a game seller's high recommendation and great description, the quality of the wooden pieces and the reputation of the Catan games, but we have been totaly disappointed.

The game itself has a sweet concept, but it's boring - truly a Candyland level game just with a more eco/green bent (and easier to win) so my kids basically ignore it unless I get it out and insist they play.

My main complaint (besides the HIGH price) is that you can not play the game with small kids without knocking over the pieces (several to many many times a game). The pieces are placed around the outside and on top of a cardboard "spinner". It can be hard for adults or big kids to get their hand in to spin without knocking them over, much less an enthusiatic 3-5 year old. The pieces' "seats" (the indented area where you place the pieces) are not very deep, so even the slightest touch of a finger or slight knee on the box topples them. It's like you're involved in some kind of bad erognomics experiment...

Save your $ and buy Hiss or Trouble and have lots more fun.