Caught a guy at my local game store ranting about Catan being broken

I was picking up sleeves for my Gloomhaven campaign when this dude starts going off about how the dice in Catan ruin all strategy. He said 'if you flip a settlement on 6 and it never hits, the whole system is a joke.' Got me thinking, does luck really kill games like Catan for you guys or do you just roll with it?

2 comments

2 Comments

leet321mo ago

Is it really that serious though? I mean sure, getting screwed by dice can sting for a minute but it's a board game not a life or death situation. The last time I played Catan my 8 hit more than my 6 and nobody flipped out, we just laughed about it. Some dice rolls are just gonna hate you, that's how random works. If you want pure skill maybe stick to chess or something, but Catan is supposed to be about adapting your plan when the luck doesn't go your way.

the_lucas1mo ago

Saw a video from this game designer who broke down luck vs strategy in games and he made a solid point. He said games like Catan give you tools to work around bad rolls, like trading or building ports, but some people just refuse to adapt and blame the dice instead. Had a game last week where my 5 hit four times total while another guy's 10 kept popping off, so I just shifted focus to longest road and the largest army. Ended up winning by two points just by changing my approach instead of whining about the dice.