[mindslight]

I don't know how much this applies to cheating at Catan. Regardless of social standing, few people are going to stop you from cheating at Catan because it helps everyone's goal - to be done with the game of Catan. Although perhaps repeatedly making people play Catan is itself that social power move.

[WarOnPrivacy]

> everyone's goal - to be done with the game of Catan

Is it possible you're confusing Catan with Monopoly or Pictionary or any party game ever?

[topgrain2]

Nah, Catan's among those. It's very common for an initial set-up to leave 1-2 players with no realistic path to victory by turn 2 or so, even if they've made the best choices available to them. Once you learn to spot it, the game kinda sucks. It's not fun to play a game as one of those players, and it's not fun to play a game where some of the other people at the table are just filling space less than 25% of the way through the game. It's not as bad as some others for early player elimination (as world-domination-mode Risk is infamous for) but it also doesn't officially eliminate them, which is arguably even worse.

[mindslight]

Spot on. I think I tried playing it with a 1d12 a few times, but that merely fixed the most glaring part of the problem and wasn't enough to redeem inevitable-slow-loss dynamic. Perhaps some expansions give more breathing room and different dynamics to specialize in.

[deaux]

Catan is Monopoly for those who want to look a little smarter. Lots of party games are much better than Catan.

I think most people who like board games would choose pictionary over it. At least that can fulfill a quick warmup role to move on to something better.

[triceratops]

Boardgames catching strays