Comments on: Economics Board Games? Settlers of Catan http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/ Commentary on Economics, Information and Human Action Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:51:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Whit Stevens http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3648 Mon, 31 Jul 2006 12:00:29 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3648 Oops, I was wrong when I said there’s an online version of Catan. I think I was thinking of Ticket to Ride. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/9209

]]> By: reid http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3647 Sun, 30 Jul 2006 14:25:33 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3647 I would recommend a few other board games that have the same niceties as Settlers, but with less dependence on chance (dice). Tigris and Euphrates and Princes of Florence (Florin?) are both really great for analyzing economic type decisions and playing based on those. Both are for 3 or more players, however. Anything by Rainer Knizia is usually good.

]]> By: Joel http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3645 Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:50:35 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3645 Ammonium: No trading??

Heavens, you are not playing the game correctly :)

]]> By: Knitress N http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3644 Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:38:01 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3644 Not quite. There’s a kid version of Catan that Katie loves.

So maybe I should buy the adult version for us’uns?

And your Landis post is FABULOUS.

]]> By: Diane http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3642 Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:15:35 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3642 Ask N. — her nieces *love* Catan. I think there are variants as well.

Hey, has the KP Spouse tried Set yet?

]]> By: Ammonium http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3640 Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:53:49 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3640 I played once with a bunch of people who had already played several times before. There was no trading between players. This was a six player game, so maybe that was the problem. Or maybe the problem is that this game isn’t so simple, especially after having a few beers.

]]> By: Ammonium http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3641 Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:53:49 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3641 I played once with a bunch of people who had already played several times before. There was no trading between players. This was a six player game, so maybe that was the problem. Or maybe the problem is that this game isn’t so simple, especially after having a few beers.

]]> By: Whit Stevens http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3638 Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:39:46 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3638 Catan is pretty fun. It’s about trading, probability and diversification. You want to hold productive resources, but it’s also important to be diversified. There’s really quite a bit of strategy to the game. And as in life, you also need luck.

My friend plays online all the time (if you purchase the game, you get a lifetime online membership I believe).

The same friend gave me Powergrid for my birthday (as I work in the energy industry). Haven’t played yet… looks pretty complex.

More on powergrid here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2651

By the way, boardgamegeek is a top gaming site (if you didn’t know about it already).

]]> By: OneEyedMan http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3637 Fri, 28 Jul 2006 07:45:04 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3637 Setters has a few other things going for it too. First, no one is ever eliminated, so everyone plays until the end. Second, resources are scarce and tradable, so lots of player interaction occurs. Third, the map is reconfigured with each play and there are several roads to victory, so each time the optimal strategy is different. But it isn’t a pure libertarian utopia, their are thieves and armies to munch on your resources.

]]> By: Sacha http://knowledgeproblem.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3635 Thu, 27 Jul 2006 20:49:35 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.wordpress.com/2006/07/27/economics_board/#comment-3635 Do yourself a favour and buy the game. It can only be played with four players. There is a two and three player variant, and also an expansion set for 6 players, but they all PALE in comparison to the original game.

The game is very well balanced and involves economic/resource management, statistics, and game theory.

If you want a free (software) copy of half-decent AI players, goto http://sourceforge.net/projects/jsettlers and download the java client/server for free. Also on the download link is the Ph.D thesis that the developer did called “Real-time Decision Making for Adversarial Environments Using a Plan-based Heuristic” which is a rather fascinating read.

There are also a few sites that can be found with a minimum of Googling that you can find active games being played with this java client.

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