Knowledge Problem

Economics Board Games? Settlers of Catan

Lynne Kiesling

Anyone familiar with Settlers of Catan? My programmer RA told me about it this morning, and it sounds very interesting. You settle an uninhabited island, the roll of a die determines resource conditions, and you trade. Whoever does the best wins. Dice rolls during the game change the resource conditions. Totally a barter economy, but it sounds like it gets some of the fundamental economics right (like not being a zero-sum game).

May have to check it out. The only board game of consequence we play in the KP house is Kingmaker. Not much economics in it. Naturally, as a fan of the wrongly-maligned Richard III, I try to make sure a York wins when we play. Sadly, that makes my strategies a bit more predictable, and the KP Spouse is a Smart Bunny, so I don’t win that often. Have to work on that …