"Settlers of Catan" Basics Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wool

There are five resources in the game: wool, lumber, ore, brick, and grain. All five have their uses in the game and will, when collected, contribute to the growth of your settlements. Wool, for instance, is necessary to build a settlement (in fact you need one of everything except ore to build one). Wool can only be gathered if you have a settlement or city built on the corner of a pasture tile.

Answer: Six

All of the tiles on the map are hexagons and, technically, roads could encircle an entire segment. In order for this to happen, however, it's likely that the the same colour will be around the entire section since enemy roads can not pass through an opponent's settlement or city.

At the start of the game, you need to place down two settlements and two roads; settlements must be placed at the corner (or at multiple corners) of a hex tile. There must be at least two roads between separate settlements or cities.

Answer: None

You only pick up Resource Cards if you have a settlement (or city) adjacent to a hex tile where its number was just rolled. Thus, if your settlement is built at the corner of a forest hex tile with the number 4 on top and someone rolls a 4, you can pick up one lumber card.

These can stack if you have multiple settlements or cities around one tile. Some players find it more tactical to bunch their settlements up around the same resources for the sake of trading while others try to get a spread of different resources at their disposal.

Answer: Two

While a settlement gives one Resource Card should its number be rolled, a city gives the player two Resource Cards. Cities are worth more Victory Points (settlements are worth 1 and cities are worth 2) and, because of their stronger sway with resources, they tend to be smart upgrades should you have enough to create them. Bricks are used to build both roads and settlements, the basic building blocks of any player's empire.

Answer: Grain

A city costs two grain Resource Cards and three ore Resource Cards and you must upgrade from an existing settlement. Settlements are a bit trickier to create since you need one wool card, one grain card, a lumber card, and a brick card. Ore is only necessary for city building and for purchasing Progress Cards should you opt to use them.

They do come in handy for added Victory Points and bonuses, so it pays to save up. Each player gets a maximum of four cities.

Answer: The one who has the longest road first

The 'Longest Road' is a bonus in the game worth two Victory Points and it's given to the player who has the longest consecutive roadway on the map (with a minimum of five road bars). This can potentially make or break the game for some players as creating a long road takes a fair bit of planning, especially with more than a few other enemy settlements battling it out for land. If there is more than one person with the longest road on the board, the person who made it first gets the points (and the card signifying it).

However, the card is passed to the first player to make a longer road. It is possible to ruin another player's road by building your own settlement at an appropriate intersection.

Answer: Three

Like the 'Longest Road' bonus, the 'Largest Army' gives a player two Victory points and it's given to the first player to amass the greatest number of Knights in the game. Knight Cards are only obtained by purchasing Progress Cards and they can be used in the same way as the Robber. Again, like with the roads, if you can build a larger army than the existing leader, you can take the points for yourself.
Progress Cards require one wool card, one grain card, and one ore card to purchase.

Answer: Desert

Of the choices, only the forest tile exists in the game (in terms of resources); the others are the grain field, the brick hills, the ore mountains, and the wool pastures. All of these will have dice values placed on top to signify the rolls needed to adjacent players to claim their Resource Cards.

The odd one out is the desert, an arid, desolate hole on the map devoid of anything but sand-- and sand won't win you the game. Although you can build around the desert, it neither gives Resource Cards nor receives a die roll chip.

Answer: 7

With approximately a 17% chance of being rolled on two dice, 7 is the most-likely-to-be-seen roll in the game, and with it comes the Robber, a grey piece which can be used in your favour should you be so lucky. Whoever rolls a 7 can move the Robber onto any game tile and effectively block any Resource Cards from being taken from it until the Robber is moved.

Its placement is completely up to the roller, so it's often placed where it can do the most damage to opponents without hurting one's self.

When the Robber is placed, the person who moved it may take one card (without looking) from the hand of one of the people situated on a corner of that tile. The only other way to move the Robber is by playing a Knight Card; they have the same effect.

Answer: Trade

At certain points on the board, players can build their roads and settlements to the coast and take advantage of pre-determined (or random) harbours which allow players to trade their Resource Cards to their liking. Normally in the game, players can trade four Resource Cards of the same type for any one of their choosing (eg. 4 wool for 1 ore, not unlike real life I guess). With some harbours, players can reduce that ratio to 3:1. With other harbours, players may get even luckier and be able to trade at a 2:1 ratio with certain resources. You must remember, however, that building on harbours means breaking away from the possibly more bountiful intersections in the center of the map since skirting along the water means you'll only have two-way intersections (instead of three-way).