Responsibilities of Players

• All game materials must be kept on the table at all times, so that they are clearly visible to all players. This is especially true for development and resource cards, which must be held above the table throughout the game.

• The number of cards in a player’s hand is public information, and must be defined upon request.

• In all games (with the exception of the final) the starting player will be in charge of distributing and receiving used resource and development cards. The starting player has to announce clearly when he is handing cards to himself or when he is paying resources to the bank. By agreement, players may create two resource piles, and/ or collect cards on their own. If there is a disagreement as to players collecting the correct number of cards, these agreements are voided and the starting player must distribute all cards.

• Newly obtained development cards must be kept well away from the other cards the players might have in hand. If this rule is broken, the player forfeits the opportunity to play a development card until his or her next turn.

• Players are responsible for verifying that they have the correct number of pieces at the beginning of the game (5 settlements, 4 cities, 15 roads). Also, all players should verify that there are 25 development cards and 19 of each resource card. In the case of an issue, the organizer should be immediately notified to rectify the situation.

• Players in the same table shall speak in English if there are players who speak different languages.

• ​Collusion is not allowed. Players are prohibited from intentionally giving another player a win.

• Players shall exhibit kindness, courtesy, and fair play to others during tournament games, during other tournament activities, during related event activities, and throughout the tournament and event program.

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Ranking for Preliminary Round

• During the preliminary round, the number of victories will be used to rank players.

• In case of ties, the total sum of victory points across all three games will be used as the first tiebreaker.

• If ties still exist after that, the second tiebreaker will be the sum of the percentage of victory points the players reached at their three tables. If there are still any ties after that lots will be drawn.

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Example (after three rounds):

Players A and B both win 2 games. Both get 28 victory points - so there is still a tie. Now the percentages of victory points will be calculated.

For Player A:

Game 1: A gets 10 VPs, there were 32 VPs at the table, his percentage is: 31.25%.

Game 2: A gets 8 VPs, there were 30 VPs at the table, his percentage is: 26.67%.

Game 3: A gets 10 VPs, there were 36 VPs at the table, his percentage is: 27.78%.

The sum is 85.70.

For Player B:

Game 1: B gets 10 VPs, there were 30 VPs at the table, so his percentage is: 33.33%.

Game 2: B gets 10 VPs, there were 33 VPs at the table, so his percentage is: 30.3%.

Game 3: B gets 8 VPs, there were 36 VPs at the table, his percentage is: 22.22%.

The sum is 85.85.

Player B is ranked higher than Player A.

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ADDITIONAL AND SUPPLEMENTARY RULES

The following are areas of Catan rules that occasionally cause confusion. These are clarifications to the standard rules. If there is any disagreement between the standard rules and these clarifications, then the clarification is considered to be the official rules.

• A player’s turn begins with receiving the passed dice. Players are allowed to play any development card (for example, a Soldier / Knight card) before they roll the dice. No other actions may occur prior to the rolling of the dice.

• Once the dice are rolled, the dice roll must be resolved before any other actions are taken.

• Players are not allowed to build a road beyond a settlement or city of another player.

• Players are allowed to upgrade a settlement to a city in the same turn it is built. To do that, the player cannot have five settlements on the board before building the settlement the player wants to upgrade.

• If a player buys a development card with a victory point on it, he may immediately reveal it if it is his tenth victory point to win the game. This is only possible with development cards that have a victory point printed on it. Players are not allowed to immediately play a soldier / knight out of turn, even if this means that the player would get the largest army and win the game. The player must wait until his or her next turn before playing the soldier / knight.

• There is no distinction between the trade and building phase.

• A harbor may be used the same turn that a player builds on it.

• If there are not enough resource cards of one kind to give every player the resource cards he should get after rolling the dice, then nobody will receive a card of this kind. The other resource cards are handed out to the players as usual. If only one player gets resource cards and there are not enough cards of this kind in stock, he will receive all available cards of this kind.

• It is not legal to intentionally show your resource cards to any other players outside of cards displayed for trade during a players trading phase. If shown, this information is public until the end of that trading phase.

• A player has won if he or she has 10 or more victory points (although only 10 will be counted for the ranking) and it is the player’s turn. If a player does not notice that he or she has 10 points, the player must wait until the next turn before winning the game (assuming no earlier player wins, and the player still has 10 points).

• The robber is in effect as soon as the game begins, from the first throw of the dice. There is no “grace period” before the robber is moved. The robber MAY be moved back to the desert during the game (new with the 4th edition English rules).

• If a player forgets to move the robber, the robber will be:

(a) placed on a field of his choice, if it is still the turn of this player. The active player can then, according to the rules of the basic game, draw a resource card from the hand of another player, provided that the active player has assembled yet no cards or made an exchange with other players in his turn.

(b) placed on the desert field, if the turn is completed. There must be no card is pulled by a teammate.

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