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Before you read this article, you will need to know the following terms and definitions:
| Game(-s): | Noun. Singular or Plural. A standalone version of Settlers of Catan, which can be played right out of the box without making additional purchases. There is only one standalone (base) game of Catan. |
| Expansion(-s): | Noun. Singular or Plural. An Catan game that cannot be played by itself. It must be used in conjunction with a standalone (base) game. The 5 & 6-player expansions are a good example of this. |
| Scenario(-s): | Noun. Singular or Plural. A small set of playing pieces and instructions that can be added to normal Catan gameplay. It cannot be played by itself--it must be used in conjunction with a standalone (base) game. The "Oil Springs" scenario is a good example of this. |
| Variant(-s): | Noun. Singular or Plural. A set of instructions for using the pieces from a Catan game or expansion in a new way. Most variants are fan-generated and require printing and cutting out new pieces. |
Yellow (Trade):
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- 2 Merchant Fleet (as many 2:1 trades as you want for one turn, one resource or commodity only)
- 2 Master Merchant (Take 2 resource cards from opponent with more VPs)
- 6 Merchant (Move merchant, trade that terrain resource at a 2:1 ratio.
- 4 resource Monopoly (name 1, get two from each player)
- 2 Trade Monopoly (name 1 commodity, get 1 from each player)
- 2 Commercial Harbor (offer 1 resource card to each player, receive 1 commodity card in return)
2 Merchant Fleet
When you play this card, you must publicly announce one (1) resource or commodity of your choice to the other players. During the turn that you play this card, you may trade two (2) of the same resource or commodity cards of the type you announced for one (1) of the following:
- One (1) resource card of your choice (even if you traded in two (2) of the same commodity card).
- One (1) commodity card of your choice (even if you traded in two (2) of the same resource card).
- One (1) gold coin of your choice.
You may make as many of these 2:1 trades as you wish as often as you want during the turn, but you may only trade that one (1) type of resource or commodity from your hand that you previously announced. As usual, you may exchange commodities for resources, and vice versa.
2 Master Merchant
Choose another player who has more visible Victory Points than you do. Look at the player’s hand of resource and commodity cards and choose 2 cards to take and add to your hand. You can only play this card on an opponent who has more Victory Points than you. There is no defense against this “trade,” even if he only has 1 Victory Point more than you. The Master Merchant only impacts cards, not tokens.
6 Merchant
- Place the purple Merchant cone on any land hex with a production token adjacent to one (1) of your buildings. You may exchange the resources produced by that type of hex with the supply at a 2:1 rate, as long as the merchant remains on that hex. Other players do not receive the benefit of having the merchant in the hex you move him to. If you want to move the merchant to a different hex, you will have to play another merchant card. The Robber does not affect the merchant. The merchant piece (the purple cone) is put into play whenever any player uses one of the “Merchant” Progress Cards (from the yellow Trade stack). If you play one of these cards, you must place it face-up in front of you, and then you may place the merchant piece on any land hex adjacent to one of your buildings. Until another merchant card is played, you may trade the resource (not commodity) that is produced in that land hex at a 2:1 rate. All of the normal rules for trading at a 2:1 harbor are in effect for these trades. A merchant can only be placed on a Basic resource hex, not on a gold field hex. Gold can always be exchanged at 2:1 rate for resources, and at a 3:1 rate for commodities.
- In addition, the Merchant token may be placed on a Gold hex, giving the player unlimited 2-to-1 trades for resources or commodities on his/her turn.
- Note: In addition, as long as you retain control of the Merchant, you receive 1 Victory Point! Do not take a Victory Point Chit—the Merchant card face-up in front of you counts as 1 VP.
- If another merchant card is played, whoever played that card (it could be you) takes control of the merchant. The previous Merchant card is returned to the Discard pile, and the person who played the new Merchant card may move the Merchant piece to any hex adjacent to one of his buildings. He receives the trade benefit, and he gets the bonus Victory Point.
4 Resource Monopoly
When you play this card, you must publicly announce one (1) type of resource. You may name any of the seven (1) resources (Lumber, Ore, Wool, Brick, Grain, Spice, Oil). Each player must give you two (2) of that type of resource, if they have them. If a player only has one (1) of that resource, he only gives you (1). If a player does not have any of the declared resource, he does not have to give you anything. Once you have announced a resource type, you may not change your announcement, if it turns out that no players have any of the resource type you announced. If you use a Monopoly card to monopolize oil, you still cannot pass the limit for oil in your supply. To determine whose oil you take (when not all oil can be taken), collect one from each player, starting with the next player to play and going clockwise around the board until your limit is reached.
- This Monopoly cannot be used for commodities, but can be used for spices (You may not choose which specific type of Spice card players give you: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Pepper)!
- The Resource Monopoly card only impacts cards, not tokens (like Gold coins, fish, etc.).
2 Trade Monopoly
When you play this card, you must publicly announce one (1) type of commodity. You may name any of the three (3) commodities (Coin, Paper, Cloth) or Gold. Each player must give you one (1) card of that type of commodity, if they have it. If a player does not have any of the declared commodity, he does not have to give you anything. Once you have announced a commodity type, you may not change your announcement, if it turns out that no players have any of the commodity type you announced.
- This Monopoly card cannot be used for resource cards (such as oil or spices).
- This Monopoly card only impacts cards, not tokens (however, you may declare Gold as a commodity and receive one [1] Gold from each player).
2 Commercial Harbor
You may force each of the other players to make a special trade. You may offer each opponent any 1 resource card from your personal supply. He must exchange it for any 1 commodity card of his choice from his personal supply, if he has any. You may use this ability at any point during the turn you play the card. However, you may only force each player to make this trade with you once that turn. Your opponent chooses which commodity card to give you if he has more than one. If you offer a resource to a player who has no commodity cards, then you take your card back, and the trade is void. You do not have to give this player the resource card.
- The rules on the Commercial Harbor card differ from the rules for the same card in the manual. The disagreement relates to who chooses the commodity to be "stolen". We have sided with the manual where the opponent chooses which commodity he wishes to give to the requesting player (assuming he has at least one commodity in his personal supply). This is similar to each person who gets caught with too many cards on a “seven,” and who gets to choose which half of his cards to discard.
- When playing the Commercial Harbor card, the player may offer cards or tokens.
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