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Before you read this article, you will need to know the following terms and definitions:
| Chit(s): | Noun. Singular or plural. Small, round cardboard tokens for tracking Victory Points. Printed on one or both sides with a small scene depicting the sun rising over a small town, each token represents one VP. |
| Victory Point(s) (VP): | Noun. Singular or plural. A reward earned for completing some activity or meeting some standard. Tracked with Chits. First player to accumulate a set number of these VPs wins the game. |
| 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. |
Your Victory Points must always be clearly visible to other players. The backs of your cards should be at least partially visible (no complete overlap or "hiding" is allowed) to other players at all times. This will especially help keep players accountable about hand limits.
Although the Seafarers Expansion uses Victory Point Chits to represent gold coins, Victory Point Chits are intended to help players keep track of and display Victory Point progress. Each Victory Point Chit represents one Victory Point.
All Victory Point Chits currently in a player’s possession (including Victory Point Awards and revealed Victory Point cards) must be placed in front of the player, clearly visible to all other players.
Players add Victory Point Chits from the bank’s supply to their personal supply as they earn them, and return them to the bank if they lose the advantage that earned them their Victory Points.
Although it is usually beneficial to have fewer Victory Points than other players during a Victory Point game, players may endanger their chances of winning if they postpone converting some items into Victory Point Chits (and thus Victory Points). For example, a player may store up Favor Tokens or special Development cards, so that he doesn’t receive the “Richest Settler” Award Tile. However, because Favor Tokens may only be redeemed on a player’s turn, another player may win before his turn arrives.
Earning Victory Points
You can earn Victory Points in the following ways:
- Construct Buildings:
- Win Awards:
- Complete Missions: The Council of Catan has a number of missions that reward you with Victory Points. You can work on all four at once, or one at a time. The following rules apply to all Missions:
- Whenever you make progress on a mission, you may move your marker forward 1 space on the appropriate Mission Card.
- If the space you move your marker onto contains an opponent’s marker(s), you must place your marker on top.
- The number of VP symbols depicted next to each space on the Mission Card indicates the number of mission VPs the owner of each marker has accumulated. Example: In Example 9 below, the red and white players each have 1 Victory Point for the Pirate Lairs Mission. The orange and blue players have 2 VPs each.
- If your marker has moved the farthest from the “S” space, you receive the mission’s VP card. It is worth 1 VP.
- If players’ markers are on top of each other on the most advanced space, the marker on the bottom receives the special VP card, as it was the first to arrive there. Example: In Example 9 below, the blue player receives the VP card, because his marker is on the bottom of the stack on the most advanced space on the Mission Card.
- Play Progress/Development Cards: Some Progress Cards and Development Cards are worth 1 Victory Point each. Some of these cards must be played immediately. Others may be kept hidden in your personal supply until you are ready to redeem them. They may be revealed (and thus redeemed) at any time, during your turn or the turn of an opponent. Development Cards may only be redeemed for Victory Points (and thus Victory Point Chits) on a player’s turn (not during the Special Building Phase), unless stated otherwise.
- Redeem Green Favor Tokens: Master Builder (Green) Favor Tokens (the ones that award Victory Points when redeemed) may also be hidden in your personal supply until you are ready to redeem them. Favor Tokens and special Development Cards may only be redeemed for Victory Points (and thus Victory Point Chits) on a player’s turn (not during the Special Building Phase), unless stated otherwise.
- Capture Bandits: Captured Barbarians, however, are considered wooden tokens, and may not be hidden. Each two captured Barbarians are worth one Victory Point, and they must be redeemed for a Victory Point Chit as soon as two of them have been acquired. The Barbarians are then returned to bank’s supply.
- Capture Barbarian Ships: The Barbarian Fleet is full of ships waiting to pounce on
- Settle New Island: The first time you construct a building on a fully-defined landmass, you receive 2 Victory Points. Future buildings on that island do not earn bonus Victory Points.
Example: In Illustration F below, a player earns 2 Victory Point Chits when he builds his first settlement on one of the smaller islands (the red community on the far right). He has now earned 3 Victory Point Chits: 1 for building the settlement, and 2 for building on a “foreign” island.
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