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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. |
(Should this even be a separate section, or should it function just like normal resource harvesting?)
Spice Cards
In order to earn Spice Cards, you must first have a merchant.
Placing a Merchant
- If you have discovered a spice hex and drawn a spice card. On that same turn, or on one of your subsequent turns, you may pay 1 ore + 1 wool to place a merchant on an intersection of the discovered spice hex.
- You can only place a merchant on an intersection adjacent to one of your ships. If you move your ship away from this intersection, you lose the opportunity to place a merchant on this intersection.
- If you have placed a merchant, the shipping route between your settlement on the coast and the merchant is considered closed. You are no longer allowed to move a ship of this shipping route.
- Each intersection may only be occupied by 1 merchant.
- Each merchant must always be clearly assigned to one spice hex. Therefore, you are not allowed to place a merchant on an intersection between 2 spice hexes.
Acquiring Trade Options
- If you are the first player to place a merchant, you choose one of the 10 trade option cards and place it face down in front of yourself. Each player who places a merchant may choose one of the trade option cards that still remain.
- Only 10 trade options in total are available to all of you. If the trade options are depleted, using a unit as a merchant no longer benefits you.
Using Trade Options
- If you have acquired a trade option card during your turn, you may trade 2 resources of the type depicted on the card for a spice card on that same turn. To this end, you return 2 resource cards/tokens of the depicted type to the supply and draw the topmost card from the spice card stack.
- During your turn, you may repeat this trade as many times as you wish—so long as you have the required resources.
- A trade option does not allow you to trade another resource card instead of a spice card.
- Each of you receives at most 1 trade option card for each spice hex. If you want to acquire another trade option, you must place a merchant on an intersection adjacent to a different spice hex.
Protection from the Robber
- For each trade option you have acquired, your hand may contain 2 more cards when a “7” is rolled.
- If, for example, on 2 spice hexes you have placed 1 merchant each, you have 2 trade options and your hand may contain up to 11 resource cards without being penalized when a “7” is rolled.
Spice Cards
There are 3 types of spice cards: nutmeg, pepper, and cinnamon. The rules for spice cards are as follows:
- You keep spice cards hidden in your personal supply, together with other resource and commodity cards.
- Spice cards are included in the resource/commodity card count when a Production Number of “7” is resolved, and can be stolen from you by other players.
- If you play a Monopoly card, you may opt to demand all cards of one spice type—for example, all pepper cards.
- You may trade spice cards with other players, either for different spices or for other resources (domestic trade).
- Maritime spice trade (trade with the supply) is not allowed. You may never trade spice cards with the supply for resource, commodity, or other spice cards.
Exchanging Spice Cards
One time during your turn, you may discard either 3 spice cards of the same type or 3 spice cards of different types and take 2 Victory Point Chits in exchange. Place the discarded spice cards face up on a discard pile beside the spice card stack.
- If the cards in the spice card stack are depleted, shuffle the spice cards from the discard pile face down and arrange them into a new spice card stack.
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