Catan Junior

Catan was one of our early gaming experiences and it drew us into the hobby big style. Along with Ticket to Ride and Railroad Ink Blazing Red Edition, Catan quickly settled into its new home next to Rummikub. In reality, the reason for going crazy for Catan was that my best pal (#nerdwife) was living with us. A willing 3rd player with enough delicious incentives!. So we spent most of lockdown trading sheep for wheat and bricks for wood to avoid stressing over toilet rolls.

Our then 5 year old loved to join us. Mainly using the spare 4th player components to build tiny towers, or trying to persuade each of us to buy “the special cards” (you know the ones; those wild-ride development cards!). He often wanted to play the game, but attention would drift and eventually he’d abandon his partially laid roads and settlements. He also liked to rob us, but did not find being robbed an acceptable move on our parts.

Fast forward two years, and his 7 year old mind hasn’t forgotten Catan. Most mornings before school he asks if we can play “sheep”. But with Catan being a 3 player game and daddy nowhere to be seen pre 8am, even starting it during the breakfast routine is generally a no-no.

Luckily, however, I recently stumbled across Catan Junior! Would this be the answer to his sheep trading dreams?

Simple Sheep

Designed for kids age 6+, Catan Junior has rethemed the classic euro into a pirate adventure! Onto a winner already then as who doesn’t want to go swashbuckling?! There’s still the Catan euro focus on resource management and engine building. But it’s a pared down version with a less overwhelming decision space – ideal for younger players (and me!).

Roads and settlements have given way to pirate lairs and shipping lanes (way cooler!). Build a lair on Spooky Island and you’ve got the equivalent of the biggest army right there. And those special cards are now Coco the Parrot’s domain. Coco is cool – her tile let you do things instantly like build something for free, gain resources (for possibly even more Coco tiles in a turn!), or move the robber. And yes, the robber is still in the game – it wouldn’t be Catan without that cheepy chappy. But instead of pilfering from other players, the Ghost Captain leaves Spooky Island and hits up the bank for 2 resources for the active player whenever a 6 is rolled. That got instant approval after our son realised he wouldn’t be robbed of all his cutlasses! There’s still some blocking going on – this is Catan after all. But nothing that engenders the same tearful reaction as the original!

There are other differences too. You can have as many resources as you want – no discarding down to 7 like Catan senior! In contrast, the board has fewer choices. Just one D6 roll decides which of the hexes numbered 1-5 will pay out.

Trading is also 1:1 with the market rather than other players. Personally I think it would have been okay to keep that in this version. But swapping with the marketplace has gone down well. And I guess there’s less risk of younger ones getting upset that they have given another player something that leads them to victory!

Also, in a change to regular game programming, in Catan Junior there’s no victory point target either. Instead, you are in a race to be first to build all 7 of your pirate lairs! How you do that is where canny resource management comes into its own. although I guarantee Coco and her terrific tiles will have a hand (or should I say wing) in it.

2 Player Pirates

Another difference – and probably the most important for us – is that you can play Catan Junior at 2 player count! Flip the board over and there is a scaled down group of islands when you are going head to head with a fellow fledgling swashbuckler!

Final Thoughts

Catan Junior is one of those made for kids but fun for adults too type games. It’s a colourful, cutely styled pirate themed version of the original. But it retains the core resource management, engine building euro mechanics. It has fewer decisions to make. But interestingly those you do make seem to bring about faster results. Gaining resources seems to be a breeze – you’ll be knee deep in goats and gold within a few turns! You’re still building towards having all 7 pirate lairs completed. And ships, Lairs, and Coco tiles need different combinations of stuff. But because the Ghost Captain gives rather than takes away, and no discarding down, there’s less of a going backwards again feeling. And that’s great for the age range it targets. Granted, the game isn’t perfect. Going loco for Coco tiles can give a player a big advantage through looping the action and having a lair on Spooky Island. But you need to be a savvy seven year old swashbuckler to work that mini engine out (which ours did!).

Selfishly, when it comes to playing with our son, I am always up for avoiding games that cause a serious case of the grumps! So Catan Junior gets my vote for eliminating the tears that flow when daddy robs him of his last sheep card in Catan. My husband doesn’t kid glove – he was one of 3 boys and learnt to win the hard way!. Catan Junior also faster to play (our games are around 25/30 mins), and of course plays at a more convenient count for us. If you love euro games and love playing games with your kiddos, then this is a cool, lighter version of the original that won’t make you feel like you’re just along for the ride.