How a Turn Works: Roll, Trade, Build

Once setup is done, Catan settles into a rhythm. Roll, trade, build, pass the dice. The same loop repeats until someone reaches 10 points. Learn the loop well and the game gets fast, which is good news for everyone at the table.

What happens on a Catan turn?

The 6th Edition splits each turn into two phases.

1. Production phase

• You may play one development card before you roll (more on these in Lesson 4).
• Roll both dice and add them up.
• Every player collects resources from hexes with that number. If the roll is a 7, something else happens (also Lesson 4).

2. Action phase

• Trade and build, in any order, as many times as you can afford.
• You may play one development card here, if you did not play one before the roll.

When you are done, pass the dice to your left.

Older rulebooks listed trading and building as separate steps, with all your trades first. The 6th Edition merges them into one action phase, so you can build a road, then make a trade, then build again. Most groups played this way already.

How does production work?

Find every hex showing the number you rolled. Each one produces.

• A settlement touching that hex earns 1 card of its resource.
• A city touching that hex earns 2.
• If you have several buildings on the same hex, each one collects.

Production is for everyone, not just the roller. That is what keeps Catan lively: you can get paid on any player’s turn.

Two exceptions:

• A hex with the robber on it produces nothing. Lesson 4 explains how the robber moves.
• If the supply runs short of a resource and cannot pay everyone who earned it, nobody collects that resource on this roll. If only one player is owed that resource, they take whatever is left.

How does trading with other players work?

On your turn, say what you want and what you will give. “I need a brick. I can give wheat.” Other players can accept, make a counteroffer, or propose something new. Haggle as much as you like.

A few rules keep trading fair:

• Every trade involves you, the active player. On your turn, other players can trade with you, but not with each other.
• No gifts. You cannot give cards away for nothing.
• No swapping the same thing. Trading 3 ore for 1 ore is not a trade. It is a gift in disguise, so it is not allowed.
• Resources only. Development cards can never be traded.

You may trade as many times as you want in one turn, with as many players as you want.

What is a 4:1 bank trade?

When nobody wants your cards, trade with the supply instead. Return 4 cards of the same resource and take any 1 different resource. You never need permission and you never need a port.

It is the worst rate in the game, so think of it as a safety valve. Lesson 9 covers when a 4:1 trade is fine and when it quietly loses you the game.

How do ports change your trades?

If you have a settlement or city on a port, you get a better rate with the supply:

A 2:1 port only helps with its own resource. A wool port lets you trade 2 wool for 1 of anything, but trading wheat still costs you 4 (or 3, if you also own a 3:1 port).

Port trades happen on your turn, during the action phase. You can use a port on the same turn you build the settlement that reaches it.

What does everything cost?

These four costs are the most important numbers in Catan. Your goal this week is to know them cold.

Spend the cards by returning them to the supply, then place your piece or draw the top development card.

Where can you build?

Roads go on empty hex edges and must connect to one of your roads, settlements, or cities. You cannot build a road onward from the far side of an opponent’s settlement or city. Their building blocks your path.

Settlements go on empty intersections. A new settlement must connect to one of your roads, and it must follow the distance rule from Lesson 2: no building on a corner right next to another building.

Cities always replace one of your settlements. Take the settlement back into your supply and put the city in its place. You can never build a city on an empty corner.

Piece limits are real. Each player has 15 roads, 5 settlements, and 4 cities. If all 5 settlements are on the board, you must upgrade one to a city before you can build another settlement. Once your 4 cities are out, you cannot build more cities.

What does a full turn look like?

Here is a sample turn for Blue.

1. Blue rolls a 9. Blue has a settlement on a 9 forest and collects 1 wood. Orange has a city on a 9 pasture and collects 2 wool.
2. Blue now holds 2 wood, 1 brick, 1 wool, and no wheat.
3. Blue asks the table for wheat. Orange offers 1 wheat for 1 wood. Blue accepts.
4. Blue builds a settlement (1 brick, 1 wood, 1 wool, 1 wheat), connected to an existing road.
5. Blue has nothing useful left, so Blue passes the dice.

That is a good turn: one roll, one trade, one build, about a minute.

Try it this week

Your drill is to memorize the four building costs, so you never have to glance at the player aid again.

1. Learn them in order of size. Road is 2 cards. Development card is 3. Settlement is 4. City is 5. Each build is one card bigger than the last.
2. Use the pairs. Road is brick and wood. A settlement is a road plus wool and wheat. A development card is wool, wheat, and ore. A city is 2 wheat and 3 ore.
3. Quiz yourself cold. Each day this week, before you look at your phone in the morning, say all four costs out loud.
4. Flip your player aid face down for your next game. If you need to check a cost, check it, then flip it back.
5. Teach the costs to someone else. If you can explain them without notes, you know them.