The 5-Minute Map Study

In Lesson 13, you learned to read any board in 60 seconds with four questions. That lesson made a promise: in Level 4, the same read grows into a full five-minute map study. Here it is.

At an official tournament, organizers reveal the map, start a shared timer, and give every table five minutes before anyone places. The timer can end early if the whole table agrees, and players may talk during it. You do not have to chat, though. Those five minutes are yours to think. The players who use them well sit down with a plan. Everyone else sits down with a hunch.

Why does five minutes matter so much?

Because every table in the room plays the same map. As Lesson 30 explained, organizers set one board per round for the whole event. There is no luck of the setup. If you read the board better than the field, you start every game a little ahead of everyone, not just your table.

Five minutes sounds long. It goes fast. Without a checklist, it is easy to spend four minutes staring at the 6s and 8s and one minute panicking. With a checklist, you finish with a ranked list, two plans, and a backup.

What is on the checklist?

Eight steps, in order, with a time budget for each.

Steps 1 to 4 are your Lesson 13 read, given a little more room. Steps 5 to 8 are new.

Steps 1 and 2: What does this board have?

Total the pips for each of the five resources, using the dot ladder from Lesson 6. Check that the five totals add to 58. Then name the scarcest resource, the most plentiful one, and when the scarce one will hurt: brick and wood early, ore late.

This is the same as Lesson 13, so it should already feel quick. If you are behind at the one-minute mark, do not finish the math. Name the scarce resource from what you have and move on. A rough read with a plan beats a perfect count with no plan.

Step 3: How deep should your corner list go?

Deeper than at home. In Lesson 13, you kept the top four to six corners. Here, aim for eight to ten.

Why? Look at seat 1. Your second settlement is the eighth placed in the game. Six settlements land between your picks, and each one blocks its neighbors too. As Lesson 15 showed, your second pick will probably come from around the eighth to tenth best corner. If your list stops at five, you will be building it fresh with the clock running.

For each corner, jot two things: its pips and its resources. “11: wood, ore, wool.” Also mark any two corners that sit next to each other. Only one of them can be taken, so they are really one spot on your list.

Step 4: Which ports matter?

Use the rule from Lesson 13. A 2:1 port matters when its resource is plentiful on this board and a strong hex of it sits near the port. A 3:1 port matters when its corners also touch decent pips. Mark the one or two ports worth planning around and ignore the rest.

Port tokens are not used at official events, so read the ports exactly as they sit on the board in front of you.

Step 5: What does your seat mean on this map?

In preliminary games, the schedule sets your play order, so you know your seat before anyone places. Use it.

Then cross off the corners you expect to be gone before each of your picks. Guess, but guess with reasons: the top two or three corners on your list rarely last long.

Step 6: What are your two plans?

Pick your lane from Lesson 14: ore-wheat-wool, wood-brick, port engine, or balanced. The scarce resource from Step 2 usually points the way. If you can produce the scarce card, take that lane.

Then write two plans. Each plan is a first settlement, a second settlement, and the direction of your first road toward your next spot, as Lesson 16 taught.

• Plan A is what you take if the board goes as you expect.
• Plan B is what you take if someone grabs your Plan A corner first.

Two plans is the whole point of map study. When it is your turn to place, you are choosing between two answers, not starting from zero.

Step 7: Where will the robber go first?

The robber is live from turn one at a tournament. Look at the hexes the robber will want first: the 6s and 8s on the scarce resource, and any hex that will touch two or more strong corners. If Plan A puts both your best hexes on those targets, consider whether Plan B spreads the risk better.

Step 8: Can you say your plan in one sentence?

Finish with one line, like the one from Lesson 13, plus your seat:

“Short on brick, rich in wheat, the port to watch is the 2:1 wheat. I’m seat 3, so Plan A is the 10-pip brick and wood corner, and Plan B is the ore corner on the 8.”

If you can say that, you are ready. If time remains, use it to recheck the corner you plan to take first.

Try it this week

Your drill: run the checklist on 10 random boards with a timer.

1. Make a random board. Shuffle and build a real board, or use a free random board generator online. Real boards are slower to set up but closer to the tournament table.
2. Pick a seat. Roll a die and reroll 5s and 6s. That number is your seat for this board.
3. Start a five-minute timer. Work through all eight steps on a scrap of paper. Set a phone alarm at 1:00, 2:30, and 4:15 so you know whether you are on pace.
4. Stop when the timer stops. Whatever you have is your plan. No extra time.
5. Check your work slowly. Recount the pips without a timer. Did your totals add to 58? Was your scarce resource right? Did you miss any corner that belongs in your top eight?
6. Note your slow step. Mark which step ran over on each board. That is the one to drill.
7. Repeat for 10 boards. Spread them across the week. By board 10, aim to finish all eight steps with time to spare.