Strong players do one thing after a game that most players skip. They look back. Not for long, a couple of minutes. But they ask what happened, and they write the answer down.
That habit is how you improve faster than the games alone would teach you. This lesson shows you what to log, how to find the turn you lost, a three-line review you can do after every game, and how to get enough games in for your reviews to add up.
Why review at all?
Because memory lies. After a loss, most of us remember the dice. The 8 that never came. The robber that sat on us all night. Those things happen, and some losses really are the dice. But the dice explain fewer losses than they seem to. Our article on luck vs skill explains why good games mix both.
A review sorts one from the other. If you lost and your choices were sound, shrug and play again. If you lost because of one choice, you have found something to fix.
What should you log during a game?
Not much. A full log slows the table down, and nobody enjoys that. Keep a small card with three things:
| What to write | When |
|---|---|
| Your pips and the leader’s | After setup |
| Every player’s visible points | Each round, or every few rounds |
| Your big decisions, one line each | As you make them |
Big decisions are your setup picks, your first city, each robber move, and any trade you said yes or no to. One line is enough: “Round 6: city over a settlement on the 9 spot.”
Number the rounds. It makes the next step much easier. If you ever play at an official tournament, Lesson 21 covers what the rules say about written notes at the table.
How do you find the turn you lost?
Start at the end and work backward.
- Find the winner’s path. How did they reach 10? Write it the way Lesson 5 does: cities, settlements, bonus tiles, cards.
- Find where they pulled away. Look at your round-by-round scores. Where did the gap open? It is usually one or two rounds.
- Look at your own move that round, and the round before. What did you build, trade, or do with the robber? What else could you have done?
- Pick the earliest choice that would have changed things. That is the turn you lost.
Then sort it. Most lost turns fall into a few kinds.
| Kind | Sounds like |
|---|---|
| Setup | “I took pips and ignored brick.” |
| Build order | “I built roads while a city sat in my hand.” |
| Trading | “I gave the leader the ore for their city.” |
| Robber | “I hit the player in third instead of the leader.” |
| Endgame | “I sat at 9 visible points for two rounds.” |
Check the dice too. Compare your pips after setup with the winner’s. If yours were close and the winner still built faster, it was decisions. If your numbers simply did not roll, note it and move on. That is a fine review too.
What is the three-line review?
After every game, write three lines. That is the whole habit.
- How the winner reached 10.
- The turn I lost, and what I did.
- One thing I will try next game.
Here is an example:
- Red won with 3 cities, 2 settlements, and Largest Army.
- Round 8: I traded Red 2 ore for 1 wool. Red built a city the same turn.
- Next game: no trades with anyone at 7 or more points.
Keep line 3 small and testable. “Play better” is not a plan. “Count every development card” is. If you are in a hurry, line 2 alone still works.
How do the reviews add up?
One review is a story. Twenty are data. Every couple of weeks, read back through your line 2s and tally them by kind. Most players find one kind shows up again and again. That is your next focus, and there is a lesson in this course for each kind.
How do you get more games in?
Reviews need games, and a weekly table only gives you a few. Online play gets you many more. Two options, as of October 2026:
- Colonist runs in a web browser and has apps for iOS and Android. It is free to play, with practice games against bots, games with friends, and ranked modes with leaderboards. A paid membership unlocks all of its maps and expansions.
- CATAN Universe is the official digital CATAN, a free download for Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows. Free play covers base game matches against two other players. The full base game and the expansions are in-app purchases. One account works across your devices, and seasons have their own leaderboards.
Online games are quicker, which is the point. You can play and review several in the time one takes at a table. Two cautions. Online trading moves fast with little talk, so table talk (Lesson 24) still needs real tables. And apps change their modes and prices, so check what is current before you count on a feature.
What did Level 3 give you?
That is the end of Level 3. You can now track what every hand holds, aim the robber with a reason, spot the real leader, work the table with words, plan your last three points, read the development deck as it thins, fight back from a weak opening, and learn something from every game you play. Congratulations, Strategist.
Try it this week
Your drill: write a three-line review after every game for two weeks.
- Pick a home for your reviews. One notebook or one notes file, so they all stay together.
- Keep a small log during each game. Pips after setup, scores each round, and one line per big decision.
- Write the three lines within an hour of the game ending, while you still remember why you did things.
- Add some online games. A few extra games a week on Colonist or CATAN Universe count too. Review those the same way.
- Tally at the end of two weeks. Sort your line 2s by kind: setup, build order, trading, robber, endgame. Circle the most common.
- Reread the lesson that matches. Then make line 3 of your next review about that one thing.
Level check
Did it stick?
Answer in your head, then open each answer to check yourself.
You lost. After setup your pips were 22 and the winner's were 21, yet the winner built their first city three rounds before you. Where should your review look first?
Show answer 1
B. Your decisions: build order, trades, and the robber Your income was as good as the winner's, so the dice are not the story. When the pips match and the builds do not, the gap is usually in your choices.
What is the best way to find the turn you lost?
Show answer 2
D. Start from the winner's tenth point and work back to the earliest choice that changed the result Working backward from the finish takes you straight to where the gap opened. Then you look at your own move that round and the round before.
Which of these makes the best third line of a review: one thing to try next game?
Show answer 3
C. Make no trades with anyone at 7 or more points A good line 3 is small and testable. You can check after the next game whether you did it, and whether it helped.
Nice work. That is this lesson's Level check done.
Next lesson
How CATAN Tournaments Work: From Local Qualifier to Worlds
Next, Level 4: Contender begins. Lesson 29, How CATAN Tournaments Work: From Local Qualifier to Worlds, walks the ladder from a local qualifier all the way to the World Championship.
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