Road
1 Timber1 Clay
Extend your route by one edge. Connect to your own road or building; you cannot build through an opponent’s building.
Your first game
Create or join a room, then start together.
Find your room
Create room opens your lobby. Choose Join room for a friend’s code, or open their invite link.
Choose your profile
Continue with Google or as a guest. Pick a username and portrait, then share the room link with your friends.
Ready, then start
The other players select Ready. The host selects Start once everyone is connected and ready.
Your first two settlements
Place a settlement and a road touching it. Everyone takes a first placement, then the order reverses for the second.
Your second settlement gives you one resource from each neighboring productive tile. Setup pieces are free.
Four-player setupClockwise, then reverse.
Two-player rooms & balanced islands
Two-player rooms are Catanova’s custom option using the same island and ten-point goal, without neutral players. The default balanced map also uses custom fairness constraints. Three- and four-player games are the base-game compatibility target. There is no solo mode or public matchmaking.
Resources & building costs
Five resources pay for everything you build. Learn the pictures and you’ll know your hand at a glance.
TimberForest
ClayHills
SheepPasture
HayFields
RockMountains
A tile produces when its number is rolled. The desert produces nothing.
Cost · pay the bank
Settlement
1 Timber1 Clay1 Sheep1 Hay
Worth 1 point. Collects 1 resource from each neighboring tile that produces. After setup, it must touch one of your roads.
City upgrade
2 Hay3 Rock
Worth 2 points total. Replace your own settlement and collect 2 resources instead of 1. The settlement piece returns to your supply.
Development card
1 Sheep1 Hay1 Rock
Draw a hidden card from the deck. You can buy more than one if you can pay and cards remain.
A turn, in three steps
Roll & collect
Matching tiles pay every neighboring player, whoever rolled. Settlements collect one; cities collect two.
Trade & build
Make trades and purchases in any order. Keep going while you have legal moves and resources to spend.
End your turn
Pass to the next player. Their portrait shows the next required action, such as rolling or moving the robber.
A playable development card can be used before rolling, or during your action phase. Finish its effect before taking another action.
Rolled a 7?
No resources are produced. Everyone with more than seven resource cards discards half, rounded down. Development cards do not count.
After all discards, move the robber to a different land tile and steal one random resource from one eligible neighboring opponent. That tile stops producing until the robber moves again.
What if the bank runs short?
If several players need a resource and the bank cannot pay everyone, nobody receives that resource from the roll. If only one player is entitled to it, they receive what remains, up to their entitlement. Other resources still produce normally.
Optional turn timer
The host can leave it off or choose 40, 65, 90, 115 or 140 seconds before the game. Expiry completes required actions using the server’s rule-valid defaults and ends the turn. It does not buy pieces or accept trades for you. Setup placements are untimed; required discards have their own countdowns.
Trading & ports
Need one last resource? Ask a friend, or use the bank.
Trade with a player
On your turn, select Trade. Click the cards you give and the cards you want. Choose ? Open to offers to let friends propose a return. Both sides must give something, and every trade includes the active player.
The bank
4:1Always available on your turn.
4 Clay1 Hay
A general port
3:1Three cards of any one resource.
3 Sheep1 Rock
A resource port
2:1Two of the port’s named resource.
2 Timber1 Clay
Example: a Timber portThe question-mark ports are general 3:1 ports. There are four of these and one 2:1 port for each resource.
Development cards
Select a held development card to read its effect, then play it. No dragging required.
One action card per turn. Bought it this turn? Wait until your next. Hidden Victory Point cards count immediately.
Knight
Move the robber and steal from an eligible neighbor. Nobody discards. Played Knights count toward Largest Army.
Road Building
Place two legal roads without paying their resource costs, subject to your remaining pieces and available sites.
Year of Plenty
Choose two available resource cards from the bank. They can be the same resource or two different ones.
Monopoly
Choose one resource. Every opponent gives you all the cards they hold of that type.
Victory Point
One hidden point, including on the turn you buy it. It counts toward your total; you do not need to play it as an action.
Rare card cases in this playtest
Road Building requires a legal first road and uses a second whenever possible. Year of Plenty takes one card if it is the only card left in the bank, and cannot be played into an empty bank. These are provisional interpretations; the compatibility ledger tracks the remaining source questions.
How to win
Win on your own turn.
Reach ten points on your own turn to win immediately. If you reach ten on someone else’s turn, wait until your turn and still have enough then.
1Settlement
2City
1Hidden point card
2Longest Road
2Largest Army
A city is worth two points total, replacing the settlement’s point. Roads do not score points by themselves.
Longest Road
The first continuous route of at least five roads earns it. Opponents’ buildings can break a route; separate branches do not simply add together.
Largest Army
The first player to play three Knights earns it. Knights still in your hand do not count.
Both awards appear on player profiles. To take one, exceed the holder’s qualifying total. Ties normally leave an award where it is; the full road rules cover ties after a route is broken.
Your profile & seat
A profile that stays yours
Google sign-in keeps your profile and enables friends. Guests expire after seven days of inactivity. Guests can link Google to keep their username. They cannot add friends while still guests.
Connection dropped?
Let the game reconnect. Return with the same account and invite to recover your seat. The connection panel shows ping and sync status. Keep your guest session and browser storage while playing.
Ready to play?
Create a room or join a friend’s invitation.