Mayfair Games has completed their flurry of Catan releases with The Struggle For Catan, a 2-4 player multiplayer card game which follows the revised editions of the 2-player-only The Rivals for Catan card game and the Catan Dice Game. All of these new games seek to emulate the Catan experience with a smaller, faster, and less expensive substitute, so how does The Struggle for Catan perform against its peers? Read on for the full review:

Just the Facts:

Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 45-60 minutes
Age: 10 to adult
Publisher: Mayfair Games
MSRP: $15.00
Release: June 2, 2011

The Gameplay:

As is standard for Catan games, The Struggle for Catan is played until one player reaches ten points. They'll go about reaching that goal by collecting sets of resource cards, then trading them in to acquire roads, settlements, cities, knights, and a new type of building, the city expansion. The twist in this card game is that roads and knights, along with the victory point they grant, can change hands at any time.

Each turn begins with a trading phase, which works quite differently than in traditional Catan. Players can perform trades in any combination of the following three ways:

• Swap a card from their hand with an available card in the resource market (a row of five cards kept face-up next to the deck).
• Discard a card from their hand and draw a random resource card from the deck.
• Trade with an opponent by taking a random card from their hand and replacing it with any card from your hand (including the one you just took).

Simply put, when it comes to trading with other players, there is no wood for sheep in this game. Instead, it's wood for whatever I damn well feel like giving you.

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Tags Catan, Klaus Teuber, Mayfair Games, Settlers of Catan, Struggle for Catan

As The Settlers of Catan passes its 15th anniversary, Mayfair Games is pulling out all of the stops by showcasing its library of related titles. We've already reviewed the revised Catan 2-player card game, Rivals for Catan, and a brand new 2-4 player Catan card game, The Struggle for Catan, just hit store shelves yesterday. In-between those two releases, Mayfair also put out a revised edition of the Catan Dice Game. In this new version, they've gone so far as to add an entire second game that can be played with the Catan dice. Read on for the full review:

Just the Facts:

Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 15 minutes
Age: 7 to adult
Publisher: Mayfair Games
MSRP: $15.00
Release: April 21, 2011

The Gameplay:

The Catan Dice Game is broken down into two games that can be played with the Catan dice: Island One and Island Two, each represented by different sides of the scoring sheet. The goal of each game is to earn points by building the common Catan items: roads, settlements, cities, and control over knights. The dice have some familiar resources printed on them: brick, wood, ore, sheep, and wheat, as well as a new addition, gold.

Players roll (and re-reroll) the dice to get the resource symbols they want and then use them as payment to build these point-earning Catan items. Gold, as the sixth resource, is never used directly in purchases, but can always be combined with a second gold to trade in for any other resource. Read more...

Tags Mayfair Games, Review, Settlers of Catan

In preparation for the release of The Struggle for Catan (a new 2-4 player Catan-themed card game) and in celebration of The Settlers of Catan's 15th anniversary, Mayfair Games has revised and relaunched its original 2 player game, The Rivals for Catan. But 2 player games are notoriously hard to make competitive and engaging. Does this one provide enough of a Catan experience to make it worth your while? Read on for the full review:

Just the Facts:

Players: 2
Playing Time: 45-60 minutes
Age: 10 to adult
Publisher: Mayfair Games
MSRP: $20.00
Release: Q4 2010

The Gameplay:

The focus in Rivals for Catan, much like Settlers of Catan, is to collect resources that allow you to expand your principality in pursuit of victory points. These points can be achieved by building new settlements, upgrading existing settlements to cities, growing your army, or expanding your trade capability.

After a brief setup phase, both players have a nearly-identical principality set up on opposite sides of the table, with various draw stacks of common cards dividing the table down the middle. Read more...

Tags Mayfair Games, Review, Settlers of Catan

Since the dawn of video games, board game companies have been trying to port their titles over to the electronic medium. However, when compared to full-length RPGs and platformers, board game adaptations have never pushed the limits of story depth or graphical prowess, and have became a tough sell when costing $50 or more. The audience for such games simply was not there, and adapting a board game became a sure fire way to lose money.

With the arrival of mobile app stores, though, developers have been given an easier road to success. Mobile apps can be programmed inexpensively by small teams, and have very low distribution costs. This is allowing board games apps to exist in a marketplace that caters to small consumer niches. Board game fans are now experiencing a golden age of video game adaptations, as countless classics are available for $5 or less. Today, I’ll be giving capsule reviews of some great board games available in the iOS App Store:

Carcassone

One of the all-time greats of modern board gaming, the highly strategic worker placement game Carcassonne comes to the iOS platform with a deluxe edition.  The features packed into this game include online play, avatar support, and user rankings. This app was also recently upgraded to support the higher resolution iPad screen, and supports "play by mail" between users on any device. Make this game your Words With Friends replacement!

Some of the new electronic additions even improve the game, such as the app’s ability to track placement of tiles. This allows players to monitor what is left in the deck and determine whether a spot has been permanently blocked.  This greatly increases the level of competitive play, and makes Carcassonne a must-buy.

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Tags apps, Blokus, Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Zooloretto

Are you new to hobby gaming? You may have missed the news, but strategy board games, card games, and RPGs are some of the hottest products at the moment. Periodically here on MTV Geek, we'll be running a series of "Know This Company" posts to provide you newbies with a re-education in the world of analog gaming. You may remember Mayfair Games, makers of the mega-popular Settlers of Catan which we previously featured in our "Play This, Not That" series.

Here, Bob Carty looks at the rise of Settlers and discusses some of the other games that Mayfair produces. Carty also goes into detail on some of the extra services Mayfair provides to its fans, such as regional tournaments, white glove demonstration videos, and game-themed merchandise giveaways.

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Tags Mayfair Games, Settlers of Catan, Toy Fair

According to the most recent sales data from Diamond Comics Distributors, board games, card games, and RPGs were the hot products of 2010. During a year where most industries were struggling to claw themselves out of recession, Diamond Comics showed a 40.8% increase in games sales over the previous year's sales data. Compare that to comic books which shrank 3.59%, or toys which also took a hit of 20.3%.

These figures were presented at the "Dialogue with Diamond" panel during the annual Diamond Retailer summit, where a peek into the first two months of 2011 was also given. Unsurprisingly, games are again up, this time 17%. Another fact that solidifies the legitimacy of this increase is that amongst other sectors that showed growth in either 2010 or 2011 such as apparel and toys, Diamond does not product any of its own games. Sales in those other categories may rise or fall depending on the quality and quantity of Diamond exclusive designs, but game sales speak to market strength.
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Tags Diamond Comic Distributors, Hobby Gaming, Settlers of Catan

On This Day In Geek History: Beloved director John Hughes born (1950); Animator and current voice for Donald Duck Tony Anselmo born (1967); frequent star of Hughes films Molly Ringwald born (1968)

"Andie" by Rich Pellegrino, inspired by "Pretty in Pink"

Star Wars themed protest signs against Wisconsin Governor Scott (Sky)Walker's budget bill:

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Tags Princess Bride, Settlers of Catan, Star Wars

In the buildup to next week’s New York International Toy Fair, Mayfair Games has let loose their full release schedule for the rest of the year. Highlights for 2011 include several new games building off of the mega-popular Settlers of Catan property, one a dice game and the other a multiplayer card game with already-planned expansions.

For the deep strategic gamer, Mayfair is also adding to their hit train franchises 18xx and Steam. The former will be getting a new edition of 1830, while the latter will be receiving its first map expansion. There are plenty of original titles in the mix too, which we’ll be taking a closer look at during Toy Fair and in the months approaching their release. Read more...

Tags Mayfair Games, Settlers of Catan, Struggle for Catan, Toys

As part of the upcoming New York International Toy Fair 2011, Mayfair Games and Gen Con LLC will be holding an event at The Compleat Strategist in New York City. From 6PM to 8PM on February 15th, there will be games, activities, free refreshments and ten 4-day Gen Con pass giveaways. Following the meet up, there will be a NYC-wide scavenger hunt where additional 4-day passes will be given out. The locations of these additional giveaways will be hinted at in clues on the Mayfair Games and Gen Con Twitter feeds.

Gen Con Indy will take place at the Indiana Convention Center August 4-7, 2011. Running since 1968, Gen Con is one of the largest annual gaming conventions in North America. In 2003, the convention moved to its permanent home in Indianapolis, where it has thrived. Attendance figures from recent cons have topped 30,000 individuals.

Mayfair Games, one of Gen Con’s official sponsors for 2011, has been publishing board games and roleplaying games in the USA since the early 1980s. They are most famous for their licensing of German-style board games, specifically the Settlers of Catan series largely credited for the recent resurgence in board game popularity.

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Tags Gen Con, Mayfair Games, Settlers of Catan, The Compleat Strategist, Toy Fair 2011

Board games. Thought they were just for little kids? While there is a lot more to board games than what is seen on the shelves at Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys 'R' Us, many people still unfortunately view them as children’s playthings. You can’t blame them, though, when you see that the stock on those shelves hasn’t changed much in ages.

Are we really supposed to believe that nothing could ever topple the classics? I can’t think of another form of entertainment where this has held true, but I also can’t remember the last time I met a group of friends who were excited about a game of Monopoly (in any of its countless incarnations, John Deere Monopoly, anyone?). Fortunately, the past few years have seen both a shift away from the luck and randomness-filled classic games, and a huge groundswell of support for truly strategic board and card games (often referred to as hobby games or tabletop games). Read more...

Tags Mayfair Games, Monopoly, Settlers of Catan