Catan: New York
Catan: New York Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Rules for 3-4 Players
In order to settle this region, you need the game pieces and cards from The Settlers of Catan game. You also need additional markers for victory point (VP) tokens; you can use Catan chits from the Seafarers expansion, coins, or whatever else is handy. The standard Settlers of Catan rules apply to this scenario, with the following exceptions listed below.
1. Settlement Building: Settlements may only be built on the named "city fields", marked with a yellow city icon or a blue city icon.
2. Road Building: You can only build roads on the "road fields" (marked with a yellow road outline) or on the "trading road fields" (marked with a red road). If you build a road adjacent to a city field, you may only build another road beyond this field after you build a settlement on this field. Additionally, if 2 or more of your separate roads are extended to meet at an unsettled city site, these roads are not considered to be connected until you settle that city site.
3. Waterways: If you build a settlement on a city field connected to a blue "waterway" (marked with a blue dashed line), treat the waterway and all waterways connected to it as your roads. These waterways can be placed by players. No one can build on a waterway. Waterways DO NOT count as "pieces" for calculating the "Longest Road." In Catan: New York, the waterways represent the ferries and barges that are used around New York City and along the Hudson River.
Transcriber note: the words "treat the waterway ... as your roads" and "No one can build on a waterway" are soft in the photograph; the wording here is the best reading of the printed line.
4. 3:1 Resource/Commodity Trade: If you build a road on a trading road field beside a 3:1 scroll, you may trade any 3 of the same type of resource, or 3 of the same type of commodity, for any 1 resource.
5. Special 2:1 Trade: A player who builds a road on a trading road field by a special 2:1 scroll may trade resources to the supply as depicted in the scroll next to the field. So, he may trade 2 of the same depicted resource type for any 1 other resource of his choice.
6. VP Intersections: Before beginning a 3-4 player game, place a VP token (worth 1 VP) on each VP symbol on the board. The first player to build a road to an intersection with a VP token receives that VP token.
If a VP intersection is only one road-build away from a city field, you may not claim this VP token during the initial set-up phase. If you build a road to a VP intersection during your setup, you must build a road from this location to claim the VP token. However, since the game has started, any player that builds to this VP intersection will claim the token as usual.
In a 5-6 player game, these intersections do not receive a VP token but are instead treated as if they were regular city fields. Hence, all rules that apply to regular city fields also apply to the VP intersections in a 5-6 player game.
Game Rules for 5-6 Players
In addition to the standard Settlers of Catan 5-6 player extension rules, all of the Catan Geographies: New York rules (1-13 below) are in effect, with the following exceptions: During setup, all VP spaces are treated as if they were regular city fields (see rules 6 and 9 below).
Transcriber note: the printed preamble says "rules (1-13 below)", but only rules 1-10 are printed on the map. BGG thread 972323 reports the same discrepancy; the rules are transcribed as printed and no rules 11-13 have been added.
Transcriber note: the phrase "(see rules 6 and 9 below)" is soft in the photograph; the reading given is the best available.
7. "Off Map" Settlements: In a 5-6 player game, players may build settlements (and cities) on the VP token locations. In these cases the settlements/cities here produce resources for the obviously adjacent terrains as usual, even if the map terrain does not fully extend to the VP intersection.
8. Robber: Before you start, place the robber on the indicated space on the map Southeast of Corning, NY.
Transcriber note: the photograph reads "rubber" at this point. The item is the robber, the Catan game piece, and "robber" is transcribed here.
9. Victory: You win the game if, on your turn, you reach 10 VPs with 3 players, 12 VPs with 4 players, and 12 VPs with 5-6 players.
Transcriber note: the VP threshold for 5-6 players is the hardest figure to read in the photograph. Verify against the physical map before relying on it.
10. Erie Canal Variant: If all players agree, you can simulate the economic impact of the Erie Canal in New York by using the following special rules:
If you build the first road that directly connects one "Erie Canal City" (marked with a blue city icon) to another "Erie Canal City," you may take a Canal token (use a port marker from The Settlers of Catan, or something else suitable).
In this variant, "directly connects" means a contiguous line of your own roads that goes from one Canal City to another without passing through another city.
This bonus can only be earned during game play; it cannot be earned during the setup phase.
The Canal token gives you a slight trade advantage. At any time you perform trade on your turn, you may use this token as if it were a 2:1 port for the duration of one turn. Discard the token at the end of the turn you use it.
If you wish, you may trade a Canal token to another player in addition to (or instead of) a normal resource card trade.