Catan Zip!

• Designer: Klaus Teuber
• Publisher: Catan Studio
• Players:  3-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 60 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4tVMLCs
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Welcome to the unexplored island of Catan!

As you and your fellow explorers gaze across the uninhabited landscape of hexagonal tracts of terrain, you quickly realize that this unique land arrangement provides ample space for each of you to put down roots. You race off to establish your respective communities by gathering resources from nearby terrain, building your infrastructure, and nurturing trade relationships.  Watch out for surprises – your rivals can block your path or send the robber to plunder your wealth.  Good luck, explorers!

In this portable edition, the island of Catan is created on the pad in the center of the table. Different island layouts ensure that every game is new and full of possibilities. Players draw their roads, settlements and cities directly on the map as the island develops. 

Trade remains the key to success. Instead of cards, you use resource tokens to trade with other players. Some resources you will have in abundance, while others are scarce. Exchange wisely to complete your building plans.

If you’re new to the game of Catan, this review may not be the best place to start. Let me refer you to one of our earlier reviews of the original version of the game – https://opinionatedgamers.com/2015/07/24/sdj-re-reviews-17-die-siedler-von-catan-a-k-a-the-settlers-of-catan/

This version is a great portable version, suitable for road trips or for having something on the go.  While it is sold in a box, it comes in a nice cloth zippered pouch to carry everything in.  Unlike the regular game, there is no board here – instead you get a pad of 25 double sided sheets, each with a preprinted map on it (with the numbers already randomized for you).  To play, each player takes a pen of their color and you will simply draw on the map as you build things.

The resource cards and development cards are replaced by small tiles, and each player has a small tile tray to hold their chits.  Cleverly, the storage bag also doubles as the method to hold and randomize the development cards as you play.  The two mini dice are kept in an enclosed plastic shaker, so there’s no risk of losing those.  

The rules are mostly the same.  You are still restricted to five settlements and four cities, but there is no limit to the number of roads you can build.  The game still ends when someone gets to 10 VPs. 

My thoughts on the game

Overall, it’s an interesting way to package up the game for travel and portability. At first I thought that the little pad of boards was a bit small for the game.  But once you count it out, there are 50 games included in this package.  For a $25 game, that’s only 50 cents a game, and frankly, if anyone gets 50 plays out of this game, I think they would be hard pressed to say that they didn’t get their money’s worth out of it. 

The chits are a fine substitute for the cards in the regular game, though they do still make it necessary to have a table to play this on.  I have toyed with the idea of making small paper sheets to record resources and development cards so that everything could be played on the go.  The wells in the player rack is maybe a bit too deep for the size of the chits, but as the color of the border is distinct for each one, you shouldn’t have too much trouble telling what is in your rack.  But, as it is, it’s a great way to take this classic game on the move.

The little dice shaker is great in that it makes it impossible to lose your dice, but we did find on a recent game that it can be a bit loud.  It’s quite simple to have a dice roller app on your phone if you want a quieter way to do this.

Kudos to Catan Studio for finding another way to help gamers enjoy this classic game when they don’t have the space to bring the box of the original.  I will likely use this pouch as a nice start to a travel kit – there are a few other small games that will fit into the bag and make a nice self contained game night.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

I love it!

I like it. Dale Y

Neutral.

Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4tVMLCs