My buddy swore by house rules for Catan and I finally caved

My friend Mark has been playing Catan for like 10 years and he always insisted on a house rule where you can trade any resource 2:1 with the bank. I told him that breaks the game balance but he kept saying it speeds things up. Last Friday we played with his rule and by turn 6 someone had already built two cities and a road. The game ended in 25 minutes and nobody had fun because it was too easy. Has anyone else had a house rule that sounded good but totally ruined the game?

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2 Comments

lunaw722mo ago

Marks rule basically turns Catan into a game of getting the biggest numbers and ignoring everything else. The 4:1 trade is the whole point, it forces you to actually spread out and make deals with other players instead of just grabbing the best resource spots and calling it a day. Your friend turned a strategy game into a sprint, which is why nobody had fun. Next time tell him the house rule should be a 3:1 trade with the bank, not 2:1, that at least keeps some tension.

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jason_kelly82mo ago

Doesn't that just make the game about who builds ports first?

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