The Settlers of Catan is a game that almost everyone has at least heard of, if not played. Although released in 1995, its popularity is only growing all these years later. There are so many layers and facets to this game, that a single 10-minute podcast episode cannot do justice to it. Still, we try our best to touch upon some of the factors that make this game unique and relevant. ‘Strategy’ is a word that comes up very often while talking about Catan, and we talk about what kinds of strategies we need to use in the game, the way we need to think while playing, and why this is relevant to everyday life. We also talk about why Catan is a more accurate representation of how Capitalism works, as compared to other games, like Monopoly. Lastly, we also mention how the game has an underlying message of Colonialism, and why it is important to recognize that every part of the game has not aged well.
Sources
- Keyes, Scott. “Settlers of Catan: How a German Board Game Went Mainstream” The Atlantic. June 7, 2011,
- Lee, Jonathan Rey. “One thought on “Capitalism and Unfairness in Catan: Oil Springs”” Analog Game Studies. March 20, 2017.
- Taylor, Chris. “Forget Monopoly: Six financial lessons from Catan” Reuters. June 28, 2016.
- Vesa, Markku. “Capitalism and Unfairness in Competitive Board Games” Playlab!. April 24, 2017.
- Poulos, James. “The Death Of Self-Centered Capitalism” Forbes. June 29, 2013.
- Bennet, J. Matthew. “Does Capitalism Promote Selfishness? – Capitalism” Capitalism.com. March 23, 2017.
- Pearlstein, Steven. “Five myths about capitalism” The Washington Post. September 28, 2018.
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