Sunday's Strip

Ah, the settlers of Catan, a great game!
I've played it for hours.
Only downside is that you need to have at least 3 players,
and since only my brother really likes it here,
we don't play too often.

BUT, that will change, as we acquired the cardgame, which you can only play with 2 players... Huzzah!
BTW, who won last night?

*Snarf*
*Smurf*

Could it be that they had the same writers working on both shows, and they went with the "It worked for them..."?

Now only if they had ever had Papa Smurf say something like, "What the Smurf?!"

jeff

(side note: spell check is okay with *snarf* but doesn't like anything to do with smurf. Awesome.)

Playing "Settlers of Catan" into the wee hours of the night is a highly acceptable excuse for late updating.

The real fun is in playing Settlers in German when only one of the players actually speaks/reads the language! (It's his own fault for bringing the game from his studies abroad in Germany.)

After conquering and subduing "Setters of Catan" may I also recommend one of the spin off games "Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights"? It's a bit more complicated so I would recommend mastering the original Settlers first, but once you're ready for more give it a try!

Yay, Settlers! I'm a hardcore gamer, and that was my gateway game.

If you haven't yet, go to www.boardgamegeek.com and check out the entry there for the game. There's a lot of neat stuff you can get to go with it!

They actually have this is an arcade game on the Xbox 360. I have it.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/c/catanxboxlivearc ade/

"What's the matter Snarf?!"

"I have a cold.."

Ahh..Thundercats outtakes.

Anyway, I've never played Settlers, though I hear it's really fun. May I suggest Carcassone? Also crazy German fun. :)

'Thundercats: Heyo!' makes this strip for me :D

Hi Dave,
Either "they" are watching me, or these are just some of the strangest coincedences. First, I recently dusted off my old role-playing books and said "I wonder if anyone does a role-playing podcast?" (yes, many) And found Paul Tevis' Have Games Will Travel. He talks about both RPG's and board games. I have been listening to his show archives and this morning while listening to an episode recorded almost TWO YEARS AGO, he happened to mention Settlers of Catan again. Second, this past week, the webcomic Weregeek had a Settlers themed episode. Third, I just happened to read the Toyfare interview with Larry Kenney, voice of Lion-O. ThunderCats and Settlers of Catan in the same day, coincedence? I think not, or maybe.
Keep 'em coming,
Charlie
Nerds Rule!

oh yes Settlers of Catan. One of the best board games evar!! Carcassonne is made by the same people and is almost as good. The xbox 360 has both available but if you just want to waste some time while online you can go to http://host1.jsettlers.org/index.html for a java version that lets you play against other people from around the world or just play against the computer. The best part is that it is free. Speaking of free online games does anyone remember the old computer game scorched earth?? you can play it online for free too at http://www.scorch2000.com/

Catan rocks, but it is only a gateway drug to all the expansions (Cities and Knights, Sea Farers, etc.), all of which I highly recommend. In the same vein, my husband and his friends also enjoy Game of Thrones. It requires a few more people, but is the game of choice for the ultimate nerd out night. I believe it may be related to a series of books, but can be enjoyed without having read them, so I have been told.

Our favorite way to play Catan is to mix 2 games together and deal out the board randomly, mixing water and land so that you have lakes and rivers. You use a road+sheep to build a bridge. There are just a few rule changes as well. Very addicting.

Someone mentioned Carcassone, which we've been playing a lot of recently. Also lots of fun!

Someone else mentioned the card game for 2 players. It was a huge disappointment! Thought the wife and I could play on our own, but it's not the same!!!

I'm not sure why people are saying you can't play Settlers with 2 people. My fiance and I have played it many times with no other people. It's extra fun if you go to 15 points, or you can each claim 2 colors and go to 20. As others have recommended, it's addicting, and you will likely have at least 1 expansion within a year of purchasing the game.
Another game you might enjoy, because I know I sure do, is Kung Fu Fighting. It's a card game that was recommended to me by the guy at Games by James to buy for my friends for Christmas (incidentally, the same friends that introduced me to Settlers). It's the kind of game that you can do spinning, flying, running up the wall kicks for +12 Chi damage, only to have it blocked by the "Your Kung Fu is Weak" card. Good stuff and lots of fun.

I have a gaming group that meets once a week to play these kinds of games, it makes for a wonderful experience and a great way to just socialize.

I have to agree with the guy who mentioned Board Game Geek. A great website into the wonderful world of variant board games. I love Catan, but Pirates Cove and Puerto Rico are wicked awesome too. Also alot of these games can be purchased at a lower price at Fairplay Games. Also check out Zombies, Citadels, and Werewolves.

Welcome to the wonderful world of great board games.

Thanks for the nod, Dave! The worst part of the snarf scandal was coming up with that bit right when e-mail addresses' were coming out (aging myself?) and having the bright idea of my e-mail being Snarf@hotmail, or whatever it was.

Not comprehending that e-mail was going to take off and ten years down the line I would be in a business meeting and telling some fancy exec that my e-mail address is snarf... slumping my posture, feeling like a weirdo, "It's uh, a Thundercats, reference..."

In Response to BabyJoJo (#40625):

My first email address was a Taming of the Shrew reference, because I was 12 and had recently seen one of the movie versions. It wasn't too big a problem when I was in high school, but when I graduated it was a little awkward to put it on my resume where it could be seen by people who actually knew what a shrew was. All of my subsequent handles were either based on the derived "Shrewd," which I chose because it was close enough that people might remember but conveyed a somewhat different impression, or the wonderfully generic corporate ones along the "jsmith@" line.

You should check out Fairplay games [fairplaygames.com] if you want to buy Settlers (or any games for that matter-they're usually a bit cheaper, and they have a great selection.) Otherwise Ebay is great if you want to get the game with all the expansions-I remember a friend got all of them for about $100.

In any case, I second the Cities and Knights recommendation as well as the 5-6 player versions. Seafarers of Catan isn't worth the money in my opinion, but I also know a lot of people love it.