CATAN: New Energies

Catan, but the board is keeping score of what you burn to get there.

Klaus Teuber's last design, finished with his son Benjamin. The familiar island is still there and you still trade wood for sheep, but now you are building power plants to fuel your cities - and you choose each time between fossil and renewable. Fossil is cheaper and faster. Renewable costs more up front and does not raise the pollution track.

The pollution track is the whole point and it is shared. Every fossil plant anybody builds pushes it along, and when it hits a threshold the board starts producing disasters that affect everyone including the player who stayed clean. It is the tragedy of the commons expressed as a Catan variant, and it lands harder than a lecture would. Standalone, so it does not need the base game.

Perfect for: Catan households ready for the version where winning fast has a receipt attached.

3-4 players | 60-90 minutes | Age 12+