Settlers of Catan Lesson- Scarcity and Resource Management- Obtain and manage your physical resources better than your competitors—win the game.

As a method for internalizing what scarcity means in developing societies (as well as more developed), we will be playing Catan in class this Friday. Using this experience, we will discuss resource management on increasing scales: microfinancing, business, state, country and world levels, as well as the mobility of resources: geographic and financial. In addition, we’ll be discussing the importance of ports (relating to Harvey and oil refining in the US), what factors influence the price of goods, resource productivity, monopoly, research and development and resource management.

If possible, please review the rules below and spend some time on the web researching strategy.

The rules:

The goal of Settlers is to be the first person to earn 10 Victory Points. Victory Points are mostly earned by building settlements and cities. To build settlements and cities, one must first build roads. To build all of these things, one must earn resources: brick, lumber, wheat, ore, and sheep.

Different combinations of resources are required to build different things, meaning that the importance of certain resources shifts throughout the game. For example, bricks and lumber are important at the beginning because they are needed to build roads. Sheep and wheat gain importance when the time comes to build settlements, followed by ore when it’s time to build cities. Acquiring these resources depends on the game board, which is (for all purposes) a map of the mythical Catan.

A number piece is placed upon each resource hexagon, representing the availability of each resource.

Settlers of Catan Lesson- Scarcity and Resource Management- Obtain and manage your physical resources better than your competitors—win the game.

Each player’s turn begins with a dice roll, and if the number on top of a resource piece is rolled, a player who has built on that resource piece receives that resource. For example, if I build a settlement on a lumber piece that has a two on it, and a two is rolled, I receive a lumber resource. Certain numbers have a higher probability of being rolled, meaning some resource hexagons are more productive than others. Therefore, choosing where to build settlements becomes very important and very strategic in terms of deciding which resources you need, which you want to acquire, and which you want to hoard.

The location of resources dictates where roads, settlements, and cities are built. Additionally, the role of coasts is very interesting.

There are various ports around the game board that allow players to exchange resource cards in for different resources at the bank. This is a great metaphor for reasons behind the development of coastal cities.

Players may trade resource cards with one another, and tensions run high during Settlers. Friends are made and “You call yourself a central banker.” “Don’t help him, he’s winning.” “You wood monopolist!” wars are waged.

The value of specific resources changes as players look to develop their settlements from roads into cities. It’s also important to use the resources that you have. If a seven is rolled and you have more than seven resource cards, you must give up half of them. Wise resource management becomes a key element to winning the game.

National Geography Standards:

Standard 3: How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface. 

Standard 12: The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement. 

Standard 11: The patterns and networks of economic dependence on Earth’s surface. 

Standard 13: How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth’s surface.

Standard 16: The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources. 

Standard 15: How physical systems affect human systems.

https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/29/a-resource-management-lesson-settlers-of-catan/