Rivals for Catan

A duel of two principalities: produce resources, build settlements and cities, and reach the victory point target first.

2 players
30–60 min
2.3 / 5 · Light

Set up the game

0 of 6 steps

Tick each step as you complete it.

1Each player builds their principality: two settlements joined by a road, with the six regions around them (forest, pasture, gold field, hills, mountains and fields). At the start every region holds one resource except the gold field.
Starting principality
Resources on a region
2Between the two principalities place the face-up road, settlement and city stacks, the facedown region deck and the separate basic set draw stacks.
Central stacks
3Build the event deck: three cards face down, the Yule card on top and the rest above it. Shuffle and keep it beside the other stacks.
Assembling the event deck
4Roll a die each: the highest starts and draws three cards from one draw stack. The other player draws three from a different stack.
Starting hands
5Check your region numbers: each one shows a number from 1 to 6 and that roll activates it. Numbers can change during the game.
Region numbers and orientation
6Keep the hero token (axe) and trade token (scales) in view: they are gained with three strength or commerce points and are worth one victory point.
Advantage tokens

What it is about

Rivals for Catan turns the island into an engine duel: six regions that rotate, a die that hands out resources and a rival growing at the same pace. The tension is in the rhythm, not in surprise.

Points come three ways: building (settlements and cities), holding the strength and trade advantages, and not falling behind on either. The introductory game teaches the skeleton; the theme sets add cards that reward specialising.

Because almost everything is paid with stored resources, the most common mistake is over-stacking: a saturated region is production thrown away.

BGG page Official rulebook

Source note

The PDF includes the introductory game, the three theme sets (Gold, Turmoil, Progress) and the Duel of the Princes. This page focuses on the common rules.

EN rulebook (Kosmos, 2010), basic game and theme sets · Reviewed: 23 Oct 2026