CATAN Junior

My older kids first played Catan Junior at a campout with friends and couldn’t stop talking about it — so we had to get our own copy! It’s such a fun, kid-friendly version of the classic Catan game. The pirate theme makes it exciting, and the gameplay is simple enough for younger kids to learn while still keeping older ones engaged. Pretty sure my husband loves it the most! They love collecting resources, building pirate lairs, and figuring out their next moves. I love that it sneaks in strategic thinking, patience, and even a little math — all while they’re just having fun. It’s great for family game night, doesn’t drag on too long, and the quality is solid. If your kids are around 6–10 (even my 5 year old crushes it) and you want a screen-free game the whole family can enjoy, this one’s a winner!

We are not fans of Catan. Own it, don’t play it. With many, many games in our collection it just isn’t a hit and is hasn’t been played in years. This is an easy to learn version that is great for kids as young as 5. This one is similar, but also improves it with having a market to trade at and parrot tiles to take a chance on. I do feel like the parrot tiles are perhaps OP (overpowering), but that seems ok for a kids game and makes it a viable strategy for young ones to use and perhaps win. The tiles are thick (were kind of hard to punch out and left weird marks on the edges where they were still connected for shipping) and nice looking - vibrant. The miniatures seem a little flimsy but as long as you treat them well should last - they look fine, especially for the 20 dollar price point. The board is thin but seems okay at the cheap price point as well but I do wish it was thicker. As a whole, it has a solid table presence which is really important to get kids to want to play. The more table presence and visual appeal it has, the greater desire a child will want to play the game again, and this succeeds there. What I really don’t like is the insert. The layout seems like it might have been for a different game and just repurposed. It is really unfortunate but maybe it was to keep the price down? What I really wish was they had included baggies or something for the resources and player pieces which would have cost next to nothing to add if they were going to use this insert. The game is solid, and fun to play with kids. It I s also quick unlike the full version. You can play in 20 to 30 minutes very easily. For a kids game, we like it a lot and I don’t hesitate to play (which is surprising because I’m not a fan of Catan, and I was hesitant to buy this originally) but it’s quick nature and nice table presence just makes it enjoyable. If my children like it then I like it. I can overlook the clunky insert, and strongly recommend buying this, even if you don’t like Catan.

We are a board game family and sometimes struggle to find age appropriate games that are a good difficulty, play length, and/or attention holding. This game was great for that. It plays like a smaller version of OG Catan, with something happening for every player every turn (great for keeping everyone engaged). It also is a nice introduction to strategy, with having to plan routes as players start close to each other and can choose to block a path or not, and moving the ghost captain. It moves along fairly quickly, which is great for short attention spans. The game itself seems to be of decent quality, plastic pieces and a sturdy board. I would change the layout of the box if I could, because it wasn't well suited for piece storage.

Great Intro to Catan for Kids! I love the full version of Catan, so I picked up Catan Junior for my 6-year-old niece—and she absolutely loves it! It's a fantastic way for kids to start learning the basics of trading and building, all while having fun. The pirate theme adds a fun twist, and the excitement of picking a pirate card keeps things engaging. A perfect mix of strategy and fun for younger players!

I bought this to play with my twin 7 year old boys and I am very happy with the purchase. The game was very easy for them to pick up and play. However the game is also mentally challenging enough to make them think about how to manage their resources. The basic concept of the game is that each player is a pirate. The goal of the game is to build all your "Pirate Lairs" before the other players. To accomplish this goal you must collect resources from the game to build both Lairs and Pirate Ships (which allow you to build the next Lair). Resources are located on islands that are identified with numbers. At the start of a players turn, they roll a dice. Whatever number is rolled determines what resources are available to ALL PLAYERS from the island. The great thing about this is that all players are involved in every turn because all players can collect resources. This seems to keep the kids engaged in the game vs. a more traditional game where they are only involved on their turn. After you collect your resources, you can then buy ships, lairs, cards, or trade them for other resources. This process is very well defined and visual and easy for kids to understand. I really enjoy watching my try to figure out how to trade the different resources to move along in the game. A typical game takes 30-45 minutes, but it goes very fast because the kids are so engaged in the game. My final comment is this, on the second day we had it, my two kids came home from school and instead of starting up the Xbox, they asked to play this game.

My husband and I have been playing the full version of Settlers of Catan since 1999 or so. We are fans! When our own children were 6 and 8, we wanted them to start to learn the game. I looked around a bit trying to decide whether to buy Family Settlers or Catan Jr. Ultimately, I decided on Catan Jr., and I'm glad I did. The reviews I read seemed to indicate that the Family version wasn't much different than the original, and since I already have the original, it just seemed that Catan Jr. was more what I was looking for. It is indeed a different, much simpler game, but one that I think will allow our kids to transition to the regular version much easier than if we just tried to start them on the original. Both the 6 and 8 year old had no trouble understanding or playing the game, and my husband and I still really enjoy playing it, too. If you've never played Settlers of Catan but are looking for a new board game to play with the kids, I would still recommend this highly. It is a lot of fun! I will say that if I didn't already know how to play Settlers of Catan, I think I would have found it a bit challenging to understand and teach it the first time. Not to say that the directions are poor, they are sound, but there is just an ease of play when you already know the basics. I would recommend looking at an online tutorial for the game after you've read through the directions. I did, and I found it really helpful. I also found Catan.com a helpful resource in trying to decide which version to buy for the kids. The game pieces and board seem decently made, too. There are lot of thick, cardboard type pieces that look like they will wear well. The ships and lairs are plastic. I have always found Settlers of Catan a really pretty board game, and this one is attractive, too.

Awesome game to play with kids ❤️

es muy buen juego para los niños, lo juego con mi hijo de 6 años y lo entendió muy bien, también lo pueden jugar otros miembros de la familia que no son muy adeptos a los juegos de mesa, como los abuelos, ya que es muy fácil de explicar

My husband and I are big Catan fans. We have the basic game and a few extensions and expansions. We couldn't wait for our son to be old enough to play Catan junior. The game was a hit, he loves it and so do we. It's enjoyable for adults as well since it's not too simple but simple enough for a kid to understand. I would highly recommend this game.

My 5 year old loves board games and has watched the grown ups play Settlers of CATAN for a while now so we thought we would introduce him to the junior version. He understood the game mechanics straight away and loves playing it. The theme is pirate so the resources are a little different from the adult version, but it still incorporates most of it’s gameplay such as the ‘robber’ which in this case is a ‘captain’ and instead of building roads and cities you build ships and lairs or trade for Coco the Parrot tiles which is like the Development Cards. I wish it would give you the option of where to place your first lair and ship though as this is one of the main strategies in Settlers of CATAN and I don’t think it would’ve made it too hard for juniors. Overall, there’s not much room for strategy planning as much of it is down to luck but I guess as a junior game for my 5 year old, will do now. I expect he will outgrow it by the time he’s 7 though and move onto the proper game, but it is a great introductory game for him nevertheless.