Sisters gamers gather to settle Catan

Knights, robbers and barbarians: One of the hottest crazes going around Sisters - and the world - right now is a board game called "Settlers of Catan."

"Settlers of Catan" is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber. It was published in 1995 under the name "Die Siedler von Catan" and was the first German-style board game ever to achieve popularity outside Europe.

The game is an entertaining pastime, has risen rapidly in popularity and won numerous awards due to its relatively simple mechanics while its dynamics are quite complex. Since no one gets eliminated it's great family play.

The Womack family has great fun playing each other, in highly spirited games, and often introduces the sport to others including the many college students who eagerly look forward to playing around the Womack's table.

The basic play goes like this: Each player represents a settler who establishes a colony on the previously uninhabited island of Catan. Players build roads, settlements and eventually cities as they roll the dice to earn resources they use to eventually settle the island.

Each settler is allowed to trade among the other settlers with the resources they have produced and this is where things usually heat up.

"You can adjust the rules to how serious you are," said Bob Macauley. "When I play my sons it's just way more intense than when my wife and I play. It's a great strategic game!"

The basic game is intriguing entertainment but moving forward to include its companion games in the series like "Seafarers of Catan" and "Cities and Knights of Catan" can turn the board game into some serious business.

"We like Cities and Knights of Catan the best. There's more going on and it includes some team play as well," said McKibben Womack. "Catan combines luck, statistic factors, and your overall skill. You have to be flexible yet specific," said Womack.

The dark foe in the whole sport is the robber. While some find him oppressing, others have learned his value.

"He's an integral part of the game. He keeps things in balance," said Womack.

Trading is the main method of player interaction in the basic game, and astute trading is the usual route to victory. Using certain Development Cards, cutting off building routes and moving that intimidating robber can leap a player forward to victory.

"There was a game where everyone was thrashing me with the robber, a few were one or two points away from winning, then I slide in under the radar and won using a different strategy," said Womack.

"The robber is a great advantage if you use it," said Ken Ruettgers. "Some people modify the robber, but when that happens it diminishes the strategy in the game. The robber can take a player who's doing well to the point of ruining his game which gives the other players an opportunity to adjust."

Many folks here in Sisters have found the game to be not only irresistible but downright addictive. What started out with two pioneering co-workers in 2005 who introduced the game to Gary Thompson has turned into person after person familiarizing it to others. After the Catan bug bit Jeff Haken, he started carrying it in his store, The Garden of Eden.

"It's very addictive," said Blake Weber. "A bunch of us guys would buy elk tags, food and gas to go hunting at the other side of Oregon. We always brought 'Settlers of Catan,' too. If hunting wasn't going too well, we'd haul ourselves back to camp about one in the afternoon and play Catan.... If you play it you'll stay with it. It's my favorite game ever - the board changes every game and everyone has an equal shot at winning."