The Settlers of Catan
Mindprint Rating
Tags
Skills
Mindprint Expert Review
Pros
- Game play requires interaction with other players which builds social skills and teaches cooperation.
- Because players are trading cards, all players are engaged during each turn, and players learn the art of negotiation.
- The board is set up differently every time the game is played, which keeps it interesting.
Considerations
- The game can be frustrating for children, given your own dice roll could help other players advance, but this creates an opportunity for understanding parents to help children work through these challenges.
- Younger children will need assistance with strategy and overall game play and to be sure that older players treat them fairly.
Mindprint Expert Review
The Settlers of Catan is a very unique game of collecting resources and building roads and settlements in the make believe world of Catan. A random hexagonal board is built and sparsely populated with players' roads and settlements. Each turn dice are rolled which determine the resources generated which are given to the players in the form of cards. Players can trade cards with other players and then use the resources to build roads, settlements, and cities. The first player to build up a small empire wins. This game is wonderful for families, and provides adults ample opportunity to teach strategic thinking to younger children. The game does provide opportunities for students to learn to deal with negotiations and what they might deem to be "unfair" rolls of the die, so the game provides a unique way for adults to help children with flexible thinking and emotional control issues when the stakes are relatively low.
Fun
Engaging for the Mindprint recommended age range
- Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
- Visually appealing to children in the target age range
- Adults would enjoy playing with a child
- For electronic games, gives positive or encouraging feedback
- Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
- Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option
Easy to Use
Understandable for children in the Mindprint recommended age range
- Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
- Student should be able to use independently after first use
- Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
- Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
- Does not require excessive set-up time after first time use
- Can be fun as a single player game
- Multi-player game which fosters collaboration or cooperation
- Well-made for the cost
- For electronic games, can play without sound
- For electronic games, allows user to save work
- For electronic games, voice/sounds are appealing and pronounces words properly
- Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
- Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
- Overall - Easy to use
Cognitive Concerns
May not be advisable for students with the following cognitive needs
- Attention
- Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
- Visual Discrimination
- Requires scanning in multiple places for words, objects or numbers
- Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
Manufacturer Description
How fast can you match? That's the key to BLINK. Shape, count, or color - any way you can match it, do it fast to get rid of your cards. You need a sharp eye and a fast hand to win this lightning-fast game! Play all your cards to win Rapid-fire matching action Great travel game, too Includes 60 symbol cards and instructions for regular and quick play.