Catan Dice Game

#7790BGG ↗

2007 · 1-4 players · 30min · weight 1.23 · 7,112 ratings

no digital port yet

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Rating

5.64

Users rated

7,112

Owned

19,316

Wishing

287

At a glance

What playing it feels like, broken down.

Core loop

Roll six resource dice up to three times keeping chosen dice; spend accumulated resources to build settlements, roads, cities on score sheet.

What it gives you

How strongly each kind of experience comes through (0–3)

Sensation

Fantasy

Narrative

Challenge

Fellowship

Discovery

Expression

Submission

How it works (4 mechanics)

[3]dice_mitigation— “throwing six special dice up to three times; after each roll player can select which dice to keep”
[2]incremental_economy— “resources collected by Yahtzee-like mechanism then spent to build on score card”
[2]attrition_clock— “game lasts fifteen turns after which the player with most victory points wins”
[2]_other:score_sheet_construction— “every player has own score card depicting mini Catan; build by drawing settlements and roads”

Under-the-radar score: 0.09

Archetype fits

How well this game shape maps to mobile archetype templates. Composite is a weighted sum of the 10 fit dimensions.

Archetype	Composite	LTF	Session	Combo	Arc	Share	5in	Onboard
Balatro Session length (5min v4-wide, actual play ~15-30min) is borderline for Balatro's 15-30min sweet spot; dice_mitigation and incremental_economy give modest combo depth but score sheet construction lacks multiplicative late-game compounding — cap at 4 vs StS's joker-multiplication.	5.20	8.0	6	4	6	4	8	7
Wordle Score-sheet outcome could compress to a shareable grid (share_emoji_output 6) and daily-seed dice rolls are plausible (content_extensibility 5), but the 15-turn attrition_clock stretches well past Wordle's 60-90s window — session length fit is poor.	5.10	8.0	5	2	5	6	8	7
Cozy BGG: Solo/Solitaire + Paper-and-Pencil + Set Collection → Coop-or-Solo tier applies (no cap), score by tone; the gentle Catan re-skin is tonally cozy and loss-tolerant (retry single run), but content_extensibility_score of 2 and thin combo depth limit engagement depth for a cozy loop.	4.90	9.0	6	3	5	4	8	7
Coop BGG Solo/Solitaire mechanism and no inter-player information asymmetry make coop-archetype fit poor; there is no bluff_info_asymmetry load-bearing mechanic (scoring 1) and combo_scaling_depth between players is absent by design.	4.20	7.0	5	2	4	3	7	7
Snap Snap demands a 3-min async PvP match with hidden card play; Catan Dice Game is solo solitaire with open dice state and no factional opposition — bluff_info_asymmetry scores 1 and there is no match structure to compress.	3.40	5.0	2	2	4	3	7	5

Raw extraction payloads

The JSON rows behind this page, before analysis turns them into candidate ranking signals.

V4 wide feature rowgame_llm_features_v4.raw_json · v4-wide · vocab v1 · 2026-05-03

{
  "bgg_id": 27710,
  "name": "Catan Dice Game",
  "core_loop_micro": "Roll six resource dice up to three times keeping chosen dice; spend accumulated resources to build settlements, roads, cities on score sheet.",
  "mda_aesthetic_vector": {
    "Sensation": 1,
    "Fantasy": 1,
    "Narrative": 0,
    "Challenge": 2,
    "Fellowship": 0,
    "Discovery": 1,
    "Expression": 1,
    "Submission": 3
  },
  "mech_interaction_primitives": [
    {
      "primitive": "dice_mitigation",
      "strength_0_3": 3,
      "evidence_quote": "throwing six special dice up to three times; after each roll player can select which dice to keep"
    },
    {
      "primitive": "incremental_economy",
      "strength_0_3": 2,
      "evidence_quote": "resources collected by Yahtzee-like mechanism then spent to build on score card"
    },
    {
      "primitive": "attrition_clock",
      "strength_0_3": 2,
      "evidence_quote": "game lasts fifteen turns after which the player with most victory points wins"
    },
    {
      "primitive": "_other:score_sheet_construction",
      "strength_0_3": 2,
      "evidence_quote": "every player has own score card depicting mini Catan; build by drawing settlements and roads"
    }
  ],
  "session_length_tolerance_min": 5,
  "content_extensibility_score": 2,
  "confidence": 0.7
}

V4 archetype-fit rowsgame_llm_archetype_fit_v4.raw_json · 5 archetypes

[
  {
    "archetype_id": "balatro",
    "raw_json": {
      "archetype_id": "balatro",
      "session_length_fit": 6,
      "combo_scaling_depth": 4,
      "arc_tightness": 6,
      "bluff_info_asymmetry": 2,
      "content_extensibility_fit": 2,
      "solo_decision_density": 5,
      "share_emoji_output": 4,
      "loss_tolerance_fit": 8,
      "visual_legibility_5in_fit": 8,
      "onboarding_cliff_fit": 7,
      "archetype_fit_rationale": "Session length (5min v4-wide, actual play ~15-30min) is borderline for Balatro's 15-30min sweet spot; dice_mitigation and incremental_economy give modest combo depth but score sheet construction lacks multiplicative late-game compounding — cap at 4 vs StS's joker-multiplication.",
      "mda_survival": {
        "Sensation": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Fantasy": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Narrative": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Challenge": {
          "verdict": "survives",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Fellowship": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Discovery": {
          "verdict": "conditional",
          "condition": "Procedural dice variance must replace fixed score-sheet."
        },
        "Expression": {
          "verdict": "conditional",
          "condition": "Branching build-order paths needed to feel expressive."
        },
        "Submission": {
          "verdict": "survives",
          "condition": null
        }
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "archetype_id": "wordle",
    "raw_json": {
      "archetype_id": "wordle",
      "session_length_fit": 5,
      "combo_scaling_depth": 2,
      "arc_tightness": 5,
      "bluff_info_asymmetry": 1,
      "content_extensibility_fit": 5,
      "solo_decision_density": 4,
      "share_emoji_output": 6,
      "loss_tolerance_fit": 8,
      "visual_legibility_5in_fit": 8,
      "onboarding_cliff_fit": 7,
      "archetype_fit_rationale": "Score-sheet outcome could compress to a shareable grid (share_emoji_output 6) and daily-seed dice rolls are plausible (content_extensibility 5), but the 15-turn attrition_clock stretches well past Wordle's 60-90s window — session length fit is poor.",
      "mda_survival": {
        "Sensation": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Fantasy": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Narrative": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Challenge": {
          "verdict": "survives",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Fellowship": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Discovery": {
          "verdict": "conditional",
          "condition": "Daily seed variation must supply novelty across runs."
        },
        "Expression": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Submission": {
          "verdict": "survives",
          "condition": null
        }
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "archetype_id": "cozy",
    "raw_json": {
      "archetype_id": "cozy",
      "session_length_fit": 6,
      "combo_scaling_depth": 3,
      "arc_tightness": 5,
      "bluff_info_asymmetry": 1,
      "content_extensibility_fit": 2,
      "solo_decision_density": 4,
      "share_emoji_output": 4,
      "loss_tolerance_fit": 9,
      "visual_legibility_5in_fit": 8,
      "onboarding_cliff_fit": 7,
      "archetype_fit_rationale": "BGG: Solo/Solitaire + Paper-and-Pencil + Set Collection → Coop-or-Solo tier applies (no cap), score by tone; the gentle Catan re-skin is tonally cozy and loss-tolerant (retry single run), but content_extensibility_score of 2 and thin combo depth limit engagement depth for a cozy loop.",
      "mda_survival": {
        "Sensation": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Fantasy": {
          "verdict": "conditional",
          "condition": "Requires light settlement-building visual polish."
        },
        "Narrative": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Challenge": {
          "verdict": "survives",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Fellowship": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Discovery": {
          "verdict": "conditional",
          "condition": "Needs procgen maps or tile variation to sustain."
        },
        "Expression": {
          "verdict": "conditional",
          "condition": "Route-drawing on personal board retains some expression."
        },
        "Submission": {
          "verdict": "survives",
          "condition": null
        }
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "archetype_id": "coop",
    "raw_json": {
      "archetype_id": "coop",
      "session_length_fit": 5,
      "combo_scaling_depth": 2,
      "arc_tightness": 4,
      "bluff_info_asymmetry": 1,
      "content_extensibility_fit": 2,
      "solo_decision_density": 4,
      "share_emoji_output": 3,
      "loss_tolerance_fit": 7,
      "visual_legibility_5in_fit": 7,
      "onboarding_cliff_fit": 7,
      "archetype_fit_rationale": "BGG Solo/Solitaire mechanism and no inter-player information asymmetry make coop-archetype fit poor; there is no bluff_info_asymmetry load-bearing mechanic (scoring 1) and combo_scaling_depth between players is absent by design.",
      "mda_survival": {
        "Sensation": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Fantasy": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Narrative": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Challenge": {
          "verdict": "conditional",
          "condition": "Shared difficulty requires layered co-op mode."
        },
        "Fellowship": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Discovery": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Expression": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Submission": {
          "verdict": "survives",
          "condition": null
        }
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "archetype_id": "snap",
    "raw_json": {
      "archetype_id": "snap",
      "session_length_fit": 2,
      "combo_scaling_depth": 2,
      "arc_tightness": 4,
      "bluff_info_asymmetry": 1,
      "content_extensibility_fit": 2,
      "solo_decision_density": 3,
      "share_emoji_output": 3,
      "loss_tolerance_fit": 5,
      "visual_legibility_5in_fit": 7,
      "onboarding_cliff_fit": 5,
      "archetype_fit_rationale": "Snap demands a 3-min async PvP match with hidden card play; Catan Dice Game is solo solitaire with open dice state and no factional opposition — bluff_info_asymmetry scores 1 and there is no match structure to compress.",
      "mda_survival": {
        "Sensation": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Fantasy": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Narrative": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Challenge": {
          "verdict": "conditional",
          "condition": "Needs PvP opponent to create meaningful tension."
        },
        "Fellowship": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Discovery": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Expression": {
          "verdict": "does-not-survive",
          "condition": null
        },
        "Submission": {
          "verdict": "survives",
          "condition": null
        }
      }
    }
  }
]

Sources (1)

Inputs to rules-card synthesis. Click any pill with ↗ to open the original source.

Wikipedia0.70

BGG tags

Mechanisms (4)

Dice Rolling Paper-and-Pencil Set Collection Solo / Solitaire Game

Categories (1)

Dice