Settlers of Catan - Food Stamps variant
Saturday, January 28th, 2006Two friends came over last night and I suggested games. My wife wanted to play Settlers, so I suggested the Food Stamps variant, as Rick Thornquist reminded me of it in his blog the other week.
To be precise, we played the Poverty Is No Shame variant from the Settler’s Book.
If a player doesn’t receive a Raw Material card during the Raw Material Phase, he gets a Red Chip. If a 7 is rolled, all players get a Red Chip.
The Red Chips can be used to name the Raw Material pay-off number, instead of actually rolling the dice. At the start of his turn, a player pays the number of Red Chips equivalent to his Victory Point total (This includes Biggest Knight Army, Longest Trade Route, and Victory Point Chips. It does not include hidden Victory Point cards.) The player then names the pay-off number and all players receive Raw Materials based on the named number. If any player doesn’t receive a Raw Material Card, he gets a Red Chip.
This variant does stop people moaning about dice rolls, which is a relief, but distorts the game as it encourages players to put all their settlements/cities around the same numbers. Plus, choosing a port during the initial setup of settlements becomes more desirable, as you will be rewarded with lots of food stamps.
I am not crazy about it, but it might have been more due to a standard game of Settlers taking 2.5 hours! I prefer playing with experienced gamers…