Starfarers of Catan (1999)

The foray into space, sometime near the year 2700 A.D. Compete for the prestigious post of Ambassador to the Galactic Council. To attain this lofty position, players must leave Terra and the known planets to explore and colonize the galaxy, while working to establish trade with alien cultures, encounter aliens, and defeat pirates. Glory and victory go to the brave and astute explorer upon whom luck smiles.

The known worlds lie at one end of the game board, where each of the 3 or 4 players begins from known solar systems, each with 3 planets producing raw materials needed for the travels into deep space.

Each player begins with 2 Colonies and a Space Port (all components are made from plastic). The Space Port makes starships to transport your new colonies and trade posts to distant lands. Throughout the game, all the colonies and spaceports enable the production of resources when the dice match the numbers of adjacent planets. Resources are traded for colony ships, trade ships, and fleet upgrades of freight rings, booster rockets, and cannon. Beware as you explore—some planets are covered in ice, and some conceal dangerous pirates.

[Notice: If your box does not contain 4 grey plastic rings to fit over the mother ships, do not attach the engines onto the ships. The mother ships are made of a hard, brittle plastic, and when you put the engines on, or pull them off, the teeth break, no matter how careful you are. The makers learned this and now provide the 4 rings upon request.]

Expanded by

• Starfarers of Catan 5-6 Player Expansion
• Starfarers of Catan Figures

Belongs to the Catan Series.

Game Pieces

• 1 game board
• 4 mother ships
• Expansion pieces for mother ships:
  • 4 booster rings (silver)
  • 24 cannons (blue)
  • 24 boosters (yellow)
  • 20 freight rings (copper)
  • 40 fame rings (silver)
• Player game pieces in 4 colors (blue, green, yellow, red)
  • spaceport rings - 3 of each color
  • transporters - 3 of each color
  • colonies - 9 of each color
  • trading outposts - 7 of each color
  • victory point marker - 1 of each color
• 100 resource cards
  • 20 of each resource: fuel, ore, trade goods, carbon and food
• 20 friendship cards, 5 for each of the 4 races
• 32 encounter cards
• 38 resource chits
• 4 friendship chips
• 4 game overview cards
• 2 dice
• 1 rulebook
• 1 almanac