Even Football Players Love Settlers of Catan

No, board games aren’t just for geeks – jocks love them too!

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reveals that players on the Green Bay Packers team are obsessed with Settlers of Catan.

That’s right board game geeks – NFL pro football players are seeing the light about how great board games can be.

“We are completely addicted to it, we play it whenever we can,” said tight end Justin Perillo.

And since they lost to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, and won’t be playing in Super Bowl XLIX, they’ll have a lot more time on their hands to perfect their Settlers of Catan strategies.

All the publicity has been a boon for game stores in Green Bay. In particular the Gnome Games store near Lambeau Field.

According to Pat Fuge who runs the store, “When word spread that the Packers were playing Settlers, people started pouring into the store. When the average person sees the Packers doing it, it becomes a safe thing. It’s not the kids in mom’s basement anymore.”

What’s so great about Settlers of Catan?

Settlers of Catan is on our Must-Have Family Board Games list for a reason – it’s a great family board game!

It’s easy to understand and can be played by both old and young alike. It has a good mix of both strategy and luck and enough interesting choices to let you try different strategies each time.

One of the things that we love about it is that everyone can participate even when it’s not their turn. Rather than just sitting and waiting for someone to take their turn, you can be benefited and gather resources even if it’s not your turn.

Any time a player rolls a number that corresponds to where your settlements or cities are located, you get a reward – your spot produces those resources. And you’ll use those resources to build and expand further. The variable layout of the tiles and numbers make it a fresh game every time you play.

We also like that people don’t get eliminated as the game goes along. So everyone stays engaged throughout the game and is in it until the end.

Check out our video review of Settlers of Catan to find out even more about this top-selling board game.