The gaming world received the very sad news yesterday that Klaus Teuber, inventor of CATAN, passed away on Saturday, April 1. He was 70 years old.
He first published The Settlers of Catan in his home country of Germany in 1995. It won the Spiel des Jahres that year, and would go on to becoming on of the most influential board games of all time. Many, myself included, credit it with jumpstarting the modern boardgame industry.
I was first introduced to Catan (the game was later rebranded to just the one word, but most people I know continue to refer to it by its old title) in 1996. I was living in Santa Rosa, California, at the time. I didn’t really know many people there, but there was a game shop about 2 blocks away. Every Wednesday night the owner, Andy, would let 4-5 of us show up at 8pm and play board games until the wee hours. One night, he said that his distributor had sent him a new game out of Germany that had won some awards and was generating a lot of buzz and asked if we wanted to try it. He had a print-out, I’m guessing from the distributor, of an English translation of the rules and the cards. I was immediately hooked. Came back the next day and offered the buy the game from him. That copy is still my go-to copy of the game–I wouldn’t own an English edition until just a few years ago. I have older games, there’s no question that Die Siedler von Catan was the game that turned me into not just someone who played board games, but a collector. And without that, I might have never started writing for GeekDad.
It’s been widely reported that the game has long been popular in the locker room of the Green Bay Packers. It’s made many appearances in movies and TV shows–just this week, in fact, my family and I were watching Reacher on Amazon Prime, and there’s a scene with a family hiding out from the bad guys, and the mom is shown playing Catan with her young children.
In their statement on the official Twitter account for CATAN Studio, the company Teuber eventually founded with his family to manage the run-away success of the game, they say that “While Klaus’ contributions to the board game community are immeasurable, we will remember him most as a kind and selfless human being.” It asks us all to “honor Klaus’ memory by being kind to one another, pursuing your creative passions fearlessly, and enjoying a game with your loved ones. Klaus’ impact on the world of gaming will never be forgotten.”
Rest in peace, Mr. Teuber. Thank you so much for all you gave us.
Rob Huddleston
Like so many others, I was ushered into the world of modern board games by the Big Three: Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Ticket to Ride. I had moved to Portland and some new friends invited me over for game night, and from then I was hooked. I had never played anything quite like Catan before, and it made me hungry for more, leading me to discover the rabbit hole of BoardGameGeek and the thousands of other amazing games out there.
Whether you’re a fan of CATAN or not, or even whether you’ve even played it at all, if you play board games now, there’s no denying that Klaus Teuber has had an impact on you. CATAN ushered in a new era of board games, making designers and publishers everywhere sit up and take notice. It’s hard to imagine what sorts of games we would be playing now—certainly it’s hard to imagine that you’d find titles like Wingspan or Gloomhaven at your local Target.
In the years since, I’ll admit that I’ve played CATAN a bit less because of the sheer volume of other games (and I’m a bit of a sucker for trying new things), but that explosion of other games owes a lot to Klaus Teuber and his innovative design. I don’t think you can overstate the impact he had on the gaming industry.
So, next time you sit down at the table to play some games with your friends and family, raise a glass to Klaus Teuber!
Jonathan H. Liu
I enjoyed tabletop gaming with my friends in high school as well as in college. However, once I started a full-time job and was married with small children, I no longer had as much time for gaming and my friends had changed. Then in the late ’90s, I came across a new game called Settlers of Catan. While I cannot remember when I first heard about it or even where I purchased it, I do remember poring over the rules. This was my first Euro game and I could not wait to play it. Since my wife and her friends would have a ‘girls night’ every month, we husbands would respond with a ‘guys night’ where we usually watched a movie. One night I convinced them to try Settlers and we were hooked. We soon added the Seafarers and Cities & Knights expansions. I even got the card game so I could play a two-player game.
For me, Klaus Teuber provided a re-entry back into tabletop games. In fact, I believe he actually helped bring many people into the world of tabletop games and showed them that there was more than the common board games such as Monopoly. He brought quality games from a very niche market out into the mainstream. As a result, tabletop games became more popular and the increased market allowed for many other game designers to bring their creations to light.
When Catan Junior, also designed by Klaus, was released in 2011, I had to get it to play with my younger children and we had a lot of fun playing it. This actually led me to play the original Settlers of Catan with my older children. One time a few years later, my oldest daughter asked me if I would send my copy of Settlers to her so she could play it with her friends at college. There was no way I was letting my original copy of the beloved game be played in a college dorm, so I bought my daughter her own copy which she still has to this day.
While have have not played Settlers of Catan in a few years, I have always had a good time when I have played it. The fact that it is still popular and has many expansions and spinoffs is a testament to its designer. In fact, if it had not been for Klaus Teuber and his games, I most likely would not be writing for GeekDad. Thank you, Klaus, for hours and hours of enjoyment with my friends and family.
Michael Knight
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