Catan Opening Placements Explained and Who Goes First

In Catan, the oldest player goes first. That is the published rule, not a family habit. The official Catan family rules overview says the oldest player starts, or everyone rolls and the highest result goes first. Wargamer's how-to-play guide is blunter: "If this is your first game of Catan, the oldest player goes first."

In most families that means a grandparent, and the kids will protest. Let them. Going first matters less than they think, because of how the settlements go down.

In round one, the starting player places one settlement and one road touching it, and play moves clockwise. In round two, the order reverses. Whoever placed last in round one places first in round two, and play runs counterclockwise back to the start. The official rules describe this reversal as a way to offset the advantage of placing first.

So the child in the last seat places two settlements back to back, which is a real advantage. One more detail is worth saying out loud at the table: you collect starting resource cards only from your second settlement, one card for each terrain hex it touches. The first settlement pays nothing until the dice start rolling.

Every number token has dots under it, called pips. More dots means that number comes up more often on two dice. Kids pick this up faster than adults, because it is counting, not theory. The probabilities below come from Settlr's setup guide.

Add up the pips on the three hexes touching a spot. One strategy guide calls 9 excellent and anything under 6 a liability. Seven has no token at all. It is the most common roll, and it moves the robber instead of producing anything.

Ore and wheat build cities and buy development cards, which is why so many guides tell you to grab them early. The best argument against that comes from the Catan Almanac: "Math beats taste." Its point is that players who chase a tidy ore-wheat-sheep mix on weak numbers lose to players who take high-pip corners with a less attractive mix.

I think that's right, and it is the easier lesson for a child anyway. Take the numbers first. When two spots are close on pips, pick the one with ore or wheat. Treat ports the same way: a 2:1 port is only worth having next to high-pip hexes of that same resource.

The box says ages 10 and up, 3 to 4 players, and 60 to 90 minutes. An eight-year-old who likes counting can manage with a parent at the table, but plan on the longer end of that range. For a first game, Wargamer suggests using the rulebook's preset board rather than a random layout.

The current 6th Edition (ASIN B0DYK1ZH2D) listed at $49.99 on the publisher's own store as of September 2026. Amazon promotions have taken it to roughly $29 to $40 in recent years.