Catan Setup Helper
In Catan the oldest player goes first, or everyone rolls and the highest roll starts. Play goes clockwise for the first settlements, then back counterclockwise for the second, so the last player places twice in a row. Deal a board or paint in the one on your table, and the helper counts every corner's pips and numbers the best open spots.
Plan your opening
Deal a random board or paint in your own. Every corner shows its pips, the best open spots are numbered, and tapping a corner places the next settlement in the rulebook's order.
Pick a terrain or a number, then tap the hexes it goes on. The desert takes no number.
The five best open corners, rankedA corner's pipsTaken or too close
Best open corners
| # | Pips | Numbers | Resources |
|---|
Pips are the ways two dice make a number, out of 36: a 6 or 8 has 5, a 2 or 12 has 1. A corner's pips divided by 36 is the cards it pays per roll, before the robber.
Who goes first in Catan?
The official Catan family rules overview gives the start to the oldest player, or has everyone roll and the highest roll goes first. Wargamer's guide puts it simply: "If this is your first game of Catan, the oldest player goes first." With children at the table, rolling is the version nobody argues with. The starting player also takes the first turn of the real game once setup is over.
Is Catan clockwise or counterclockwise?
Both, during setup. In round one each player, starting with the first, places one settlement and a road touching it, and play moves clockwise. In round two the order reverses: the player who placed last in round one goes first and play runs counterclockwise back to the start. With four players that is 1, 2, 3, 4, then 4, 3, 2, 1. Once setup ends, every turn of the game runs clockwise again.
The reversal is there to even out the advantage of going first. The last player gets two settlements back to back and can plan them as a pair; the first player gets the pick of the board but places their second settlement last, from what is left.
Only the second settlement pays at the start: you take one resource card for each terrain hex it touches. The first pays nothing until the dice roll. The helper shows each player's starting hand as soon as their second settlement is down.
Where can you place a settlement?
On any corner where three hexes (or hexes and the sea) meet, as long as the distance rule allows it: none of the corners next to it can already hold a settlement or city, so two settlements are always at least two road lengths apart. The helper greys out every corner that is taken or too close, so the numbered spots are always legal.
Count the dots
The dots under a number token, the pips, are the number of ways two dice make that total out of 36. A corner's pips are the sum of the pips on the hexes it touches, and that sum divided by 36 is how many cards it pays a roll on average, before the robber takes a share. A corner on a 6, a 5 and a 4 has 5 + 4 + 3 = 12 pips: about 3.3 cards every 10 rolls.
| Number | Pips (ways out of 36) | Chance a roll |
|---|---|---|
| 6 or 8 (printed red) | 5 | 13.9% |
| 5 or 9 | 4 | 11.1% |
| 4 or 10 | 3 | 8.3% |
| 3 or 11 | 2 | 5.6% |
| 2 or 12 | 1 | 2.8% |
| 7 (no token: moves the robber) | 6 | 16.7% |
How the helper ranks a corner
By pips first, then by how many different resources the corner touches, then whether it has ore or grain (the city and development card resources), then how many different numbers it is on. That is the order our guide to Catan opening placements argues for: take the numbers first, and when two spots are close on pips, pick the one with ore or wheat. It does not model roads or harbors, so a spot beside a 2:1 harbor for a resource you will have plenty of is worth more than its pips say; nor does it know who you are playing with. Treat the numbers as the first cut, not the move.
Painting your own board: choose "Paint my board", pick a terrain or a number, and tap the hexes. The helper tells you when the board differs from the base game's set: 19 hexes (4 forest, 4 pasture, 4 fields, 3 hills, 3 mountains and the desert) and 18 number tokens (one 2, one 12 and two each of 3 to 6 and 8 to 11), the desert taking none. Copy the link to send the same board to someone else.
Should the 6s and 8s be kept apart?
The 5th edition rulebook's variable setup asked players not to put the red numbers next to each other, so no corner sits on two of the strongest hexes. Byteside's side-by-side of the 6th and 5th editions reports that line is gone from the 6th. The helper keeps them apart by default because a board without a 14-pip corner is a fairer one, especially when a child is playing adults; untick the box to deal them anywhere.
Is Catan right for your child?
The box says 3 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, and 60 to 90 minutes (catan.com). An eight-year-old who likes counting can manage with a parent beside them; the pip-counting above is the part children pick up fastest. For younger players, or a table of mixed ages, the board game finder narrows the choice by everyone's age, the time you have and how well the youngest takes losing.
Sources: Catan family rules overview (who starts, the setup order, the starting resources); catan.com (players, ages, time); Wargamer; Byteside (the editions). Pips and chances are two-dice arithmetic. Catan is a trademark of Catan GmbH; this helper is not affiliated with it.