It’s great to pick this up and play a round, especially with my son. I haven’t had the same overwhelming sense of unfair dice rolls as other reviewers. Sure, the AI targets the human if the human is winning, but that’s normal game play. I like the design and function ability. It’s great to have AI to fill out 4 players. Great game.

Instead of having it be random when computer players play a knight card the developers took the easy way out and have the human players almost always targeted to be robbed. The game would be more enjoyable if the knight cards and moving of the robber when rolling a “7” was more random but I can always count on being the one robbed when playing against the computer. Makes what could be a fun gaming experience very frustrating.

Some of my friends had the board game, so I picked up the app to learn to play. The tutorial was good, and I picked it up quickly. I quickly ran into a few bugs, and enhancements I'd like. First, sometimes the AI would initiate a trade with me, and I would accept the trade, but then the trade never happens and the AI trades with another AI instead. If I accept an offered trade, the trade should happen! Wouldn't you think? Also, sometimes when I played the Monopoly card, I wished I could see the resources the AI had. I can see how many resources they have total, but not how many wheat, how many ore, etc. I should be able to see that. One last thing is that the tutorials and help files do not distinguish between "vanilla" Catan and the Catan expansion, so a new player without the expansion ends up reading/learning much more than they need to. Also I couldn't find a help file that explained what the white question mark symbol was during trading. I tried to figure it out on my own, but couldn't. I thought it was a wild card of sorts, but sometimes an AI wouldn't trade with me when I used the white question mark, but would trade with me if I offered a specific resource. The help files also don't seem to say that offering more than one of a specific resource doesn't matter, so you might as well offer everything you're willing to give away, and try to receive everything you want, and you might get an offer for one of the resources you were giving, in exchange for one of the resources you wanted.

Bought all the expansions, no bugs after last update, which fixed a sound problem where some of the sound effects would repeat continuously. Once I start a game, I have to play it through. Thankfully the games are reasonably short (avg. of probably 20 min. or so), or I'd be on it for hours. Many variations to choose from. Love it - never gets boring. Only down side is that sometimes the dice rolls don't seem to fit the odds. For example, the numbers 6, 7, and 8 have the most probability of being rolled. I've played games where sixes are rolled far more than eights, or threes and fours were rolled in succession and hardly any sevens. I've played games where fives were rolled maybe in six out of eight consecutive rolls. I've played the actual board game many dozens of times over the years and rarely have I had those dice roll patterns. If I lose a game, I build my houses on the most rolled numbers from the previous game, and I usually win. Also, I wish they would mix the tiles around more in the campaign mode. I remember where the tiles were in previous games that contain fog, and they are in the same location. I read about a multiplayer mode, but haven't been able to find it in the game. Those things aside, I play this game about every day. Would love to see more expansions and more campaigns.

Catan is a wonderfully engaging and addictive game. With the random map and random start order, each game is different and challenging in its own way. While the basic gameplay is more than enough to recommend the game, the Seafarers expansion seals the deal -- all the new scenarios add a lot of variety to the game.To those having crashing problems: when I first upgraded to the latest version, I also had crashing problems. I couldn't skip the intro screen without it crashing (and sometimes it crashed at the end of the intro screen anyway), and it always crashed after every game. Then, I tried uninstalling the game, turning off the iPad (complete power off after holding the power button for a few seconds), rebooting, reinstalling, another complete power off and reboot. It hasn't crashed since. I can skip the intro screen and I can play through ten games in a row without a crash. I don't know why that would be, or if it was the reinstall or just the hard reboot that helped.To those who feel the dice are rigged in favor of the AI: try playing with the dice mode set to "Stack" or "Stack5". Just be sure the slider bar really selected your preferred mode -- they're a little finicky, and until the text turns white, it's not actually selected.

Years back, I was on a cruise and another person on the trip recommended the game to me. I decided to try the IOS app first to see if I liked it. I enjoyed it so much I ended up getting all the expansions in the app. I do like the islands expansion, but wish it had a preview of the maps like other maps do. Also it would be nice to add 2 player support. When I tried to play a pass and play game, it got annoying trying to trade resources with people. So I ended up buying the actual Catan board game with the Seafarers, Cities & Knights, and Traders & Barbarians expansions with their 5-6p extensions since I have a large family. Even so, I still like to play by myself against the AI opponents in the app itself. One thing I wish is that you didn't have to get two different versions for the iPhone and iPad. I wish the developers could take a look at what ticket to ride did and make it an in-app-purchase to play on both devices. I own the iPad HD version, would like to play on my iPhone, but I will not repurchase the game and all it's expansions just to do that. I would pay $1-$2 to allow the app to run on both devices, but I'm not going to pay another $19 to play on my iPhone. The game also glitches out several times making buying things or using development cards difficult.

I really enjoy the board game, but cannot find players often enough. This is a great substitute for trying to play Settlers as solitaire! I have noticed that the turns don't always work perfectly. Of course that is most obvious when my turn is skipped! I wish I knew how to turn off the repetitive comments from the AI characters, wish I could choose the colors for the players, and wish I could create a face for my own AI character that I liked better! I win often enough to keep playing and lose often enough to feel the dice rolls are as random as they ought to be, well almost. One thing that does not seem to be an option to select is how the point values are allocated to the hexes. In the board game, the tiles A-R have fixed points and are laid on the hexes after the board is laid down. One standard way to place the letters is to start from a corner and go counterclockwise (widdershins?). It would be great to be able to select this as an option vs the more random assignment the boards seem to have some times.The other thing I want to mention is that I like the speed at which the play progresses. And one more enhancement wish -the ability to bail out of a game. The only quit option I found also saved the current game, so I had to finish it at some point.

First and foremost this is a great game and a great value. I've read other reviews about the computer AI cheating, which may or may not be true. With that in mind it is very challenging and sometimes the dice are just not with you, I have never noticed the AI cheating, but I'm not looking for or analyzing the computer either. My only real problem with the game is that it seems to have a problem sometimes with the touch interface. Many times, especially when moving the robber, it's difficult to move icons on the screen. This may be a lag issue, and it doesn't happen all the time. The other bug is the screen freezes or crashes. The fix all for any glitch I've encountered is exiting the game and deleting it from running it in the background, then restarting the game. This is all just annoying, but the game itself is well worth the money and glitch trouble you have while playing. One minor annoyance also is that if you buy this game on one device, say your iPhone, and you want to play it on another device, like your iPad, you have to buy it again. Maybe there was a lot of work getting it to play on another device, but it's important to know that since its such an addictive game.

I love Catan, that's why I bought it; however, this gives the impression that you will be paying for the campaign and the custom games with just one payment. Not true. You will have to pay separately, 5 dollars each. Yes, it's not that much, but at the same time it's another 5 dollars you didn't think you were going to spend. Since I only have the custom games for the moment, I will tell you about them. Amazing. So much fun. Just like the original board game, except you can play against computers instead of having to look for extra players. Big plus! I do wonder when they will come out with the cities and knights expansion pack for this though. It'll add that extra pizzaz to the game, increasing the entertaining complexity. All in all, easy to learn, easy to play, and a good time.4 out of 5 stars only because it was misleading with the price for the custom games and the campaign mode.Last thing, I keep reading that people are saying this version is hard and they haven't won yet or barely win.. But I've had no problems winning. Just as friendly advice, try changing your strategy if you haven't. And keep in mind that the players will most likely not trade with you if you offer and are winning. So get the important trades down in the beginning of the game if you can. Spread out your settlements so that you can acquire more resources so that later in the game you won't have to trade. It also can help to build a city immediately and get a harbor, that way you can trade to the bank for less and you won't be helping out the other players (normally to be used in the later part of the game). Anyways, have fun and good luck to all Catan players. May you be victorious and become THE LORD OF CATAN!!

I hadn't bought this game previously because of all the complaining about how the ai cheats. I haven't seen this in this version. Of course they try to stop you from winning at the end but that is no different from the board game with people. I have gotten my share of bad rolls at the end but I don't think it's the ai doing it. I certainty can't see a pattern and if it was the ai there would be some type of pattern. if your version of fair is that you always win then this game isn't for you. Unfortunately I've played the knights and cities version of catan which is so much better then the original version that it makes this version pretty boring to play. What I would like to see in this version is a popup menu that gives you options when you click on an open road, intersection or settlement to build a road, settlement, and village. Also in the trade menu, the bank trades should be integrated into the main screen showing you can trade a resource at 2:1, 3:1, or 4:1 rather then having to click on the bank icon. I also find the confirmation menus such as when you build a settlement, place the robber or select a player to take a resource from annoying. Just have an undo option.