Saturday, April 16, 2011

Settlers of Catan

Last Saturday night, Dom and Luke came over to teach us (me and Bre) to play Settlers of Catan.

For over a week, Bre had been talking to Dominik about making this game happen. In the meantime, she had taken notes on the rules and strategy. She entered in to the evening, convinced she would win the game.

It took about 15 minutes to give the rules and instructions. (Bre was quick to pretend all of this was foreign to her.)

And then we played.
Typical game board

Life-size board, built at MIT

--Pause--
I hate being bad at things. I dislike being inefficient or unsuccessful.

This translates in to all areas of my life: it is so much more enjoyable to fill my time with things that I can do well. This is the main reason I do not play sports. If I'm not going to be one of the best or fastest, it will only frustrate me.

Yes, yet another similarity to Monica Geller.

--Play--
So, these three people are equally as competitive as I am, (if not more so). Two had been playing for years and the other had been mentally playing for a week.

I had to prove that I could hold my own. I tried my best to place my pieces strategically and purchase resources in a way that made it look like I knew what I was doing. I really, really didn't want to look like an idiot.

Dom and Luke went easy on us (though, not on each other). But that didn't stop Bre and I from competing. (I may have raised my voice at both Bre and Dom--on separate turns--for rushing me.)

Ten points wins the game.
Bre and I each had nine.

I needed to trade one resource to make the right combination to purchase a settlement and win the game. Bre was next and only needed to play her Development card (worth one point).

The boys could not choose to let me win (and, so, choose to let Bre lose) by giving me that resource, so they stayed out of it...

And, so, I lost.
And Bre won.
And she was amazingly excited.

We played two more games last night...Dom won both.
Bre was not as happy with that ending.
So I suppose we'll be playing more often.

Come join us, if you'd like...but be prepared for some heated competition.

2 comments:

Julie Hibbard said...

RE: I hate being bad at things. I dislike being inefficient or unsuccessful.

Oh my goodness, where did you get this trait?
Yeah, sorry.
I will come watch you guys play sometime.
If I play, and fail to win, I am bound to throw the board out the window.

MrsLG said...

I have never even heard of this game and am also waaaaayyyy too competitive. Sounds like I need to find out if we have it here and get some other competitive bodies together.

Good luck for the next games!