Dear Catan Fusion: Answers to Common Questions
Legal
Disclaimer
This is the legal stuff. If you are still interested, keep reading. If not, just sign up for our eNewsletter to get interesting stuff in your inbox:
Q: Who created this website?
A: Kent Slocum. You can find out more about Kent at his personal website, www.kentslocum.com.
Kent Slocum is not an employee or representative of Catan Studio, Inc., or its licensor Catan GmbH. Instead, Kent is a full-time student at the University of Oregon, and enjoys playing Catan in his spare time. After owning and playing all of the expansions to the core game, he realized that there are some incompatibilities between the different rules sets. These inconsistencies prevented him from playing all of the Catan expansions at once.
As a result, Kent developed an in-depth instruction manual that significantly re-writes the Official Rules and incorporates new ideas and third-party expansions.
Q: What is the purpose of this website?
A: To share a better Catan ruleset with others.
Kent's "universal" ruleset, as published on this website, is not intended to replace, copy, or supplement the official rule sets. Instead, it represents a completely new instruction manual that clarifies, reconciles, and expands a set of rules for playing the following games together or individually:
- Catan Base Game
- Catan Seafarers
- Catan Cities& Knights
- Catan Traders & Barbarians
- Catan Explorers & Pirates
- Catan Legend of the Sea Robbers
- Catan Helpers of Catan
- Catan Frenemies
- Catan Oil Springs
Q: Has the official Catan Team been notified about this site?
A: Yes, they have.
On April 12, 2018, Kent sent a formal request to the owners of the rights to Catan, seeking Fair-Use permission to place his modified Catan ruleset online.
On April 16, 2018, Kent received a cordial response from Gavin Allister, the Catan GmbH and Catan Studio "Ombudsman." In his email, Gavin said the following:
A substantive rewrite of rules—that is, employing a largely new articulation that doesn’t simply replicate copyrighted text—can qualify under the “commentary” subsection of the “fair use” exception of copyright law. The author must clearly present the expression as “interpretative" and “his/her own commentary.” They cannot pass off the text as originating from the original author. If you abide by those guidelines, you can go ahead with your instruction manual as you have outlined in your e-mail.
Because Kent's modified ruleset is freely accessible on an interactive website by all individuals, at no charge, this website is not infringing on any copyrights held by Catan Studio, Inc. and its licensor Catan GmbH.
Q: Is this an official Catan website?
A: No, it is not.
While this site references a game called Catan, this website is in no way, shape, or form connected or endorsed by Catan Studio, Inc., or its licensor Catan GmbH. Catan is a trademark of Catan Studio, Inc. and its licensor Catan GmbH, which do not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this site.
Kent has the utmost respect for the legal rights and privileges of Klaus Teuber, the creator of Catan. You can read the official IP policy on the official Catan website here.
Because he desires to promote the enjoyment of Catan and support the purchase of officially licensed merchandise, Kent has agreed to prominently display the official copyright, trademark, and designer notice on each page of this website, stating that the work is based upon Catan GmbH's work. The complete text of this notice is as follows:
Legalese: The material on this website is based upon “Catan,” a creation and design of Klaus Teuber and property of Catan GmbH. Catan is a registered trademark of Catan GmbH, and Catan GmbH is not responsible for the contents of this site. All derivative material is published with specific permission of, and license from, Catan Studio, Inc. and its licensor Catan GmbH. However, they do not claim association or responsibility for the content on this site. All trademarks contained herein are the property of Catan GmbH. All references to Catan are Copyright © 2018 Catan Studio, Inc. and Catan GmbH. All rights reserved.
Plain English: CatanFusion is a fan-site for improving the Catan gaming experience. Although the content is derived from the game of Catan, please note that Catan Studio, Inc. and its licensor Catan GmbH which have nothing to do with this site or the content on it. If you have concerns about anything on this site (including plagiarism, copyright, or creative licenses), DO NOT contact the official Catan support team. Instead, please reach out to us immediately at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will gladly address your concerns.
More About CatanFusion
Welcome!
Thank you so much for visiting CatanFusion's humble home on the internet!
Like all homes, we have some "house rules" we want you to know about.
If you can't find the information you need on this page, please reach out to us at the following email address:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Trust us, we check our email.
Our Expectations For Our Guests
If you are a human, you are our guest.
If you are a robot or computer program, you are a visitor.
If you cannot read this, you are neither.
We don't expect you to be a Catan enthusiast, but we certainly hope that this website will inspire you to become one! Hang out here as long as you want, but we encourage you to visit some of our other homes on the web, including the following:
Our Expectations For Ourselves
We wouldn't want to mislead you--we are NOT affiliated, associated, or connected in any way with the official creators, designers, owners, manufacturers, and retailers of original Catan products.
Instead, we strive to "Promote and Improve the Catan Gaming Experience" through understandable, intuitive, and FUN internet-based resources.
So what sets the CatanFusion system apart from the official products?
To begin with, this video explains that the CatanFusion system is SIMPLE. There are very few rules, and even fewer exceptions. To help you learn the new rules, we have very straightforward and understandable step-by-step instructions on this website. Ditch the rules booklet and just visit our website on your mobile device to learn more!
Secondly, the CatanFusion system is highly EXPANDABLE. Our set of rules lets you add official expansions and integrate third-party scenarios. Best of all, you can choose which parts of the CatanFusion system you want to follow, and which parts you want to ignore. There is a lot of detailed information here on our website, so you can start with what you are familiar with, and go from there.
Thirdly, the CatanFusion system is ACCESSIBLE. Unlike the PDF or printed format of the official rules, our website is fully searchable, allowing you to find exactly what you need, when you need it. If this sounds good to you, and you would like to find out more, be sure to keep reading.
Finally, we care deeply about you and your information. You can read more about our Privacy Policy here.
We Care About What You Think
If you have burning questions, constructive criticism, genuine praise, deep concerns, or a firm believe that we are in error, please contact us at once, using our email address below. We have attempted to include references to sources that provided portions of content for this document. If we have failed to properly reference an information source or critical resource, please let us know as soon as possible, so that we may correct it.
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If you would also like to sign up for our e-newsletter, simply fill out the form below!
Our Reason for Existence
Settlers of Catan (often abbreviated to Settlers) and its expansions are all wonderful games, with widespread popularity and universal fame. The Official Catan Rules (5th Edition) are carefully thought-out, thoroughly prepared, beautifully illustrated, and well-organized. However, Klaus Teuber and Mayfair Games (the company which publishes the English version) never intended or imagined that players of Catan would wish to combine all of the various game-play elements together. Because many of the Catan expansion sets have different game mechanics, they are incompatible if played strictly according to the included instruction manuals. Previous attempts to reconcile the existing instructions have resulted in confusion and disagreement. As such, the Official Catan Rules are insufficient guides to such an endeavor.
As we began reconciling these incompatibilities on our own, we found ourselves replacing and reworking so many components of the Official Catan Rules that we quickly became overwhelmed by the sheer size of the project. Therefore, we have started from scratch: ignoring, replacing, and sometimes eliminating parts of the Official Catan Rules. As a result, the CatanFusion system has many rules and components not originally found in the Official Catan Rules.
Rest assured that we do not take our mission lightly: we have searched the internet, asked friends, and playtested ideas to create a brand-new, straightforward, and uniform set of game mechanics that allows players to combine the full line of core Catan games seamlessly and logically.
We have created this website to help you get started, allowing you to dive into your Catan game and searching for answers when you questions arise (as they inevitably will). If you can't find what you are looking for, the answer may simply be hidden under a different topic. We have included many cross-references and hyperlinks to facilitate this. In short, this website does not duplicate or repeat the Official Catan Rules (see our Legal info here). Instead, it contains all the important information that you need to play a fantastic game of Catan.