It was first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag (Kosmos) as Die Siedler von Catan (pronounced [diː ˈziːdlɐ fɔn kaˈtaːn]).

[10] Newer editions of the game began to depict a fixed layout in their manual and recommend this to be used by beginners.

In 2016, editions of the game were released with a conventional fixed layout board in this configuration, the hexes of which cannot be rearranged.

Various other achievements, such as establishing the longest road and the largest army (by playing the most knight cards), grant a player additional victory points.

[14] Mayfair Games released a fourth edition of The Settlers of Catan in 2007, with new artwork, a locking frame, a deeper box, and an insert tray; there was also a minor rule change.

The robber playing piece was changed from a black to a grey color and the soldier development card was renamed a knight.

In 1998, the first Historical Scenario pack was released,[19] which allows players to re-enact the building of the pyramids of Egypt or the expansion of Alexander the Great's empire using Catan game mechanics.

Atlantis was a boxed set which collected a number of scenarios and variants published in gaming magazines and at conventions, such as The Volcano and The Great River.

The set also included a deck of event cards which replaced the dice in the main game, giving it a less random spread of resource production.

[23][24] Catan: Oil Springs is an expansion by Erik Assadourian and Ty Hansen[25] introduced in 2011 designed to draw attention to environmental issues.

It was loosely based upon the original Catan, including similar dice mechanisms for resource production as well as trading and building.

The game is played with six dice, the faces of which depict one of six resources (brick, lumber, wool, grain, ore, or gold).

A Game of Thrones Catan: Brotherhood of the Watch is a spin-off based on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.

As Brothers of the Night Watch, players harvest resources from the Gift to build settlements and keeps, while contributing to the defense of the Wall.

The game was released in 2017 in English, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Czech/Slovak, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Hebrew and French.

[38] An updated set of Catanimal Sprite plushes was introduced in early 2021[39] and are based on new illustrated characters by artist Kay O'Neill.

She attributed this decline to a "lack of innovation," as well as "a reluctance to buy into the popularity of app-supported games (though solely mobile versions of Catan exist), crowdfunding, and new mechanics.

Teuber and Big Huge Games worked together to produce Catan, a version of Settlers for the Xbox Live Arcade.

A Nintendo DS version of Settlers was developed by Exozet Games GmbH in collaboration with Klaus Teuber.

[59] Catan and some of its expansions are also available in various languages for mobile phones, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, BlackBerry and Android smartphones.

A 2009 version was developed by Exozet Games and published by United Soft Media for iOS in 2009-2010, for Android in 2011, and for Windows Mobile in 2013.

[65] USM also developed an Android and iOS mobile app version simply called "Catan" with the various expansions available as DLC.

[78] On June 20, 2019 a version of Catan was released for Nintendo Switch, being developed by United Soft Media and Exozet, and being published by Asmodee Digital.

[79] In November 2019, Niantic, Inc. announced that it was developing a new augmented reality mobile game, Catan: World Explorers.

[80] However, during September 2021 Niantic announced the augmented reality game would be shut down after a year of early access without actually releasing it.

Actors Amy Acker and Fran Kranz starred in the film as a married couple enmeshed in an increasingly intense game of Catan.

[83][84] In February 2015, Variety announced that producer Gail Katz had purchased the film and TV rights to The Settlers of Catan.

Katz said, "The island of Catan is a vivid, visual, exciting and timeless world with classic themes and moral challenges that resonate today.

[85] In October 2017, Variety reported that Sony Pictures was negotiating to acquire the rights to adapt it into a film, with Gail Katz still attached to the project.

[88] The first Catan World Championship was held in 2002 at the game fair "Internationalen Spieltage" in Essen, Germany.