[japes]

So after playing for the first time this weekend and then talking about it here, I purchased Catan. Well, I couldn't resist the Amazon discount at $28 with Prime next day shipping for free. When I came home from work it was waiting for me and we played it tonight after dinner. My 9 year old son was at 9 points and I was at 8 my wife was at 6 but about to claim the Largest Army card. My son had the longest road at 8 and I was one card away from building two roads for 9 and my turn was next after my son. The sneaky devil offered the exact card I needed (a rare brick) for a Rock...I had three and they were of no use to me since I was about to win...of course he needed exactly one rock to upgrade a settlement to a city for the win...The funniest part was that while my wife asked questions through out (because she thinks she can learn a game better that way so she doesn't actually listen to the explanations) my son never asked a question through the whole game. So anyone curious, while the strategies can be more intense the basics of the game are simple enough a child can understand.

~full disclosure, we played with the beginning board setup from the rules so that does take some of the strategic decision out of the game and probably contributed to his win.