Thank you, Mr Teuber

Klaus Teuber 1952 - 2023

Damn.

Okay. I am going to say this first: While Teuber made many other games, some of them jolly good, the reason why people will still be talking about him a hundred years from now is Settlers of Catan. And people _will_ be talking about him as long as the world isn’t a post apocalyptic wasteland (which will not be nearly as fun as Gamma World or Max Max)

And let’s not kid ourselves. Catan had an impact on the gaming world like possibly nothing else. The closest thing I can think of is Magic the Gathering but Catan hit a much wider audience. It was the family game’s family game. And judging by its continued sales, still is.

Catan’s impact on the gaming world was like a naked man throwing petrol bombs in a department store on a late Tuesday afternoon. (Gaming buddy: that was disturbingly specific. Me: good, I was trying to disturb you) We would not have the gaming landscape that we have today without it and I don’t think the universe would have come up with an equivalent.

I know that it was where my transition from RPGs to board games started with Catan. And I still hold that, in this post-Catan world that we all get to live in, Catan holds up with an amazing level of engagement and interaction.

If I end up in an Isekai novel, I am introducing Catan to the fantasy world I am stuck in.

Thank you, Mr Teuber, for making my life better.