Catan’s next scenario brings semi-co-op and a real-life global crisis to the original Settlers

The next scenario for Catan will introduce a new semi-co-operative way to play Klaus Teuber’s seminal board game – and it comes with an important message.

Catan: Crop Trust challenges players to manage their individual supply of food on the fictional island, harvesting just enough for the inhabitants while working together to store remaining seeds in the shared Seed Vault and ensure crop diversity.

The scenario has been co-created by Benjamin Teuber – Klaus’ son – in collaboration with environmental organisation the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which raises awareness about the very real worldwide crisis threatening the availability of food for – and survival of – future generations as the result of shrinking crop diversity.

The Crop Trust itself has a global seed vault hidden inside a mountain on a remote island near the North Pole designed to stop crops from vanishing from existence completely – something that could eventually lead to a collapse of the food supply and mass extinction for humankind. The real-life vault has almost a million different samples, with the ability to store 2.5 billion seeds at sub-zero temperatures to preserve them in case of catastrophe. It’s (literally) pretty cool – you can take a virtual tour on the Crop Trust site if you want to check it out.

All proceeds, plus a portion of the money made by the Catan scenario’s printed edition will go towards the Crop Trust.

Catan: Crop Trust will be launched at Essen later this month, before getting a wide release online and in shops on November 8th.