Every so often I refrain from mentioning the exact name “Catan Weekend,” because it doesn’t mean much even to those who, in principle, know what I do for a living. That’s why I’m using this opportunity to place a corresponding reference here in our Catan blog, for future inquiries.

Kosmos Verlag has been hosting the Catan weekend since 1998. At that time, it was an exclusive reunion for members of the then still existing “Siedler-Club” (“Settlers Club”), but after the club’s dissolution in 1999, it turned into an open Catan weekend for everyone interested. Ever since, it takes place every year at the Hotel Faerber-Luig in the rural German town Lennestadt-Bilstein, County of Olpe – located in the heart of the Sauerland and, in all four cardinal directions, far away from the next autobahn.

Hotel Faerber-Luig in Lennestadt-Bilstein / Germany

Many Catan fans know nothing at all about the event, even though – apart from word of mouth – it is also promoted via the Kosmos website and the German version of the Catan newsletter.

The core activity of the Catan weekend is the big Catan Board Game Tournament each attendee may participate in (it’s not mandatory, though). Generally, three different Catan games or scenarios are played on Saturday – usually the current new release and at least one of the “classics” such as “Cites & Knights.”

Klaus Teuber taking part in the Catan Board Game Tournament

Every year, Klaus Teuber himself also takes part in the tournament, meaning that each participant has a real chance to defeat the author in a game of his very own creation. And for a couple of years now, there is also a Catan Card Game Tournament taking place already on Friday.

The best ranking players in the tournaments win valuable non-cash prizes that are handed over on Sunday morning. Should Klaus be on the victory podium (which may totally be the case), he donates his prize – sometimes to the youngest player, sometimes to the last-place player. Participating in the tournaments is, therefore, definitely worth it.

Prizes at the tournament award ceremony

Of course, besides the tournament activities there’s also time to “play freely.“ For this purpose, since the year 2000 Kosmos Verlag brings along many other games from its portfolio. After the games have been opened and the attendees of the meeting have played them, on Sunday, shortly before everyone departs, the games are sold to those present – partly well below their catalog price.

As a particularly exclusive offer, game prototypes not yet commercially available can be tested, too; that way, they are subjected to a “semi-public beta test,” so to speak. The respective game authors are enormously interested in the feedback from the game testers, which is why each tester can, and should, fill in a questionnaire after playing the game. Sometimes, when the game in question is put on the market the following year, it features a game mechanics that, thanks to the test reports, has been tweaked considerably – or, in case of an extremely scathing criticism, the game might go straight to the closet and never be presented to the general public.

Tournament game activity

Catan Online World members are also catered for: on one of the evenings, an open roundtable discussion with the COW moderators and us from the Catan GmbH takes place, and everyone interested is invited to participate. In addition to reviewing past year’s events, we use this occasion to present an exclusive preview of the plans outlined for the coming year. And of course we’re also happy to discuss requests and suggestions for improvement put forth by the attendees.

Anything else? Well, someone who accompanies his or her spouse and is not that into gaming will find beautiful scenery surrounding the hotel that invites to hike and explore. And in the basement of the hotel, people can enjoy a wellness area that includes pool, sauna, and massage tables. So, you don’t have to be a Catan enthusiast to spend a wonderful weekend in Bilstein – although it certainly helps a lot.

So far so good. Did the description above explain what the Catan weekend is about and what makes it attractive? I hope so. However, such a comprehensive explanation rarely can be done in three sentences as an aside, when someone asks, “Catan weekend, huh? Tell me more about it!”

Thus, I meanwhile have concocted an alternative explanation that represents all this by means of a different, widely known phenomenon: the Catan weekend is a bit like a Star Trek convention. The die-hard fans meet for a couple of days at a conference center to indulge in their hobby and, in the process, take a look behind the scenes to meet the attendant “guest stars” of the participating companies in person. – Just with a smaller crowd and, above all, without pointy ears and Vulcan mind meld.

Gero Zahn

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You all have probably experienced it at some point: the year has days where you know in advance that they will be good.

This year, October 22 is such a day for me – the day the SPIEL 09 [International Game Convention in Essen, Germany] will open its gates. It’s always impressive to see the great number of people gathering in front of the entrance as early as nine in the morning. Sometimes it is so packed that we as exhibitors have a hard time working our way through the crowd. And then, at 10 a.m. sharp, the doors open and people start running as if the first one to arrive at the venue were awarded a prize.

Essen Exhibition Center

Shortly after, the next performance test is due: will the rules explanations and the games meet the players’ expectations? That’s where my dilemma begins…because I’m the one who has to give it some thought beforehand.

For me, all this already starts in spring, when I ask the game instructors of the previous year if they have time and would like to instruct games for us again. Explaining the games well is very important to us, and the people we ask have really convinced us the year before. At this point, kudos to last year’s team of game instructors! You all were so good that you’re recruited again this year.

Once I get the feedback from the core team, I seek out other game instructors to fill the vacant positions. Sometime at the end of June / beginning of July, our team for the next SPIEL is complete.

The Kosmos booth

At this stage, my female colleague at the game convention planning department and I are already thinking about how we will design the booth. What are the highlights of this year’s SPIEL? Do we have to remodel the booth? Do we need special decoration? Do we make changes to the procedure? Which games will be lent out in limited numbers, which in large numbers? Do we have to subdivide the games into different categories? Easy, difficult, taking a short time, taking a long time… Will there be a reception for the game instructors again? Will there be giveaways? What will the Catan shop carry? … And there are many, many other things we discuss during this time. As you can see, life before the game convention is full of question marks.

But all these issues are gradually resolved, and we still find new question marks, which we convert, each time faster, into exclamation points. Don’t worry: up to now, we’ve always made it, and if we didn’t make it a hundred percent – the conventiongoer wouldn’t be able to tell…

The KOSMOS games portfolio is so big that we can’t lend out all games we have. That’s why we are limiting ourselves to new releases in 2009 (spring and fall) and a few classics this year. We even had to select among the spring releases, because they were still too numerous. I think, however, that our selection came out pretty good. When we determine which games to include, we also consider the visitor profile. The visitor profile in Essen is different from the visitor profile at the game convention in Stuttgart 3 weeks later, so our focus will be different there.

Then the game instructors receive the first package with the games available at that moment. Unfortunately, these are not yet the novelties for Essen – after all, they will not be available until the SPIEL 09 in Essen.

Game Instructors

So they get the spring releases and the classics, because maybe one of the game instructors doesn’t know them… but that’s relatively improbable, because our instructors love games!

Meanwhile, game convention planning continues. What would look particularly good at the booth? Yes, exactly – an author or graphic artist who signs his games. So I contact the authors and some graphic artists of our games and ask them whether they would be available for game signing. Happily, they’re all very nice people who look forward to give autographs at our booth. This year we will be able to welcome Klaus Teuber, Stefan Stadler & Michael Rieneck, Wolfgang Kramer, and Michael Menzel.

Crowds at the convention

Apart from the planning of a big anniversary for next year, the game convention is the main focus of my work at the moment. The order of the day for Arnd Fischer (who trains the game instructors) and me during the next weeks: playing games and trying to structure them in a meaningful way, so we can explain them to our team of game instructors on the Sunday prior to the SPIEL 09. Yep, in Essen we’ll lock ourselves up in a youth center for a whole day and study the games … well, no, it actually won’t be that bad. We’re all having fun, and this year, the game instructors can read through the rules and ask questions much earlier than usual. They’re making ample use of this opportunity, and a very animated communication is taking place on the forum for game instructors, which is where we (Sebastian Rapp and I) answer all questions regarding organization and game rules.

And then … it’s Wednesday evening, and Sebastian and I will meet with friends from Canada for a Mongolian barbecue and “German bowling.” That’s something I look forward to during the entire year – we made this appointment already last year in Essen.

And then … the moment has come: one of the most beautiful days of the work year begins, and as always, I’m very excited. And that doesn’t change when the familiar convention routine kicks in – attending one appointment after another, looking at other booths, answering questions, and managing our booth. After four days, it’s all over – the SPIEL has finished, I’m sitting on the train home, and I think to myself, like I do every year, “That was a nice time again, and a good game convention.”

I’m looking forward to see you all in Essen!

Carol Rapp

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