Catan World Qualifiers

2007 Tournament Rules

The original version of these rules, and the current version of the rules that will be used at the World Championship, can be found at
http://www2.herne.de/spielezentrum/Siedler/sied-start.html#c-2007_rg
These rules apply to the 2007 Origins and Gencon World Qualifiers.

General rules:
1. 1.1 Referees:
  1. 1.1.1 The tournament is ruled by at least two referees.
  2. 1.1.2 If rules are broken at a table players must call for a referee immediately. The ruling of a referee is final and players must accept the decision. If a rule is broken and players fail to immediately report it to a referee, players must accept the broken rule as a regular play and continue the game as if a rule had not been broken. Thus, players consent to the game being completed and rated/scored officially.
  3. 1.1.3 If players do not agree with the outcome of a game due to broken rules or unfair play, they must immediately call for a referee. Once the score sheet for the game is signed, protest of the outcome is not possible or permitted anymore. If a player is not willing to give his signature on the score sheet, a referee will make the final decision about the outcome of the game.
  4. 1.1.4 Referees can disqualify players from the tournament if the rules of the game are broken on purpose by a player. These circumstances include but are not limited to: players breaking a rule with the intention of winning the game, players engaging in abusive play, and causing or promoting/helping another player win. The disqualification can be made only during a running game or immediately after finishing a game. Disqualification is not possible and will not be carried out after the tournament has ended.
2. 1.2 Tournament mode:
  1. 1.2.1 For all games, the organizer has the authority to introduce and enforce a time regulation on player turn time. In the event a time regulation is imposed, each players turn will be limited to three minutes. However, the organizer will not end any games before 10 victory points have been achieved by a player in each game.
  2. 1.2.2 The tournament will be played only on the base game, The Settlers of Catan. It will feature 4 rounds of play for all players. All games in the tournament will be played with the American version of the game (only the basic game). Therefore the official language of the tournament is English.
  3. 1.2.3 There will be an assigned schedule that determines at which table and which starting positions the players play in each round.
  4. 1.2.4 The best 16 players of the qualifying rounds reach the semifinals, which is played on Sunday. The following chart determines at which table players will play. It also determines which players choose his or her starting position first - players choose according to the ranking after the qualifying rounds:
    Table 1: Place 1, Place 8, Place 9, Place 16
    Table 2: Place 2, Place 7, Place 10, Place 15,
    Table 3: Place 3, Place 6, Place 11, Place 14,
    Table 4: Place 4, Place 5, Place 12, Place 13.
  5. 1.2.5 The four winners of the semifinal games reach the final of the Catan World Qualifiers. Once again the players choose their starting positions according to their ranking after the qualifying rounds.
3. 1.3 Points:
  1. 1.3.1 During the qualifying rounds, only the number of victories will decide the ranking of the players.
  2. 1.3.2 In case of ties, the total number of victory points reached by the players will be used as the first tiebreaker.
  3. 1.3.3 If a tie still exists after total number of victory points for each player are examined, the next tie-breaker will be the sum of the percentage of victory points the players reached at their four tables. if there are still any ties after that (which has never happened so far in the history of the Catan World Qualifiers) lots will be drawn.
    Example (after three rounds):
    Players A and B both win 2 games.
    Both get 28 victory points - so there is still a tie.
    Now the percentages of victory points will be calculated.
    
    For player A:
    Game 1: A gets 10 VPs, there were 32 VPs at the table,
    so his percentage is: 31.25%.
    Game 2: A gets 8 VPs, there were 30 VPs at the table,
    so his percentage is: 26.67%.
    Game 3: A gets 10 VPs, there were 36 VPs at the table,
    so his percentage is: 27.78%.
    So the sum is: 85.70.
    
    For player B:
    Game 1: B gets 10 VPs, there were 30 VPs at the table,
    so his percentage is: 33.33%.
    Game 2: B gets 10 VPs, there were 33 VPs at the table,
    so his percentage is: 30.3%.
    Game 3: B gets 8 VPs, there were 36 VPs at the table,
    so his percentage is: 22.22%.
    So the sum is: 85.85.
    
    So player B is ranked higher then player A.
4. 1.4 Responsibilities of Players - Material:
  1. 1.4.1 The tournament organizers set up the boards. All rounds (qualifiers and semi-finals) must use the same board for all players.
  2. 1.4.2 All game materials must be kept on the table at all times, so that they are clearly visible to all players. This is especially true for development and resource cards, which must be held above the table the entire duration of the game.
  3. 1.4.3 In all games (with the exception of the final) the starting player will be in charge of the giving out and receiving resource and development cards. The starting player must always make all other players at the table aware whenever he is handing out cards to himself or when he is paying resources to the bank. By agreement, players may create two resource piles, and/or collect cards on their own. If a disagreement arises about the number of cards a player has collected and how many a player is supposed to collect, then any agreements about the handling of resources and development cards by all players are voided. The starting player must distribute or resume distributing all cards to players for the entire game if the agreement to handle cards by all players is voided.
  4. 1.4.4 Development cards bought during a players current turn must be kept well away from the other cards the player might have in hand. If this rule is broken, the player forfeits the opportunity to play a development card until their next turn.
Additional and supplementary rules:
The following are clarifications about situations that often arise during a tournament regarding the Catan Standard rules. If these rules interfere with the standard rules, then the rule given here is the rule that is used in the Catan World Qualifiers.
1. 2.1 A player's turn starts with throwing the dice. Players are allowed to play a development card before they throw the dice.
2. 2.2 It is not allowed to build a road beyond a settlement (or city) of another player.
3. 2.3 Players are allowed to upgrade a settlement to a city in the same turn it was built. To do that, the player cannot have five settlements on the board before building the settlement the player wants to upgrade.
4. 2.4 If a player buys a development card with a victory point on it, the player may immediately reveal it if it is the tenth victory point to win the game. This is only possible with development cards that have a victory point printed on it. It is not allowed to play a soldier/knight immediately, even if it would mean obtaining largest army and winning the game. The player still must wait until next turn before the soldier/knight can be played.
5. 2.5 There is no distinction between the trading and building phase.
6. 2.6 A harbor may be used the same turn it has been built on.
7. 2.7 A player has won a soon as 10 or more victory points have been achieved by that player (although only 10 will be counted for the ranking) and it is that player's turn.
8. 2.8 If there are not enough resource cards of one kind to give every player the resource cards they deserve after rolling the dice for resource production, then nobody will receive a resource card of this kind. The other resource cards should be handed out to the players as usual.
9. 2.9 The robber is in effect as soon as the game begins, from the first throw of the dice. There is no "grace period" before the robber is moved.