CATAN Starfarers Duel Board Game - A Thrilling Two Player Space Adventure! Strategy Game, Family Game for Kids and Adults, Ages 12+, 2 Players, 120 Minute Playtime, Made by CATAN Studio

Ok, so this game CAN get suuuuper complicated, but it has built-in learning scenarios that make it easier to pick up. My 9 year old has no trouble. You have to pay attention and think about where you're going to fly, but wow, this is a beautiful and totally different type of Catan game. My wife got it for an anniversary gift, and we both love it.Note: this is a standalone game. It's not an expansion to Starfarers. It does, though, feel like a spiritual successor to Rivals.

Only made it through the first mission. Easily walked through though. Fun and fast sessions!

This is very different than Settlers of Catan, and even significantly different than the two-player Rivals of Catan. I haven't played the full Catan: Starfarers, but this two-player version seems like it's thematically very similar (much of the artwork is the same) but improves on some of the mechanics. I did enjoy playing this with my son, but it's definitely not a perfect game.So first, the things I liked about the game:- The mechanics are pretty simple and straightforward. The game is pretty easy to learn and teach and everything makes sense. Essentially your turn has three phases: first you roll a die for production (generating resources), then you use the same die roll to explore one of four quadrants (revealing cards from that quadrant deck and taking actions on the cards if you can), then a build/trade phase lets you use your resources to build upgrades or trade money and resources with your trade planets. Turns move quickly once you are familiar with the game.- I really like the way you explore quadrants. Each quadrant consists of a deck of nine cards. As you explore a quadrant you start to learn what cards are in each deck, so you can focus your exploration into areas you need. However, after each exploration, the quadrant deck is shuffled, so you never know quite what order the cards will be revealed. Additionally, if you colonize a planet or set up a trade agreement with a planet in a quadrant you take that planet card into your personal tableau and replace it with a card from the exploration deck. This keeps each quadrant deck feeling fresh. You have an idea of what you'll encounter but don't know exactly when in your journey you'll encounter it. Pirates also keep exploration interesting and tense. I really, really enjoyed this aspect of the game.- I also like how resource generation works. It's pretty easy to get to a point where you'll earn something on every turn (or almost every turn), even at the start. As you advance through the game what you produce will become more flexible, but you rarely feel like you aren't producing anything. This is a big improvement over standard Catan.- The components are pretty decent. The cards are of nice quality, the boards and tokens are thick, and the dice look great. That said, there are some minor issues, which I'll cover next.OK, now for the things I didn't like about the game.- Components are nice, however this printing comes with the wrong production (orange) die. It should be a D3 (with sides 1-1-2-2-3-3) but it came as a standard D6 (1-2-3-4-5-6). In the first game I played we used it as a D6, meaning we didn't get resources on half of our rolls. You can contact Catan and they'll put you on a list to receive the correct die when it's available, and in the meantime, it's easy enough to play by just subtracting 3 from the 4, 5, and 6. It's definitely annoying though, since the rules don't give any indication that the die should be a D3 and why would you even think that a component was wrong? The other component issue is with the hubs for the dials. They come pre-assembled, but just the hubs, not the full dials. So you have to pry them apart and then put them on the dials. And they don't come apart easily. That was also frustrating, but again, not game-breaking. Finally, the game comes with three boxes to store components for the two players plus general components. But if they were 1/8" wider they could also fit the players' starting colony cards. Again, annoying but not game-breaking.- The game is too long. For the weight and complexity, this feels like it should be a 45-60 minute game. But the box says 75 minutes and it actually took us closer to 90 minutes. It was enjoyable, but overstayed its welcome. I might add a few house rules to make a few components a tad cheaper so that the game moves a tad faster. Colony and Trade Ships could be any two of the three indicated resources and that would make them easier to replace after they're used to collect planets. That might be enough to speed up the game just enough. We'll see...- I feel like setting up Trade Agreements with planets isn't very useful. Trade planets offer ways to exchange resources and money, ranging from 1:1 to 1:5. The planets you can set up trade agreements with seem to all be the 1:3 planets. This means that knowing which quadrant the 1:1 and 1:5 planets for a particular resource are in is often more useful than using your own planet for a trade. Trade Agreements don't give you points (except for one point for whoever has the most) and the exchange rate isn't that great, so they seem to be less useful. I feel like the planets with good exchange rates would be better to have agreements with and would make them more attractive to use. Or maybe they give you an additional benefit if you have an agreement with them... After several plays, I'm just not envisioning a strategy where setting up trade agreements with planets is beneficial.Overall, I enjoyed the game, but I don't think it'll be a go-to two-player game for me. I think I prefer 7 Wonders Duel for that head-to-head two-player experience or Star Realms for the space theme. I do really like the exploration aspect of this game though, and I can't think of anything else that scratches that itch the same way, so I'm sure this will hit the table occasionally still.

We love Catan and play daily, each playing as 2 people. This 2 player game is pretty different and we did struggle to learn it for a day. Now we are playing this one constantly and love it! The spinners are a bear to put together (so I took a star away) but only have to do it once. All pieces are well made as expected for the Catan brand. So much fun!

We play a lot of board games and this one has been a consistent favorite. It’s got some fun mechanics and building your ship is quite enjoyable.

new household favorite

Avid gamers are our house and love Catan. This was hard to learn and so many different rules and levels. Not what I expected from the game at all

Like it says - excellent version. I was finally able to get this to the table for a few plays and we really enjoyed it. Most versions of Catan are for 3 players and up - something we don't always have the luxury of so a 2-player version is quite welcome.It's pretty straight forward with interesting mechanics and a "board" that changes with each play. Yes, it's a bit on the longer side but we expected that with a Catan product and it starts to speed up as you learn the various things to do on a turn.If you're a fan of Catan *or* Catan: Starfarers and have been wanting a well done 2-player option this is for you.Recommended.