The great debate over house rules for Settlers of Catan's robber

I've been playing Catan for about 5 years now with the same group, and we keep going back and forth on a house rule for the robber. Half of us think the robber should only block a hex and not steal a card, because it reduces the random luck factor that can kill a player's whole game. The other half says stealing is part of the game's tension and balance, and without it the game gets too slow and boring. Last month I tried a version where the robber just sits on the desert and never moves unless someone rolls a 7, and honestly it made the game feel flat with no conflict. But I've also been on the losing end of three straight robber steals that wrecked my resource flow in two separate games. So what do you all think? Do you play with the standard robber rules, or have you tweaked things to make it less punishing?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

diana_black222mo ago

Stealing makes the game strategic, not just a dice-rolling contest.

6

taylor.paige2mo ago

Okay fine, but it also makes me never want to play with my friends again. Nobody likes having their hotel swiped.

8