⬡Add up the dots. Each number token has dots under it — more dots means it gets rolled more. A settlement spot touches up to 3 hexes: add their dots together. A total of 10+ is good, 11+ is great.
⬡Don't ignore 3s and 11s. A 3 and a 4 together produce as much as one 6 — and nobody puts the robber on them.
⬡Spread your numbers. A 6 and an 8 is better than two 6s — if one number stops rolling, you still get cards.
Opening Placement this is 60% of the game
1.Dots first. Compare open spots by their total dots before thinking about anything else.
2.Plan both settlements together. You place two — use the second to grab whatever resources the first one is missing. Try to touch all five resources, each on a different number.
3.Point your roads where you want to build next — but remember roads don't reserve anything. A spot is only yours once a settlement is on it. What building the whole road chain in one turn does protect you from is someone settling partway along your route and cutting the path off.
4.Ports: a 3:1 port is genuinely worth planning around — it turns any surplus into what you need. A 2:1 port is stronger but only if you already produce that resource heavily; taking a weak spot just to sit on one is a common trap.
Check Your Pairs
⬡You build from pairs, not single resources. Wood + brick is a road. Ore + wheat is a city. Ore + wheat + sheep is a development card. Owning both halves of a pair means you can build without depending on anyone else.
⬡Your engine runs at the speed of the slower half. Wood on a 6 with brick on a 12 doesn't make you a road builder — it makes you someone drowning in wood. Balance the dots across both halves.
⬡Match the recipe's ratio. A city costs 3 ore and 2 wheat, so an ore–wheat start wants ore coming in faster than wheat. A road is 1:1.
⬡Both halves on the same number is a trade, not a mistake. You get them together every time — but when that number sleeps you get nothing at all. Splitting a pair across two similar numbers gives you smoother income; keeping them together gives you cleaner builds. What you actually want to avoid is a big mismatch, like a 6 paired with a 12.
Pick a Lane
Ore–Wheat · cities & development cards
The strongest plan. Cities collect double cards, and development cards give you hidden points plus a shot at Largest Army.
Wood–Brick · roads & expansion
Build roads and settlements fast, and grab Longest Route. The risk: you may run out of ore late in the game.
⬡Neither plan is pure — you need some of everything. This is about where your strongest numbers sit, not about ignoring the other resources.
Building where your cards should actually go
⬢Upgrade to cities before spreading thin. A city collects 2 cards instead of 1 from the same hex, and costs no roads to reach. Put your first cities on your highest-dot hexes.
⬢Cities give your settlement pieces back. You only get 5 settlements and 4 cities — upgrading returns the piece so you can settle somewhere new.
⬢Spend your hand down. Cards sitting in your hand do nothing and get taken when a 7 comes up. Try to end most turns with 7 or fewer.
⬢Development cards are a real build, not a leftover. If you're producing ore, wheat and wool, buying cards steadily is often stronger than saving toward one big thing.
Trading
⚖Know what you're building before you trade. Go after the one or two cards that finish a specific build this turn — not just "more stuff."
⚖Trade often. Newer players lose far more games by refusing trades than by making slightly bad ones. A stalled hand builds nothing.
⚖Never hand someone their winning card. Before you say yes, check their points and ask what they can build with it right now.
⚖Trade on or just before your own turn, so you can spend the cards immediately instead of sitting on them.
⚖Speak up when others trade. Point out when a deal helps your rival too much, or jump in with a better offer of your own.
⚖Minor edge: the player who proposes the trade tends to do slightly better. Worth knowing — not worth slowing your game down over. Trading 4 cards to the bank for 1 is a last resort.
The Robber
♟Best spot for the robber: a busy hex (lots of dots) that two or more opponents share — especially one used by whoever is closest to winning.
♟Don't rob someone from 8 cards down to 7. At 7 cards or fewer they're safe when the next 7 gets rolled — you just did them a favor.
♟When you get robbed: hold your cards in one stack so nobody can count them, and remind the robber out loud how unlikely they are to grab the card they want.
♟Play your Knights, don't hoard them. If the robber is parked on one of your good hexes, every turn you wait costs you cards. Clearing it is the main job — Largest Army is a bonus you collect along the way.
Development Cards
MonopolySave it for later in the game, then name the resource everyone has been piling up.
InventionSave it until 2 specific cards will finish something you want to build. (Called "Year of Plenty" in older editions.)
Road BuildingUse it late to steal Longest Route, or to grab a spot someone else is racing you to.
KnightPlay it to get the robber off your own hexes. Do that consistently and Largest Army tends to arrive on its own.
Reading the Table
👁Keep a straight face when you draw a card, and wait a round before playing it. Watch how others react to their draws: a quick look then held tight can sometimes mean a Knight · staring at the board could mean Road Building · checking their own hand might mean Invention.
Reading the Game
◈Take Longest Route and Largest Army whenever you can get them. They're 2 points each, and taking one off an opponent is a 4-point swing. You don't choose the timing anyway — the tiles move to the new leader automatically.
◈Neither tile is safe once you have it. Someone can break your route with a settlement or out-build it, and Army flips the moment a rival plays one more Knight than you. Keep watching both.
◈Early on, slow down the player with the best board spots — not the one with the most points. Good spots snowball.
◈Keep asking: how does each player get to 10 points? Count what's on the board, then add the points they could be hiding in development cards.
◈Victory Point cards are the only real way to hide points. They stay face down until the moment they win you the game.
◈Nudge opponents to build away from you by pointing out spots that genuinely suit them. And try to remember recent rolls — it tells you roughly what cards people are holding.
The 60-Second Pre-Game Brief run this before every game
Count the dots. A spot needs 10+ total, or keep looking.
Plan both starting settlements together — try to touch all five resources.
Pick a plan: ore–wheat for cities, or wood–brick for roads.
Know your next build, then trade for it — and trade often.
Rob the biggest threat, and never rob an 8-card hand down to 7.
Upgrade to cities, and take Route or Army the moment you can.