Monday, April 17, 2023

RIP Klaus Teuber

 On a sad note, Klaus Teuber, the creator of Setters of Catan, later Catan, passed away this past week after a short illness (See “RIP Klaus Teuber”). Settlers of Catan was the first of the Eurogames, which relied more on strategic play and less on chance, to sell successfully in the US.  NPR ran an obituary for Teuber this week, replaying part of his 2020 interview with Rob Schmitz. Catan had its roots in the pretend battles Teuber waged as a child with toy solders over fields, woods, and mountains. However, Catan grew out of his boredom with his job as a dental technician. Spending his free time in his basement developing games, his first games won three Spiel des Jahres awards but sales tapered off quickly. Inspired by stories of the Vikings and what they would need as they explored and colonized, he developed the Settlers of Catan, originally a much more sprawling game than the single island in the core set (the other pieces were eventually added as expansions such as Seafarers of Catan and Cities and Knights). Core tenets of the game were that no-one could ever be eliminated from play and players could take actions on every one’s turn, ensuring no one spend time just sitting there. The game worked, and has sold over 30 million copies since its introduction in 1995. 

I remember stocking the game back in 1995, wondering if boardgames would fit into our product mix of RPGs and miniatures since our customers at the time showed no interest in boardgames. It did and we have sold Catan for over 25 years. Thank you, Mr. Teuber for all the fun and sales over the years and yes, I

No comments:

Post a Comment