The new box: less plastic, more useful organisation.

Games

Our direct compare with 5th Edition to help you get an easy look at what exactly has changed and whether the new set is for you.

The open 6th Edition Catan box, with its cards, rules, and pieces organised on a black tablecloth.

There's a new edition in town. So what exactly is 'new'? The game is the same, but it's the box, art, and components that have been updated, with a mix of subtle and significant adjustments to how you'll enjoy the game (and keep it organised in storage).

A white ragdoll cat has its faced turned down and away from the camera while sitting on the 5th edition Catan box, with the sixth edition Catan box more clearly visible to the right. There is a black tablecloth and in the background the lower part of a light brown cabinet.

Boxing

First up, the box basics show that the 6th Edition is a larger box overall. The art styling pushes out to the edges more seamlessly, and internally we lose the plastic organisation system for cardboard sections. The only plastic is an organiser to use during play for easy access to cards during play.

The new box is slightly larger than the 5th Edition box in all dimensions, with enough extra space that it can accommodate more than you find in the base set. If you buy the expansions, you'll probably fit the extras in here which was simply not possible with the 5th Edition box design.

The new box: less plastic, more useful organisation.

The new box: less plastic, more useful organisation.

The 6th Edition also comes with a set of cardboard boxes for keeping each set of coloured parts organised. These sit into the box neatly and they do a good job of making the pack up phase keep you organised so you can start playing faster next time you want a game.

The new box does have an issue with card storage while all packed away, as you see in the last picture. But we did find that putting the second card holder on top of the first meant everything stayed together nicely. Just be sure to not leave them all on top or they'll be all over the box!

My boardgames cupboard is currently running a tight fit, but while the new box is bigger it is mostly accommodated by squaring the box as you see above. This does mean it sits deeper on the shelf – which is fine for me. It's claiming about one centimetre of extra width when shelved which is good when you include storing the expansion content in the same box now.

Art updates

Comparing the card art, we see updates to the styling but also to some of the naming conventions. We lose the flavour on some of the cards as victory point cards move from a range of building names to simply 'Victory Point'. I can see how this can reduce confusion, but others might like the narrative colour of the earlier choice. The new font and colour choices are certainly more readable.

Art updates range from subtle to dramatic, along with naming convention changes.

Art updates range from subtle to dramatic, along with naming convention changes.

For anyone who already owns expansions, it's important to know that the 6th Edition cards also feature new card back art. It has a more subtle, elegant style, but it also means previous expansion cards cannot be mixed in with the new base game as they'll be all too obvious when the cards are shuffled.

The board also gets the art refresh. I've aligned the boards side-by-side with all terrains matched so you can scan across the two and quickly eyeball the differences. It's interesting that some tiles lose some depth (compare the hills and fields) while others (pastures and desert) get a little more.

Rule books

The new rule book offers a cleaner, easier to read layout. The majority of the old rule book featured an 'almanac' listing rules in alphabetical order as a reference. The new book offers a simpler, more 'front to back' readable instruction set that focuses on introducing first-time players before offering variable rules.

The biggest changes in the rules seem to be a lack of any mention of keeping the red #6 and #8 numbers away from any adjacent spaces. Some players are going to find this a big change given how much emphasis used to be placed on never letting this happen.

Thoughts

If you're yet to Catan, it's a lovely new set design to get in on and it holds your hand out of the gate better than ever before. If you already own a previous edition, your main reason for buying again is probably if your old set is getting a bit worn out. If that's the case you'll enjoy the fresh new design – just be careful with the rules update and be aware that old expansions won't play nice with the new cards.

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Catan 6th Edition: examining side-by-side with 5th Edition