Last night Shelly and I finally had our very first taste of a board game we've been itching to try for some time now: Cities and Knights of Catan. This is the expanded, beefed-up version of our old favorite, Settlers, that we'd always heard so much about. "Once you've tried Cities and Knights," I've been told, "you can't go back to just plain old Settlers." Well, I've been Settling for nigh on 6 years now* so I figure it's time to take it to the next level, as it were.

The rumors are true. There's a lot to keep track of in C&K, but the extra nuances and extra responsibilities make it a lot more exciting and open up a lot of possibilities. I think once a person gets the hang of the new system, there are a lot of different strategies one can pursue, thus making the game more enriching. At one point our friend made a particular move and explained he was doing it to prevent me from making a particular move that I hadn't even considered. I pondered what he suggested I might have done had he not stymied me and said, "Hey, that's good strategy!"

I've heard about the marauding barbarians and the extra resources of coins, paper, and cloth. What I didn't know about, and what appeared to frustrate Shelly the most throughout the game was the way a city built on an ore, sheep, or wood hex doesn't produce two ore, sheep, or wood resource cards (instead, you get one ore and one coin, one sheep and one cloth, or one wood and one paper). That dramatically alters the dynamic of the game, because in regular old Settlers you could count on packing in a lot of cards of a certain type just by building a couple of cities. You've got to come up with other ways to rake in the ore in C&K. But then again, there are so many other ways to earn points that maybe you don't need so much ore after all.

This is definitely a game that's going to take some getting used to. But I'm excited to do so.

POSTSCRIPT: It's funny how a lot of our relationships with our friends these days are board-game based. It's not like we're obsessed with board games like some people I know. But when we want to get together with another couple, we usually end up doing it over a board game. And when other couples want to try out a new board game, they call us. Last week we test-drove another great game that I'd like to get to know better, Ticket to Ride, with some friends, and this past week at a party we were approached by another couple who wanted to know if we'd played another two or three particular board games. Guess we need to open up our schedule more to play with people!

* I recall, when I was taught the game, my silly roommate said the Robber's name was Osama bin Laden. And at that time, in the fall of 2001, it was even more appropriate than now. (Or is it more appropriate now? After all, no matter how many Soldier cards you play, bin Laden proves quite elusive.) The C&K-owning friends we played with last night had their own nickname for the Robber: Robert. I thought that was funny too.