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In this guide
CATAN is Klaus Teuber's trading-and-building design, now in its sixth edition. John Lewis lists the Asmodee-published CATAN Board Game, 6th Edition, at £49.99 on 2026-10-16: currently in stock online, with free returns and Click & Collect that costs nothing on orders over £40. CATAN's own game page gives it as a 3 to 4 player title for ages 10 and up, at 60 to 90 minutes.
Two things shape the decision here. A £49.99 basket sits just under John Lewis's £50 free-delivery line, so home delivery adds from £4.50 while collection does not. And the fifth and sixth seats are a separate purchase: John Lewis's search for CATAN returned only the base game, so the price of a bigger table has to be found elsewhere.
Our verdict
At £49.99 from John Lewis, CATAN's 6th Edition is a sound first strategy game for tables of three and four; a fifth or sixth seat needs an expansion that had no UK price on the pages read.
- A good fit for
- Families and casual groups of three, sometimes four, buying a first strategy board game, and gift buyers who want the current edition of a name the recipient will recognise.
- We would skip it if
- Your table is usually two players, or a working fifth-edition set is on your shelf and you want nothing beyond new art and a new rulebook layout.
Reasons to consider it
- John Lewis's specification lists a full box for up to four players: 19 terrain hexes, 6 sea frame pieces, 60 roads, 20 settlements, 16 cities, 95 resource cards, 25 development cards, 2 card trays, a robber and 2 dice
- John Lewis sells the game itself, shows it in stock online and lists free returns, which covers a copy with missing or damaged parts
- CATAN's own compatibility page says the previous and current English editions can be used together, so an older expansion is not stranded
The compromises
- Player count tops out at four; five or six players need the separate 5-6 Player Expansion, which John Lewis's CATAN search did not list on 2026-10-16
- Some card backs differ between editions and the wooden roads are slightly larger; CATAN points mismatched sets to card sleeves or replacement cards
- At £49.99 the shop's standard delivery starts at £4.50 because free delivery starts above £50; Click & Collect is free over £40
What we have not verified: John Lewis is the only UK shop whose price is recorded here, so £49.99 is a single shop's reading on 2026-10-16. Its page gives no playing time; the 60 to 90 minutes comes from CATAN's own page, and new players usually run longer. The box list was not checked against a physical copy, and the length of John Lewis's return window was not read.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
CATAN: The Game (6th Edition)
At £49.99 with free returns and free collection, it is the edition CATAN's current range is built around, and a box with missing parts goes back to the shop.
Before you buy: The base box tops out at four players, and a group of five or six must buy an expansion that John Lewis did not list on the day checked.
Price checked 16 October 2026. Retailer prices can change.What changed in the sixth edition
CATAN's compatibility page lists what the new printing altered: new box sizes, box art, internal art and rulebook layouts across the line. The wooden roads are slightly larger, and the 5-6 player expansions swap brown for purple and now include a paired player rule.
The practical result is that an earlier expansion still plays with this base game. Card backs differ in some combinations, and roads of two sizes share the board. CATAN's answer is card sleeves or replacement cards, which the page says come from the CATAN Shop. It also warns that some accessories may not fit across editions, so a third-party insert or tray is worth checking before it is bought.
What is in the box, and what covers a bad copy
John Lewis's specification names 19 terrain hexes, 6 sea frame pieces, 20 settlements, 16 cities, 60 roads, 95 resource cards, 25 development cards, 18 number discs, 2 bonus victory point tiles, 4 player aids, 2 card trays, 2 dice and a robber. That is everything a game of up to four needs, and it totals 270 pieces. The box is 29.9 by 29.9 by 9 cm and weighs 1.42 kg.
John Lewis shows free returns on the listing. How long that window runs was not read, so check the returns page before relying on it for a copy with missing pieces.
Delivery is the less obvious cost. At £49.99 the basket is a penny under the £50 free-standard-delivery line, so delivery starts at £4.50, which would bring the game to £54.49 at that base rate. Click & Collect is free over £40, which makes collection the cheaper route.
The player count, and what a fifth seat costs
CATAN's page and John Lewis both give 3 to 4 players, ages 10 and up; CATAN's page says 60 to 90 minutes, and John Lewis states no time. Neither gives a two-player count.
Five or six players need the 5-6 Player Expansion. John Lewis's CATAN search returned only the base game on 2026-10-16, so no price for a bigger table is recorded here. The expansion is the number to find before a group of five or six commits to the base box.
The alternatives start lower on the count. John Lewis lists Carcassonne at £36.99 for 2 to 5 players aged 7 and up, in stock and sent from a store. Wingspan, at £59.99 for 1 to 4 players aged 10 and up, showed as out of stock online that day. CATAN is the only one of the three that needs three players to start.
New buyer or old owner: which edition to buy
New to the game: buy the sixth edition. It is the one John Lewis lists, and the one CATAN's own page shows as the base game. The listing shows no struck-through price, so there is no discount to chase at £49.99.
Own the fifth edition already, with expansions: keep it. CATAN says the editions can be played together, so a new base box buys new art and a new rulebook layout rather than access to anything. The exception is a worn-out copy, where the £49.99 sixth edition simply replaces it.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- CATAN: The Game product page (opens in a new tab)
- CATAN: Compatibility between the different English CATAN editions (opens in a new tab)
- John Lewis: Asmodee CATAN Board Game, 6th Edition (opens in a new tab)
- John Lewis: search results for CATAN (opens in a new tab)
- John Lewis: Asmodee Carcassonne Tile Game (opens in a new tab)
- John Lewis: Asmodee Wingspan Game (opens in a new tab)
