How to play Isleborn
Anyone who has played Catan will feel at home in Isleborn. You settle an island, collect resources with the dice and trade for whatever you're missing. The first player to 10 points wins.
Below are the full rules and a bit of strategy. If you'd rather learn by playing, the tutorial inside the game walks you through it step by step.
The goal
The first player to reach 10 victory points wins. Against bots you can also play to 8 or 12. Points come from:
- Each settlement: 1 point
- Each city: 2 points
- Longest road: 2 points (at least 5 unbroken pieces)
- Largest army: 2 points (at least 3 knights)
- Victory Point cards: 1 point each, hidden until the game ends
The island and its resources
The island is made of hexagonal tiles and is shuffled every game. Each tile produces one resource:
- Forest gives wood
- Hills give brick
- Pasture gives sheep
- Fields give wheat
- Mountains give ore
- Desert gives nothing. The robber starts there.
The number on a tile tells you which roll makes it produce. 6 and 8 come up most often, which is why they're printed in red. 2 and 12 are the rarest. The dots under each number show how likely it is: more dots, better odds.
Setup
At the start, everyone places one settlement and a road attached to it, in turn. Then the order reverses and everyone places a second settlement and road, so the first player places their second one last.
Your second settlement immediately gives you one resource from each tile around it. Settlements go on tile corners, and two settlements can never sit on neighbouring corners. There must always be at least one empty corner between them.
What happens on a turn
On your turn you roll two dice. Every tile showing that number produces: each settlement next to it earns 1 resource and each city earns 2. This applies to everyone at the table, not just the player who rolled.
After rolling you can build and trade in any order. When you're done, you end your turn.
| Build | Cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Road | 1 wood, 1 brick | Reach new corners |
| Settlement | 1 wood, 1 brick, 1 sheep, 1 wheat | 1 point and more production |
| City | 2 wheat, 3 ore | Upgrades a settlement: 2 points, double production |
| Development card | 1 sheep, 1 wheat, 1 ore | A knight, a point or a special move |
New settlements must connect to your own road, and the empty-corner rule still applies. Each player has 15 roads, 5 settlements and 4 cities.
Trading
You never get enough of everything, so trading is half the game.
- With the bank: give 4 of the same resource and take any 1.
- With a harbour: settle next to a harbour for a better rate. General harbours trade 3 for 1, resource harbours trade 2 for 1 in their resource.
- With players: put an offer on the table. When someone offers you a trade you can accept, decline or make a counter-offer.
Rolling a 7: the robber
No tile produces on a 7. Instead, everyone holding more than 7 cards discards half of them, rounded down (with 9 cards you discard 4).
Then the player who rolled moves the robber to another tile, picks one of the players with a building on it and takes a random card from them. That tile produces nothing until the robber moves on.
Development cards
Only you see which development card you drew. You can play at most one per turn, and never on the turn you bought it.
- Knight: move the robber and steal a card. The first player to play 3 knights takes the Largest Army.
- Road Building: build two roads for free.
- Year of Plenty: take any two resources from the bank.
- Monopoly: name a resource and every other player hands you all of theirs.
- Victory Point: a hidden point.
The deck has 14 knights, 5 victory points, 2 road building, 2 year of plenty and 2 monopoly cards.
Longest road and largest army
The first player with an unbroken road of at least 5 pieces takes the Longest Road and its 2 points. If someone builds a longer one, it moves to them. Placing a settlement in the middle of a rival's road cuts it in two.
The Largest Army works the same way: the first player to play 3 knights takes it, and loses it if someone plays more.
Tips to win
- Put your first settlements on common numbers like 6, 8, 5 and 9. Corners with more dots produce more.
- Touch different resources. A player who only collects the same two will be hunting for trades every turn.
- Early on, wood and brick matter most for roads and settlements. Later you'll need wheat and ore, because that's what cities are made of.
- If you collect a lot of one resource, settle on its harbour. A 2 for 1 harbour can swing the whole game.
- Don't sit on more than 7 cards. When a 7 comes, half of them are gone.
- Put the robber on the leader's best tile.
- Cities are the fastest points: the same corner produces twice as much and scores one more point.
Playing online
- Tap Find Match to look for a 5-player table. The game starts when it's full.
- To play with friends, choose Play with friends, create a room and send them the 4-letter room code. Empty seats are filled by bots.
- To play alone, set up a game against 1 to 5 players with bots, and choose how strong they play.
- If someone doesn't take their turn, a bot plays for them so the game keeps moving. They can take back control when they return.
- No sign-up and nothing to download. On iPhone, use Safari's Share menu and Add to Home Screen to open it like an app.
How is it different from Catan?
The core rules are the same as classic Catan, so if you know Catan you can play right away. The differences:
- With five players the island grows: 30 tiles, two deserts, 11 harbours and 24 of each resource in the bank.
- It runs in your browser, with no install or account.
- Play alone against bots, or online with up to 5 people.
- An optional Friendly robber rule: the robber can't be placed on a player with fewer than 3 points.
Frequently asked questions
How many players?
1 to 5 against bots. Online matchmaking is for 5 players, and friend rooms seat 4 or 5.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. The game was designed for phones first and works the same on a computer.
How long does a game take?
Usually 20 to 30 minutes against bots. Online tables can take a little longer.
What if I stop in the middle?
Games against bots save automatically, so you can pick up where you left off.
Isleborn is an independent game, not affiliated with or endorsed by Catan GmbH. Catan is a registered trademark of Catan GmbH.