Every year, our CATAN Studio team looks forward to hosting amazing tournaments and events with our community. We care deeply about these events, but we care even more for the health and safety of our community. As such, we followed the government’s recommendations regarding the spread of COVID-19 and suspended all organized play activity through June 1, 2020.

Some areas are beginning to re-open to small events and retail spaces. Tournament hosts have begun to schedule their CATAN tournaments in accordance with their local guidelines. Please use your best judgement to decide if your attendance is safe or appropriate. Please follow physical distancing guidelines. Wear a mask. Consider using gloves. Do not attend an event if you are sick or are high risk.

We urge you to be leaders in your community and to engage in social distancing during this critical time.

Look for more information about future plans in the coming days. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to monitor the ongoing situation.

Please review the FAQ below and email [email protected] with any additional questions or concerns you may have.

 

Will my local qualifying tournament be canceled?

The health and safety of our tournament players and hosts is our highest priority. Additionally, we want to ensure that all qualifying tournaments are being held fairly. 

To accomplish this, we asked all tournament hosts to postpone their events until June 1, 2020, based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

We will work with tournament hosts to try and get as many of them rescheduled as possible.

 

When will the National Tournament for my country be held? **Updated 26 January 2021**

CATAN National Tournaments in each country may be subject to change, based on the events they are held at, and the evolving conditions in those countries. Currently, the planned dates are:

United States: The United States CATAN National Championship for 2020 has been cancelled. Qualified players should have received email communication from Organized Play regarding their qualification status. All Qualifier winners will have a seat at the next National Championship event. CATAN Studio is evaluating the possibility of hosting an in-person National Championship in the Fall of 2021 but we will not make a decision until later this year. Expect further communication from CATAN Studio staff. (updated 26 January 2021)

Canada: The Canada CATAN National Championship for 2020 has been cancelled. Qualified players should have received email communication from Organized Play regarding their qualification status. All Qualifier winners will have a seat at the next National Championship event. CATAN Studio is evaluating the possibility of hosting an in-person National Championship in the Fall of 2021 but we will not make a decision until later this year. Expect further communication from CATAN Studio staff. (updated 26 January 2021)

United Kingdom: UK Games Expo has been canceled for 2020. We will send updated information about the U.K. Championship once we can confirm new plans. CATAN Studio is evaluating the possibility of hosting an in-person National Championship sometime in 2021 but we will not make a decision until later this year. Expect further communication from CATAN Studio staff. (updated 26 January 2021)

Australia: The CATAN National Championship in Australia has been postponed for 2020. All state and national participants will compete in rescheduled competitions in the first half of 2021. (updated 26 June 2020)

Ireland: The CATAN National Championship in the Republic of Ireland has been indefinitely postponed. The Irish Catan Association will reschedule the event when it is safe to do so. (updated 12 May 2020)

 

I already booked travel to a National Championship. What can I do?

We understand that these changes will impact everyone in different ways and will have a financial impact on some. We can only empathize and provide you with information on how you can look into getting refunds from conventions and airlines.

• Every airline has a different rebooking or refund policy. Please contact your airline directly. 
• Origins Game Fair offers reimbursement on badges. 
• UK Games Expo has guaranteed full refunds for ticket fees.

 

Will the CATAN World Championship be held this year? **Updated 26 January 2021**

We at CATAN Studio want nothing more than to put on the best event possible, and make sure the event is accessible for as many of our international champions as possible. The hotel and venue remains the Grand Hotel Excelsior, Valletta, Malta, but we have postponed the event until November 2022. New dates and more details will be forthcoming.

What this means for players:

• All players who have already qualified for the current World Championship will remain qualified to play in 2022.
• We will have one, potentially two more full season(s) ahead of the new dates, so there may be additional National Champion(s) from each country attending the event as well.
• Current qualified winners must abstain from playing in qualifier tournaments for one additional year.

We know that this is disappointing for you; it’s very disappointing for us as well. However, the CWC is a global event, and many countries will not be able to have a National Championship until the COVID-19 crisis has passed. We want to make sure that as many countries can participate as possible. We are hopeful that when the event takes place, it will be the best and largest World Championship yet.

Updates regarding the CATAN World Championship will be sent via email to participants and publishing partners, on our Facebook and Twitter pages, and this website.