CATAN victory points: cities, bonuses and winning

The 2025 CATAN base-game rules end the game at 10 or more victory points on your own turn. This guide focuses on score changes and bonus ownership, rather than repeating the building-cost reference.

Count buildings that are on the board

What you have	Victory points
Each settlement	1
Each city	2 total
Longest Route tile	2
Largest Army tile	2
Each hidden Victory Point card	1
Roads or unplayed Knights alone	0

A city replaces a settlement. It is worth two points total, not two plus the replaced settlement’s one. If you upgrade a settlement while on seven points, you move to eight, not nine.

Keep resource cards separate from scoring. Holding enough to buy a city does not score the city; you must make the legal purchase. An ordinary development card does not automatically award a point either.

Longest Route is one continuous route

The first player to make a continuous route of at least five roads takes the tile. A challenger must exceed the holder’s route length; tying it leaves ownership unchanged. Older editions call this Longest Road.

Do not add together different branches as if they were all one route. Follow a continuous path without counting any road segment twice. Your own buildings do not interrupt it, but an opponent’s settlement can split it.

Suppose you hold the tile with a six-road route and another player also reaches six. You keep the two points. If they reach seven, they take the tile: your score falls by two and theirs rises by two.

After an interruption, check ownership again. If the holder still qualifies for the longest route, including a tie, they retain it. Otherwise a single qualifying leader receives it; if there is no unique qualifying recipient, return the tile to the supply. A tile in the supply gives nobody points.

Largest Army counts played Knights

The first player with three played Knights takes Largest Army. A challenger needs more played Knights than the holder; a tie does not transfer it. Knights still hidden in a hand do not count.

If you hold the tile with three Knights and another player plays their third, nothing changes. Their fourth transfers the tile and its two points. You cannot buy and immediately play an ordinary Knight to make that transfer; the normal development-card timing still applies.

Hidden cards and a winning turn

Keep Victory Point cards hidden until revealing them to show a win. They count toward your own total, and the ordinary restrictions on playing only one development card, or waiting until a later turn, do not prevent revealing enough of them to win.

Example: four settlements and two cities give 4 + 4 = 8 points. You hold one Victory Point card, giving nine. On your turn you buy a development card that is another Victory Point card. Reveal both to show ten and end the game immediately.

By contrast, taking a bonus tile during another player’s turn does not let you declare victory then. You must still have ten when your turn arrives. If you lose the tile before then, recalculate your total.

Check before declaring victory

1. Count current settlements and cities, without double-counting upgrades.
2. Add only bonus tiles you currently own.
3. Add your Victory Point cards.
4. Confirm it is your turn and the total is at least ten.

There is no final round in this base game. Expansions have different targets and rules; do not import them here. For planning purchases, see CATAN beginner strategy.