We all know the world was introduced to Catan in 1995, but two of the questions I am asked most often is where and on what date.
I had always presumed it was at Spiel in late 1995.... I was wrong.
After an another request for this info I decided to finally do some digging. I looked online and searched sites without success. I went through Klaus Teuber's brilliant biography and the date is not listed in there either.
After much searching I suddenly had a brainwave. Why not simply ask Catan!
In the past I have been very fortunate to have swapped a couple of emails with Benjamin Teuber, the Managing Director of GmbH and an accomplished Game Designer like his father. I got a quick reply that answered my query completely. His message read:
Hi Nigel,
We say the 'birthday“ of Catan, so to say, i.e. the period when it was launched, was during the Spielwarenmesse in Nürnberg, 1995.
To give it a date, we chose the 2.2.1995, which was one of the days during Nürnberg.
Cheers,
Benny
So the offical birth date of Catan should now be acknowledged as 2 February 1995.
In future in our house 2 Feb is going to be Catan Day and a small party and game will be held each year.