Random Team Generator
Paste names, choose how many teams to create, and generate random or skill-balanced teams.
Catan Board Generator
Generate Catan-style board setups with classic or 5-6 player layouts, number-token rules, resource clustering controls, and ports.
Board options
Generated board
Board balance
How to use this Catan board generator
Use this generator before setup when you want a fresh board that still respects the house rules your table prefers. Fan-made setup helper; not affiliated with Catan or its publishers.
- Choose Classic for a standard three- or four-player map, or Expansion for a larger five- or six-player map.
- Pick a resource layout. Balanced shuffle tries to reduce adjacent resource clusters, while desert near center gives the robber a more familiar starting position.
- Pick a number layout. Balanced random searches for a fair spread, while fully random is best for chaotic variants.
- Adjust the touch-rule switches to match your table, including adjacent 6 and 8 tokens, adjacent 2 and 12 tokens, same numbers touching, or same resources touching.
- Click Generate Board whenever you want a fresh shuffle with the selected options.
Catan Board Generator features
- Generate classic three- to four-player Catan boards.
- Generate larger 5-6 player board layouts.
- Control whether 6 and 8 number tokens can touch.
- Control whether 2 and 12 number tokens can touch.
- Control whether identical number tokens can touch.
- Control whether identical resource tiles can touch.
- Choose balanced or fully random number-token placement.
- Choose balanced, center-desert, or fully random resource placement.
- Generate a fresh board with one button for quick game-night setup.
Catan map generator for fair tabletop setup
Catan Board Generator creates a complete starting island for Catan-style tabletop play. It is built for players who like randomized maps but do not want a board that accidentally hands one intersection all the best production, buries a key resource behind weak numbers, or puts the most valuable number tokens shoulder to shoulder. The generator supports standard classic boards and larger 5-6 player layouts, and it keeps the most common house-rule switches close to the map so setup stays quick.
The generator keeps setup quick by using one action for a fresh shuffle. Choose the options your table wants, click Generate Board, and the map is rebuilt with a new internal shuffle so each result feels like a newly mixed board.
Balanced boards are not meant to remove all luck from Catan. Dice rolls, trading, robber timing, settlement choices, and player negotiation still decide the game. The goal is narrower: avoid starting maps that feel distorted before the first settlement is placed. Separating terrain constraints from number-token constraints lets a group decide exactly how structured or wild the board should be.
For a stricter setup, keep 6 and 8 separated and turn off any other touching options your group avoids. For a teaching game, consider desert near center so the robber is easy to find and the island feels familiar. For experienced players who enjoy volatile games, allow more touching options and use fully random resources or numbers.
How boards are generated
The generator starts from the terrain distribution for the selected map size. Classic boards use three brick, four lumber, four wool, four grain, three ore, and one desert tile. Expansion boards use a larger distribution with five brick, six lumber, six wool, six grain, five ore, and two desert tiles. Resource tiles are shuffled with an internal pseudo-random generator each time Generate Board is clicked.
When same-resource touching is disabled, the generator builds a constrained terrain layout so matching non-desert resources do not border each other. When same-resource touching is enabled, balanced resource placement searches many shuffled terrain layouts and prefers layouts with fewer adjacent matching resources.
Number tokens are placed only on non-desert tiles. Balanced number placement repeatedly shuffles the token bag and scores each candidate by looking for adjacent high-production 6 and 8 tokens, adjacent low-production 2 and 12 tokens, repeated touching numbers, and uneven production spread across resources. The rule switches decide which contacts are allowed.
The board balance score is a setup diagnostic, not a promise that the game itself is balanced. It penalizes visible board risks: hot-number adjacency, repeated-number adjacency, low-number adjacency when disallowed, resource clusters, large differences in total pip value by resource type, and strong harbor bonuses from ports next to useful production. The harbor bonus penalty is capped at 12 points of the 100-point score. A high score means the generated setup follows the selected constraints closely; a lower score means the board is more volatile or the selected constraints were difficult to satisfy together.
Catan Board Generator FAQ
Does this create an official Catan board?
No. This is a fan-made setup helper for Catan-style tabletop play. It uses standard resource and number-token counts for classic and 5-6 player layouts, but you should always follow the rulebook for official tournament or event play.
Does Generate Board make a new layout each time?
Yes. Each click uses a fresh internal shuffle while keeping the selected board size, layout modes, port mode, and other options.
Should 6 and 8 be allowed to touch?
Most groups avoid adjacent 6 and 8 tokens because those are the highest-probability production numbers. Turning the switch on allows more swingy maps.
Why does the balance panel show conflicts?
Some option combinations are strict, especially on the larger board. The generator treats disabled touching rules as hard constraints where possible, then shows any remaining conflicts so the board balance is easy to audit.
Are ports included?
Yes. The generator creates the correct number of port labels for the selected map size and can show balanced random ports, fully random ports, or hide ports when your group wants to place harbors manually. Strong nearby port pairings can subtract up to 12 points from the board balance score.
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