Weekly summaries of our group's Wednesday night Catan games

The winter standings (in wins; point totals to come soon):

(1) *Steve: 5 (2) *Scott: 5 (3) *Pat: 4 (4) *Kristen: 3 (5) Kim: 2** (6) *Kathryn: 2 (7) Kevin: 0

*Denotes status as a regular

**Two point win

With pride, I admit I lasted four years of college without ever having tried coffee. It wasn't until I relaxed my discipline for a substance that to my younger, less mature self seemed only appropriate for women and Europeans, stumbled upon yet another article championing the positive effects of caffeine on health and running, and overcame childhood images of half-drunk Styrofoam containers of cold brown stuff that wasn't chocolate milk that I decided to try a cup. It was more powerful than I had imagined, and much more tasty. Knowing the seed was within me for addiction, I vowed to limit my coffee intake to special occasions and/or at the most, a small mug per week.

For the last seven weeks, I've reserved my weekly cup before these journal entries in the hopes that the caffeine boost will help me writer faster and with more inspiration. I don't know if it's helped, but I've learned that it's possible to be mildly addicted to an activity performed just once per week. I guess I should have seen that coming, for the Wednesday night Settlers crew has been addicted to a weekly fix for over a year now.

Like the winning plastic disc in connect four, Catan has settled into a neat place in our lives. As stated in previous entries, we typically don't play more than one night per week to keep the stakes high on Wednesdays and the weekends open to other explorations. We've also moved away from the expansion versions because at this point in our careers, we know what we want. After a period of ups and downs, the group has never been so content.

Besides the actual game play, which remains riveting and unpredictable, everything else happens as it always does.

7:30 - 7:40: Kathryn arrives straight from work (unless she's running behind, in which case she's there by 8:05). She hasn't eaten dinner so she usually brings Asian food not quite mainstream enough for most of the group's tastes.

7:50 - 8:00: Like two single bar goers (except they're brothers), Steve and Scott arrive separately but later go home together. Scott enters through the front and greets Coco, Pat and Kristen's dog. Since the young married couple first bought their house a few years ago, Steve's had to enter through the back strictly because of Coco. They share a bond that so excites the lively mixed breed she pees upon his touch, which is why Steve draws her out the back so she can do so away from Pat and Kristen's floors.

8:10: Catan board is set up. After ensuring he's got every hexagon to ensure fair variety, Pat carefully places them within the larger border. The gold one (which we take from the other versions) always seems to land on the outside and its corresponding number is usually low.

8:30: The last of the two original settlements are placed... carefully. It's the only time when it's acceptable (though still internally frowned upon) to take as much time as you need. For some reason -- perhaps because of the anticipation -- near high quality (but unrelated) conversation is always made. This past Wednesday it concerned country music.

8:31: Cough. Settle. Some players are better at this ritualistic opening than others. Its origins can be attributed to some combination of Pat and Steve.

9:15: Winner of first game is crowned. That person is now officially in "coast mode" and can play pressure-free the next game. (Pat doesn't necessarily agree with this assessment but he sees its draw). Steve and Kristen smoke. Nobody knows what's said out there. Pat and Scott set up the next game. Everybody knows they recap previous game while doing so. Kathryn makes brownies.

9:30: Important basketball game on TV is over. Country playlist is turned on.

10:05: Winner of game two nears. No one wants to leave the night a double-loser. Tensions rise. Those who know they've got no chance try desperately for a respectable showing towards the new points title instituted this season. Minds drift towards spades or perhaps even a third game. Will Kathryn stay? Can we convince Kristen to play?

10:15: The game ends. Pat, Steve, and Scott ready for spades, while deciding who, between Kristen and Kathryn, will be more easily seduced into the two versus two card game. They play a match (as Steve once referred to it), remain unsatisfied, play a second game, wish it would end already, and officially end their Wednesday night.

...

Deviation from this formula at this point represents more of a risk than a reward for the Wednesday night crew (as evidenced by the lukewarm reception of Seafarers). We know who we are in the context of Catan (though we are still waiting to meet a group equally as dedicated/colorful/normal as us).

What I don't know, until maybe now, is what Catan is in the context of the world and the world of gaming. Then, just as it eventually hit Tom Hanks' character in "Catch Me If You Can" while chasing Leo Dicaprio's character, Frank Abgnale, Jr., I realized that, like Frank, Catan is still a teenager, born in 1995.

The 19 year-old child of Klaus Teuber, 62, is incredibly young compared to conventional board games and games in general. At the same time, it's credited by many as launching the modern, anti-Monopoly board game era, forcing it into situations and conversations (or, in the case of Frank, cons) beyond its years. Catan hasn't even been deeply involved with women yet, though, like Frank, it's also decidedly more advanced in this area than its peers as evidenced by the relatively solid base of female players. Case in point: it led to a make-out in the show, "Chicago Fire."

The game and Frank also have questionably involved parents, at least to their first-borns. We know Frank Abganale, Sr. was perhaps too condoning of his son's activities and his mother should have focused on his upbringing and enormous potential rather than another man, but did you know that Klaus Teuber was once a dentist, is now a full time game designer with an endless capacity for Catan spin-offs, and may take a few weeks to respond to website inquiries, if at all, according to Catan.com's contact page?

Instead of fretting over Catan's place (and why it wasn't as widespread as it ought to be) as Hanks once fretted over Frank's annual holiday calls, I laughed aloud by myself (which I've been doing more as my time working from home has increased) and considered the mattered closed for the time being when I realized the implications of a Settlers story that's still being written. "You're calling me because you have no one else!" Hanks tells Frank over the phone before ending the call. At that point, he knew the con man would come to him, just as I know the game will some day find its true place in the world, universal acknowledgment as the greatest game ever created.

Quick highlights from Wednesday night's games: Have Steve and I been secretly practicing at 70 S. 2nd St.? (No.) The "roommates" have combined to win the last four games, with the last three taken by me (the last two via some favorable dice rolls).

-Despite being in fourth place in wins, Kristen is second in total points. Steve (tied for first) is second to last in points by a wide margin.