Found out the Settlers of Catan devs almost called it something way worse

I was reading the BGG history wiki last night while waiting for my turn in a 6 player game. The original name the designer wanted was "Die Siedler von Catan" obviously but before that he nearly went with "Prophezeiung" or something like that. That would have been impossible for my group to pronounce. Can you imagine trying to get new players excited about a game called Prophezeiung?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan_ellis1mo ago

Oh man, "Prophezeiung" is such a mouthful. My group has a hard enough time saying "Carcassonne" without stumbling, so that would have been a total flop at our table. We actually had a similar situation trying to get people into "Die Macher" but nobody could say it right so we just called it "the German election game." I bet if they'd kept the original name it would have scared off a ton of casual players before they even got to try the gameplay.

the_pat1mo ago

You know, I used to think names didn't matter that much. Figured people would just learn them. But you're totally right about "Prophezeiung." That word is a beast. Changed my mind completely. Game publishers definitely made the right call changing it.