United States

The CATAN Championship in the United States

Updates for 2025-2026 Season

The US CATAN National Championship will now become a 16-player tournament. This change goes into effect for the 2025-2026 season. Individual local qualifier winners are eligible to compete in their Regional Preliminary. Players qualify for the US CATAN National Championship by finishing in the top 4 at a Regional Preliminary.

Why are you restructuring the program?

Our National Championship program is at capacity. Without introducing a format change, we were going to be forced to cap the number of qualifiers and exclude additional players from participating.

Introducing Regionals should reduce the out-of-pocket travel costs for many players, making the program more approachable and affordable for a wider group of players.

Reducing the size of the National Championship enables us to host a more prestigious event that can be more easily broadcast, or even opened up to in-person spectators.

Local Qualifier: Local events hosted by retailers, conventions, and organizers. The first level of competition. Winners advance to a Regional Preliminary based on the state where the Local Qualifier took place.

Regional Preliminary: Regional events hosted by a Local Qualifier organizer with support from CATAN Studio. The top four players from each Regional Preliminary advance to Nationals. There will be three regions (West, Central, and East).

Masters Invitational: an invitational event for players who have reached previous US CATAN National Championships (or placed top 16 under the pre-2025 format). The top 4 US-based players from the Masters Invitational will also be seated at the National Championship.

National Championship: a 16-player event for the top four players from each Regional Preliminary and the Masters Invitational.

  • The USA will contain three (3) geographical regions (West, Central, East).
  • Players must qualify for Regional Preliminaries by winning a local qualifier event in that region. The Regional Preliminary event they may attend is determined by the location of their local qualifier.
  • The Masters Invitational is an invitation-based Preliminary for past Nationals Semifinalists. Current Masters players will receive event invitations in rank order. The top 4 US-based players at the Masters Invitational event will qualify for the US National Championship.
  • Players who place in the top 4 of a Regional Preliminary under this new system will be added the Masters list for subsequent seasons. Specifics on other changes to the Masters program will come by the end of 2025, but the only major change is that all games played will now be base CATAN.
  • Players are not “Region-locked,” meaning they may attempt to qualify in multiple regions. This will give players more opportunities to advance to National Semifinals. Players may play in any Regional Preliminary events they qualify for, however they may only win one Semifinals seat. Once a player qualifies for Semifinals they may not participate in future Regional Preliminary events in the same season.
  • Regional Preliminaries will consist of four (4) games of CATAN, scored with the existing scoring system (and using the new Large Event rules to eliminate 0-win players after Game 3).
  • After the fourth game, the top 4 players will qualify to advance to the National Championship.

  • All Regional Preliminary and Masters Invitational scores will be combined and players will be ranked and assigned a semifinal table accordingly.
  • Games will be played sequentially and all four tables will be recorded/livestreamed over two days (3 games on Day 1, the 4th game the morning of Day 2).
  • The winners will play at a final table in the afternoon of Day 2.
  • The winner of the Final Table will be the National Champion.

The Masters Invitational Program will return to its roots, once again becoming a base game event. It will still be an alternate pathway for players with Masters Points to earn a seat at Nationals. The top 4 US-based players at the Masters Invitational will also earn seats at the US National Championship, joining the top 4 finishers from each of the three Regional Preliminaries.

The Masters Invitational will occur annually and will invite up to 64 players based on current standings.  This is unchanged from the current format.

A player who has qualified for the US CATAN National Championship may not participate in any further qualifiers or Regional Preliminaries for that season.

Region boundaries will be announced in fall of 2025.

CATAN Studio will host the 2025 United States Championship in Denver, CO, August 16-17, 2025. Qualified players should have received invitations. If you believe you have qualified but have not received an invitation, first, check your spam folder(s), then email op@catanstudio.com to follow up if you can’t find it.

Every two years CATAN Studio sends the United States National Champions to the CATAN World Championship tournament. The 2025 United States Champion will compete in the 2027 World Championship, location and date TBD. The United States champion will also compete in the Americas tournament, a new event taking place in the off-years from the World Championship. We will share details for the next Americas Tournament as soon as possible.

If you have any questions about CATAN Organized Play, please email op@catanstudio.com.

NOTE: All participants must be residents of the United States and be 18+ years of age. You should be able to prove residency with an official ID card and/or a piece of mail (such as a utility bill) sent to a United States residential address. Winners of current season Qualifier Tournaments are not allowed to play in additional Qualifier events leading up to the next National Championship.

2024 Champion

Congratulations to the United States 2024 Champion, Drew Elliott!

Drew participated in the CATAN World Championship in Stuttgart, Germany, April 4-6 2025, advancing to the Semifinals and finishing 9th overall. He will also participate in the next CATAN Americas Championship, taking place in 2026.

Upcoming National Championship Qualifiers

Click here to find tournaments near you!