United States Regional Championship Structure
This is a walkthrough of the updated structure for the US CATAN National Championship 2025-2026 season, outlining participation rules and qualifications to help ensure a smooth experience for competitors.
The US CATAN National Championship is now a 16-player tournament. This change goes into effect for the 2025-2026 season. Individual Local Qualifier winners are now eligible to compete in their Regional Preliminary. To earn a seat at the US CATAN National Championship, players must place in the top 4 of a Regional Preliminary.
These changes align with our goals to balance participation with accessibility.
Why are you restructuring the program?
In the United States, the National Championship program has reached capacity. This new format helps expand access while maintaining fairness.
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.
What are the events in the new tournament progression?
Local Qualifier:
- Games Played: 4-6 (depending on attendance, see Rule 1.1.5)
- Scoring: Standard CATAN Scoring. Large Event rules should be used if applicable (elimination of 0-win players after Game 3)
- Advancement: Winner qualifies for Regional Preliminary
These are local events hosted by retailers, conventions, and fan organizers. They are the first level of competition. Winners advance to a Regional Preliminary based on the state where the Local Qualifier took place (see the Region Map below).
Regional Preliminary:
- Games Played: 4
- Scoring: Standard CATAN Scoring with Large Format rules if applicable (elimination of 0-win players after Game 3)
- Advancement: Top 4 players qualify for Nationals
Regional Preliminary events are hosted by a Local Qualifier organizer with support from CATAN Studio. There are three regions: Merchant, Knight, and Pirate. Regions are balanced by annual player participation and event count. Region balance will be reviewed annually.
Players are not “Region-locked,” meaning they may compete in multiple Regional Preliminaries if they win a Local Qualifier in each region. This gives them more opportunities to advance. Winners of 2025-2026 season Local Qualifier Tournaments are prohibited from participating in further Local Qualifiers in the same region.
Players may play in any Regional Preliminary events they qualify for, however they may only win one Nationals seat. Once a player qualifies for the National Championship (by finishing in the top 4 at a Regional Preliminary or Masters Invitational), they may not participate in any more Local Qualifiers or Regional Preliminaries in the same season to ensure all players have fair opportunities. If a qualified player cannot participate, their Regional Preliminary seat passes to the next highest-ranked player from their Local Qualifier. If the seat cannot be filled by someone in the top 4 at the Local Qualifier event in question, the seat remains unfilled.
Regional Preliminaries consist of four (4) games of CATAN and use standard CATAN tournament scoring. To streamline competition and ensure fair play, players with no game wins after the third match will be eliminated. There will not be a semifinal or final table. After the fourth game, the top 4 players will qualify to advance to the National Championship. Ties will be broken using standard CATAN tournament scoring (see rule 1.4.2).
Masters Invitational: an invitational event for players who have reached previous US CATAN National Championships (or placed in the Nationals 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. More information about the Masters program can be found here.
National Championship: a 16-player event for the top four players from each Regional Preliminary and the Masters Invitational.
Most players begin their tournament journey at a Local Qualifier, with winners advancing through Regionals and ultimately to Nationals.
What are the Region boundaries?
Below are the Region boundaries for the 2025-2026 season. Regional balance will be re-evaluated annually.
What is the new National Championship format?
Players’ scores from Regional Preliminaries and the Masters Invitational will be consolidated to determine semifinal table assignments.
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.
What is happening to the Master’s Program?
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 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 not yet on the Masters list who qualify for the National Championship via Regionals are eligible for a Masters invitation in future seasons.
The only major Masters format change is that all games played will now be base CATAN. Specifics on any other minor changes to the Masters program will come by the end of 2025.
The Masters Invitational will occur annually and will invite up to 64 players based on current standings. This is unchanged from the current format.
Other Frequently-Asked Questions
What happens if I win more than one Local Qualifier?
Since the season turned over before Regions were fully demarcated, any player who has won more than one qualifier in the same region will retain qualification based on the first event they won. Any subsequent wins will see qualification fall to the next player in the rankings.
As of October 2, 2025 (the announcement date of region lines for 2025-2026), players who have won a local qualifier are prohibited from playing in additional local qualifiers in the same region.
Players may attempt to qualify in all three regions (Merchant, Knight, and Pirate), but may only hold one qualification for each region.
May I compete in multiple Regional Preliminaries?
Yes. Players may attempt to qualify for the National Championship in all Regional Preliminaries, but once they have successfully qualified for the National Championship by finishing in the top 4 at a Regional Preliminary, they are not allowed to continue to play in Regional Preliminary events.
Example #1: Morgan has won Local Qualifiers in California and Indiana. They have therefore qualified in both the Merchant and Knight regions. When they compete in the Merchant Regional Preliminary, they place third, which qualifies them for the National Championship. They must now relinquish their seat in the Knight Regional Preliminary. Their seat at the Knight Regional will now go to the player who placed next at the final table in their Local Qualifier.
Example #2: Jamie has won a Local Qualifier in New York, and is also scheduled to compete in the Masters Invitational. They do not finish in the top 4 at Masters, and therefore may compete in the Pirate Regional Preliminary to attempt to qualify for the National Championship.
What happens if a qualified player can’t attend Regionals or Nationals?
Their seat will fall to the next player in their qualifying event.
Example #1: Alex won a Local Qualifier in the Pirate Region, but is unable to attend the Pirate Regional Preliminary. Their seat would fall to the 2nd place player at the Local Qualifier.
Example #2: Taylor placed 4th in the Knight Regional Preliminary, qualifying for the National Championship. They are unable to attend the National Championship. The person who placed 5th at the Knight Regional would now take their seat.
