CATAN Masters Invitational

The CATAN Masters Invitational is a special tournament for the Master CATAN player.

Beginning with the 2025-2026 season, the Masters Invitational will become a United States Regional-level event. The top four US-based players at Masters will join the top players from the geographic regions at the US Nationals Semifinals. Players from Canada or the United Kingdom who place in the top 4 at Masters will also earn seats in their country’s next National Championship.

How To Qualify:

To qualify for the Masters Invitational Tournament, you must have placed in the Top 16 at any previous year’s National Championship. For United States players beginning with the 2025-2026 season, this means placing in the top 4 of one of the geographic Regional Preliminary events.

How To Attend:

The CATAN Studio Organized Play team will send invitations in rank order to players on the Masters list. If those players don’t respond by a certain date, then open seats are offered to the next block of players, and so on until the seats are filled.

We will place late RSVPs on a waiting list.

This program began with the 2016 World Championship in Durango, Colorado. We awarded players on the previous Masters list 1 point to start off the program. Presently, this program is active in the United States, Canada (as of 2019), and the United Kingdom (as of 2022).

2025 Winners

Congratulations to our 2025 Masters Invitational Winners!

Steven Gurney-Goldman, Jack Usher, Katie Alex, and Martin Smith were the top 4 players this year. Jack was unable to stay and play in Nationals, so Ian Dembsky gained a seat for finishing 5th. Good job all!

How To Earn Points:

Once qualified by placing in the top 16 at their National Championship, players will earn points as follows.

* Important: Players may earn a maximum of one (1) point per year for attending a Regionals event (USA only). A player does not earn points for attending Regionals/their National Championship the year they qualify (by reaching the top 16). They may earn an additional point for reaching the Final Table (max of 2 points that year).

Points Earned Table updated 22 August 2025

CATAN Masters Invitational 2026

The next Masters Invitational will take place at Origins Game Fair on June 20, 2026 in Columbus, OH.

Masters 2026 is currently full! To be placed on the waitlist, please fill out this form.

Masters is now a “region” in the US Program. The CATAN Masters Invitational format has changed to include only Base Game play. Masters will continue to include non-US players. The top 4 US-based finishers will advance to the United States CATAN National Championship.

Read more about the changes to the US National Championship.

Prizes:

All participants will receive a CATAN Masters t-shirt, as well as a bag of CATAN goodies. 

The top four players at the 2025 Masters Invitational will win a seat at their country’s next National Championship event. If a player in the top four has already qualified for their National Championship, the next person in the final rankings will qualify for their National. In addition, the top 4 US-based players will receive an entry into the next US National Championship regardless of placement in the top 4 overall.

Upcoming National Championships:

  • United States: TBD / Fall 2026
  • Canada: TBD / Summer 2026
  • United Kingdom: Birmingham (UK Games Expo) / May 29-31, 2026