The most luxurious Catan upgrades are on Kickstarter

For fans of Catan, getting Catan 3D is considered a deluxe upgrade. Instead of playing with two-dimensional pieces, you get 3D game pieces, which bring the world to life a little more. However, at over $150, it’s not the luxury upgrade you may be expecting, especially compared to the glow-up that games like Monopoly, Clue, and others have gotten in their luxury board game upgrades. Catan deserves better 3D pieces — ones made out of wood, metal, resin, and gemstone — and the company Fanroll has delivered just that in collaboration with Benjamin and Guido Teuber, sons of Catan creator Klaus Teuber.

The Catan Masterpiece Series has just launched on Kickstarter, and it’s filled with cosmetic options at multiple price points (and levels of quality), enabling you to upgrade your game how you see fit. If you pledge $1, you can build your own bundle with just the pieces that you want by using Kickstarter’s Add-on section. Or you can choose from many bundle options, which Fanroll aims to deliver in December. The early-bird special (two 10mm mini dice) is available to all backers who pledge within the first two days of the campaign.

There’s the $25 Explorer bundle that includes two plastic Ancient Civilizations (plus two enamel pins), or the $69 Harbormaster bundle that includes two plastic Ancient Civilizations, a full set of Nine Ports, a wooden dice set, and a resin Robber piece. Going up to the $99 Traditionalist bundle gets you a metal Robber piece, some upgraded “sharp edge” dice, a metal set of player pieces, a set of Nine Ports, the two plastic Ancient Civs, plus some pins. The bundles go all the way up to $999, and include gemstone, sparkle resin, metal, and painted wood pieces.

Backing a Kickstarter always comes with some risk of things not panning out as planned, even though the Catan Masterpiece Series hit its $50,000 goal within an hour of launching. Funding will be collected through March 21, and Fanroll has plans for over 15 stretch goals, depending on how well it does.