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I had not played Catan in a long time, but I recently played in a friendly tournament and am wondering (1) if there was a rule change , (2) if the rule they used is correct, or (3) if the rule I thought was correct was correct.

Scenario:

 Player A's turn
 Player A has 9 points on the board.
 Player B has 6 points on the board.
 Player C has 7 points on the board.
 Player D has 9 points on the board.

And

 Player A builds a city and reaches 10 points
 Player B then reveals 2 VP cards

Does Player B end the game with a score of 6 VP or 8 VP? (in 4th place or 3rd place (moving ahead of C)?)

Looking at the rules, on page 5, it states

You must keep Victory Point Cards hidden. You may only reveal them during your turn and when you are sure that you have 10 victory points—that is, to win the game. Of course, you can reveal them after the end of the game when someone else wins. You may play any number of Victory Point Cards during your turn, even during the turn you purchase them

Based on the wording "after the end of the game", I would assume they don't count.

Also, it's not directly answered but it seems to be mentioned here that they don't count. See related here. See also BGG link.

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  • I don't have the rules to hand right now, but I believe the is "a winner" and everyone else - determining 2nd, 3rd etc is not covered. Jan 13, 2017 at 7:06
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    I think this is not covered in standard rules but must be covered in the tournament rules. In a standard game it is irrelevant and that is why the rules are not clear on that point.. Jan 13, 2017 at 8:41
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    Looks like tournaments normally let you sit on VP cards and count them in your score (boardgamegeek.com/thread/30522/victory-point-cards)
    – virmaior
    Jan 13, 2017 at 8:48
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    @virmaior You should take the information you found and turn it into a real answer so people can vote on it.
    – diego
    Jan 13, 2017 at 16:16

1 Answer 1

8

The cards count, so 8 VP.

From the Victory Point Cards entry of the rules:

Each victory point card is worth 1 victory point. You only reveal your victory point cards when you or someone else wins the game.

The winner only reveals their VP cards after they win the game, so VP cards are worth points even before they are revealed.

Furthermore, the non-winning players are instructed to reveal their VP cards when the game ends. There would be no point in doing so if they didn't count.

Finally, a player by the name Daniel Wilson claims the following on the BoardGameGeek message boards:

I've played in the Mayfair Settlers of Catan World/North American Championship Qualifiers the last few years running at Origins, and this situation has occurred multiple times in the games I've been in.

The way this situation was officially scored is exactly the way you described. The points are there and still count, whether revealed or not.

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  • Where is that quote from? The rules directly?
    – GendoIkari
    Jan 13, 2017 at 19:14
  • @GendoIkari, Yes, from the passage on VP cards.
    – ikegami
    Jan 13, 2017 at 19:26

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