Has the number of Knight/Year of Plenty/Road Building/Victory Point/Monopoly cards in Settlers of Catan's development card deck evolved across editions, or is the latest edition the same as the first?
If so, what was its progression?
It has stayed the same from the beginning (though Mayfair has changed some rules and the map in the last edition):
- 14 Soldiers
- 5 Victory Points
- 2 Monopoly
- 2 Road Building
- 2 Year of Plenty
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1You are correct. One interesting thing to note is that the development cards in the very old versions were on much thicker cardstock. That is why many people refer to them as "stiffy" cards. – Apreche May 16 '11 at 12:08
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@Apreche Interesting, I've heard them called "spiffies" with a "p," with the word applied to any game's special cards, like Monopoly's Chance and Community Chest cards. – warbaker May 17 '11 at 22:21
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They did change "Soldier" to "Knight" in the edition with interlocking ocean (Seafarers). – user13154 Jul 15 '15 at 5:23
I've seen no indications of changes by edition, but note that Cities and Knights alters it.
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Cities and Knights alters it, as does the 5-6 player expansion and a couple Traders and Barbarians scenarios. – Greg May 17 '11 at 14:11
As I recall, my copy of the original Mayfair 4-player edition (with the teeny tiny cards) combined the Kosmos 4-player and 5-6 player decks, and that was fixed when Mayfair started using the Kosmos materials in later editions. It's possible I just had a bad copy, though.
