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My basic understanding is that all trades must involve the player whose turn it is.

Alice, whose turn it is, has ore and wants wheat. Bob wants ore and offers brick, which is not acceptable to Alice. Carol wants brick, and is willing to give wheat for it. So a three way trade would have Alice sending ore to Bob, Bob sending brick to Carol, and Carol sending wheat to Alice. Put another way, Alice gives ore to Bob and receives wheat from Carol.

Would such a trade be permitted under the rules? Looked at one way, Alice has dealt with both Bob and Carol. Looked at another way, there was a Bob to Carol leg (Bob sends brick to Carol) that did not involve Alice.

That is unless Alice first trades ore for brick with Bob, then brick for wheat with Carol. Can these two trades be made "simultaneous" through an "escrow" type arrangement? Or is this feature only reserved for say, "house rules?"

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    I like the letters version better - they stand out nicely and keep the whole thing shorter without sacrificing any readability.
    – Benjamin Cosman
    Jan 11, 2021 at 19:53
  • There's an error in "Put another way, A gives ore to B and receives wheat from A."
    – Benjamin Cosman
    Jan 11, 2021 at 19:54

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No (or yes, depending on how you define a single trade).

The person whose turn it is can trade. Each trade is with that person and one other person.

If you can accomplish what you need in a series of trades, you're welcome to try. But any promise of future trade is non-binding: your later trading partner may legally decline the trade when it comes time.

Rules:

Important: Players may only trade with the player whose turn it is.

Also note that each trade has to involve a card from each player in the trade. You can't just give a card away for nothing in return.

So in your example:

  1. A trades ore to B in exchange for brick.
  2. A trades brick to C in exchange for wheat.

This is legal, but it is two separate trades.

There are no escrow rules: C is free to decline the trade after trade 1 has happened.

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    Hmm, indeed the rules here explicitly say giving cards away is forbidden. I wonder if it's always been like that. Also you can't trade the same for same, so no trading wheat+sheep for sheep to get around the prohibition on giving away cards.
    – ilkkachu
    Jan 11, 2021 at 9:42
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    It was an odd edit. No improvement. Plus it was an incomplete edit in the case of the question, so rather than edit it further to complete it, I simply rolled it back to the OP's usage. If you'd like to ask the OP to change his terminology, that's fine, of course.
    – L. Scott Johnson
    Jan 11, 2021 at 14:27
  • @ilkkachu Of course, if one wishes to give away a wheat, it does seem like the rules allow the loophole of trading two wheat for a sheep, then trading a sheep for a wheat.
    – Acccumulation
    Jan 11, 2021 at 23:51
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    For completeness: A is also free to decline the trade with C after 1. has happened.
    – Jan
    Jan 12, 2021 at 4:10
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    @amalloy, yes, but that's exactly what the rules currently online at catan.com forbid: "However, you cannot give away cards, or trade matching resources ("trade" 3 ore for 1 ore, for example)". Game Rules & Almanac 3/4 Players, p. 7, Domestic Trade.
    – ilkkachu
    Jan 12, 2021 at 11:51

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