Ina Fried

Recent Posts by Ina Fried

Settlers of Catan (Mobilized’s Favorite Time-Waster) Is Coming to Android

Okay, so this may be bigger news for some than others, but a mobile version of Settlers of Catan is coming to Android.

The German board game is already available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad; the Android version is coming this spring, the game’s makers announced on Thursday.

“After the big success in Apple’s App Store, Catan will also become available for Android this spring,” reads a posting on the Catan Web site. “Android players will be able to build and trade on the go, to compete for the most settlements, the Longest Road and the Largest Army–to become the Lord of Catan!”

The Android version will include the basic board game as well as an alternate Seafarers of Catan version.

Catan is very popular with the tech crowd and especially popular in the Mobilized household–so much so that my iPod Touch has the nickname “little Catan machine” and the demo iPad was known for a time as the “Big Catan Machine.” The game is also how the Mobilized family distracts itself while waiting in lines and is often pulled out even at allegedly romantic anniversary dinners.

On a reporting trip to Microsoft earlier this year, I even managed to crash a Catan tournament hosted by Seattle-area tech site TechFlash and come away as the winner.

Mobilized plans some, uh, extensive testing of this app when it is ready. Anyone else in Silicon Valley a big Catan fan and need some practice?

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Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work