3–4 players · 45–75 minutes · Free
Catan online, without the box
Empresario is our free browser take on the settle, trade and build classic. Everyone plays on the phone already in their pocket — around one table or across the country. No download, no account, and nobody spends twenty minutes sorting hexes.
- No account
- No download
- Free forever
What you get
Empresario, in full
The whole island, on a phone
Nineteen hexes, number tokens, ports, the robber, development cards, longest road and largest army. Pinch to zoom, tap a corner to build. The board is rendered for a small screen first, so nothing is buried in a menu.
Bots that actually trade
Short a player? Fill the seat. Empresario bots are backed by real language models — one seat plays as Claude, another as ChatGPT, another as Gemini — and they open with a counter-offer instead of a shrug. Up to three of them.
Trading that stays honest
Propose to one player or to the table, counter, or decline. Bank and port rates are enforced by the engine, so 4:1 is 4:1 and nobody has to referee.
No setup, no cleanup
Tap once for a random island or the beginner layout. Nothing to punch out, nothing to lose under the sofa, no arguing about who packed the wheat.
A five-letter code and you are in
Start a room, read the code out. Players join in a browser — no app store, no email address, no password. Works for the four of you on a sofa and the one who moved away.
Every roll on the record
A running game log shows every roll, build, trade and robber move. When someone insists they never got that ore, the log settles it.
Actual screenshots
This is the real thing, not a mock-up
The same island from another seat. Everyone sees the board; nobody sees your hand.
How it works
How to play Empresario online
Start a room
Tap Play Empresario. You get a room with the game already selected and a five-letter code to share.
Get everyone in
Players open decks.app in any browser and enter the code. Three to four seats; add bots to fill the rest.
Place your first settlements
In snake order, each player places two settlements and two roads. Your second settlement pays out immediately.
Roll, collect, build, trade
Roll two dice. Every settlement on a matching hex pays its owner. Spend resources on roads, settlements, cities and development cards, and trade for what you are short of.
Reach ten victory points
Settlements are one point, cities two, and longest road and largest army are two apiece. First to ten, on your own turn, wins.
How we differ
decks.app vs the other ways to play online
The established Catan sites are good at ranked ladders and long-running accounts. Empresario is built for the other case: people who want to play right now, together, without anybody making an account first.
| decks.app | the other ways to play online | |
|---|---|---|
| Account required | None | Sign-up, usually email-verified |
| Download | Nothing — it is a web page | App or client on most platforms |
| Cost | Free | Free tier, paid expansions and ad removal |
| Getting friends in | Read out a five-letter code | Invite links and friend lists |
| Built for | Phones around one table | Desktop, remote play |
| Bots | Three, language-model backed | Rules-based AI |
Questions
Frequently asked
Can I play Catan online for free?
You can play Empresario, our version of it, free — no payment, no trial, no account. Open decks.app, start a room, share the code. The licensed digital editions of Catan itself are paid products; this is not one of them.
Do I need to download anything?
No. Empresario runs in the browser on any phone, tablet or laptop. There is no app to install and nothing to sign up for — you enter a five-letter room code and you are playing.
How many people can play?
Three to four. If you are short, add up to three AI opponents to fill the table — a two-human game plus two bots plays fine.
Can you play with 2 people?
Not two humans alone — the trading economy needs three or four seats to work. Add a bot or two and a pair of players gets a proper game.
How long does a game take?
Usually 45 to 75 minutes. Skipping physical setup and teardown saves a good fifteen minutes over the boxed game, and the engine handling payouts keeps turns moving.
How do you win?
Ten victory points. Settlements are worth one and cities two; longest road and largest army are worth two each; some development cards are worth one. Points are checked on your own turn, so you cannot win on someone else's.
Is this the official Catan game?
No. Empresario is our own build of a settle-trade-build game in the same tradition. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by the publisher of Catan.
Can we play in the same room?
That is what it was built for. Everyone at the table plays on their own phone — private hands, shared board, no components to pass around. Remote players join with the same code.
Ready in about ten seconds
Tap the button, read out the five letters, and everyone is in. No app, no account, nothing to set up.
Opens a room with the game already selected