Hexalia: free online Catan-style board game

Hexalia is a strategy board game where you settle an island of hexagons, trade with your rivals and build roads, settlements and cities. If you enjoy Catan, you will feel right at home. It is free and runs in your browser on phone and PC, with no downloads and no sign-up. Play online with friends by creating a room with a code, jump into a quick match with other people (bots fill any empty seats) or play against bots at three difficulty levels, even offline.

Goal

The first player to reach 10 points wins:

• Each settlement: 1 point.
• Each city: 2 points.
• Great Road (longest unbroken road, 5 or more): 2 points.
• Great Guard (most Guardians played, 3 or more): 2 points.
• Each Relic: 1 point.

Setup

Each player places two settlements and two roads in snake order: first going one way round the table, then back the other way. Your second settlement gives you one card from each tile around it, so you start with resources in hand.

Your turn

Roll the 2 dice. Every tile showing that number produces: settlements on its corners get 1 card and cities get 2. The five resources are:

• Wood, from the Forest.
• Clay, from the Mudflats.
• Wool, from the Pasture.
• Wheat, from the Wheat field.
• Stone, from the Quarry.

The Wasteland produces nothing. After rolling you can trade and build:

• Road: Wood + Clay.
• Settlement: Wood + Clay + Wool + Wheat.
• City (upgrades a settlement): 2 Wheat + 3 Stone.
• Scroll: Wool + Wheat + Stone.

Distance rule: no two settlements or cities may sit on neighboring corners, and every new settlement must touch one of your roads.

The 7 and the Raider

On a 7 nobody produces. Anyone holding more than 7 cards discards half of them. Then you move the Raider, a pirate boat, to another tile: that tile stops producing while it stays there, and you steal a card from a player with a settlement or city next to it.

Trading

On your turn you can trade with the bank at 4 matching cards for 1, or at 3:1 and 2:1 if you have a settlement on a port. You can also send offers to other players, who can accept, decline or make a counteroffer.

The Scrolls

• Guardian: move the Raider and steal a card.
• Causeway: place 2 free roads.
• Harvest: take any 2 cards from the bank.
• Guild: name a resource and every rival hands you theirs.
• Relic: 1 hidden victory point.

You can play only one Scroll per turn, and never the one you just bought.

Quick tips

• 6 and 8 are the most frequent rolls: aim for those tiles.
• Spread your settlements to get a good mix of resources.
• A port for the resource you produce most is worth its weight in gold.
• Cities double your output: upgrade your best settlements early.