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Just found out how many copies of the first edition of Catan were printed

I was reading an old interview with Klaus Teuber and he mentioned the initial print run back in 1995 was only 5,000 copies. That's it, for the whole world. It just blows my mind that the game that basically kicked off the modern board game scene for so many of us started so small. Did any other huge games have surprisingly tiny first runs?

2 comments

2 Comments

dianab681mo ago

OH COME ON with this "blows my mind" stuff! 5,000 copies is actually HUGE for a first print run of a niche German game in the 90s. Most games from that era were lucky to sell a few hundred copies. Catan's 5,000 first edition wasn't small, it was a gamble that paid off because Teuber's publisher had connections. Compare that to something like Ticket to Ride which started with a 10,000 copy run in 2004 and you'll see Catan was already betting big. The real story is how many publishers said no to Catan before that 5,000 copy run even happened.

hugo501mo ago

You're right, 5,000 was actually pretty bold for back then. My uncle ran a small game store in the 90s and he'd get excited if a new game sold even 200 copies in a year.