According to a family statement, Klaus Teuber, the creator of the extremely popular Catan board game, has died after a short illness. He was 70.
Originally called The Settlers of Catan when it launched in 1995 and based on a set of hexagonal tiles, the board game has sold tens of millions of copies and is available in more than 40 languages. It has spawned dozens of spinoffs and re-releases, including electronic versions, not to mention game-related products.
“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that the Teuber family announces that their beloved husband and father, Klaus Teuber, passed away on 1 Catan website. The family asked for privacy.
A statement by the Catan Studio team on social media reads, “While Klaus’ contributions to the board game industry are immeasurable, we will remember him most as a kind and selfless human being, an inspiring leader, and most importantly, a friend. ”
Teuber was born in June 1952 in Rai-Breitenbach, Germany. He was working as a dental technician outside the industrial city of Darmstadt in the 1980s when he started designing board games in his basement, he told New Yorker magazine in 2014. “I had a lot of problems with the company and the job,” he says. “I made games to escape. This was my own world that I created.”
In the multiplayer game, participants use five resources to build their colonies or settlements: wool, grain, wood, brick, and ore. Teuber never thought his game would become so successful; In 1998, he finally quit his job as a dental technician “when I felt Catan could support me and my family,” he told the New Yorker. The game became a family business.
In the first five months of the 2020 pandemic, sales surged as people played games in quarantine, the company told NPR.
The Catan Studio team urged Teuber’s mourners to “honor the memory of Klaus by being kind to one another, fearlessly pursuing your creative passions, and enjoying a game with loved ones.”