Settle an island, trade five resources and build roads, Settlements and Cities. The first player to reach the map's points, on their own turn, wins.
A map is a field of hexes. Five of the six terrains produce one resource each, and the sixth produces nothing:
Every producing hex carries a number from 2 to 12. There is no 7. Numbers 6 and 8 come up most often, and 2 and 12 least, so a corner beside a 6 pays about five times as often as a corner beside a 12. The terrain and the numbers are dealt fresh for every game.
Harbours sit on the coast. Four of them trade any three identical cards for one card of your choice, and there is one harbour for each resource that trades two of that resource for one card of your choice. A harbour is yours while you hold a Settlement or a City on one of its two corners.
In seat order, each player places one Settlement and one road. Then, in the reverse order, each player places a second Settlement and a second road. The second Settlement pays at once: one card for each producing hex it touches. The first one pays nothing.
A Settlement stands on a corner, and no two buildings may stand within one path of each other. That rule holds for your own buildings as well as everybody else's.
Roll the two dice. Every hex carrying that number pays the owners of the buildings on its corners: one card for a Settlement, two for a City. Everybody collects, not only the player who rolled. A hex under the Blockade pays nobody.
Then trade and build, in any order, as often as your cards allow. You may also play one progress card per turn, before the roll or after it, but never one you bought on the same turn. A Landmark is the exception and is only ever turned up to win.
| Build | Cost |
|---|---|
| Road | 1 Clay, 1 Timber |
| Settlement | 1 Clay, 1 Timber, 1 Fleece, 1 Wheat |
| City | 3 Stone, 2 Wheat |
| Progress card | 1 Stone, 1 Fleece, 1 Wheat |
A road takes an empty path touching one of your own roads, Settlements or Cities. It may not reach around through another player's building. A road scores nothing by itself.
A Settlement takes an empty corner with no building within one path of it, and one of your own roads has to touch that corner. It scores one point and collects one card.
A City is a Settlement of your own built up, never a new corner. It scores two points, collects two cards, and gives the Settlement piece back to your supply to use again.
A roll of 7 produces nothing for anybody. Instead, every player holding more than the map's hand limit puts half of their cards back, rounded down. Then the player who rolled moves the Blockade to any other land hex and takes one card, at random, from a player with a building on that hex. A player with an empty hand gives nothing.
The Blockade stops its hex producing until somebody moves it, which happens on the next 7 or when a Warrior is played. Hand sizes are open at the table; what is in a hand is not.
With the table, only on your own turn. Both sides give at least one card, so there are no gifts, and no resource is traded for itself. Only resources move: progress cards and pieces never do.
With the bank, also only on your own turn. Four identical cards buy one card of your choice without a harbour, three at a harbour that takes any resource, and two at the harbour for the resource you are giving away. The bank has to hold the card you ask for.
A progress card is bought face down from one shared deck. The Base map deals 25 of them: 14 Warriors, 5 Landmarks, and two each of Roadworks, Bounty and Tribute. The larger maps deal the same proportions in a bigger deck.
The Road Baron goes to the longest unbroken road, at five or more. The Warlord goes to the first player with three Warriors played. Each is worth two points.
Both change hands only on a strictly better figure: an equal road or an equal count leaves the award where it is. A Settlement built on a free corner of somebody's road cuts that road in two for the count, and the Road Baron can be lost that way.
Points come from your Settlements at one each, your Cities at two each, each award at two, and each Landmark at one. You win the moment you reach the map's target during your own turn. Reaching it on somebody else's turn is not a win; it waits for your turn to come round.
Four maps, and each one sets its own finish, hand limit and supply of pieces. The pieces column reads roads, then Settlements, then Cities.
| Map | Hexes | Seats | Points | Hand | Pieces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | 19 | 2 to 4 | 10 | 7 | 15 · 5 · 4 |
| Large | 37 | 3 to 6 | 12 | 9 | 18 · 6 · 5 |
| Rivers | 81 | 6 | 15 | 9 | 24 · 7 · 5 |
| Continental Drift | 165 | 2 to 8 | 20 | 14 | 40 · 12 · 10 |
A Base game between two players plays to 15 rather than 10, because 10 arrives too early with only two people building.
The game runs against bots, at six strengths, with nothing to install and no account needed. A table seats other people instead. Which maps a plan carries is on the plans page. Hexalon is an independent game. It is not affiliated with CATAN GmbH, Catan Studio, Asmodee, or Colonist.io.
Last reviewed 2 October 2026.