Hello, Chaz Marler from Pair Of Dice Paradise here, and if you’re like me, when given the opportunity to spend a day playing board games you leap into action, spending the every possible moment of the day playing cards, rolling dice, and moving mountains of meeples. And time flies when we’re fully immersed in the gaming experience, and before you know it, the hunger pangs in your stomach start reminding you that you played right through lunch, and it’s been thirteen hours since you remembered to eat something. But stopping to eat would mean stopping the game! If only there was a board game you could eat! Well, now there is!

That’s because several days ago, catan.com, the official website for the world of Catan, announced the upcoming North American release of Catan - Chocolate Edition. Now, I know what you’re saying, “this can’t possibly be an edible board game. Chocolate must be referring to the color of the pieces, or something. It’s gotta be a trick.” Well, this is no trick, this is an actual edition of Catan made of the finest Belgian chocolate - so stop contradicting me in front of my friends.

But how can Catan be played with chocolate? Well, according to the publisher’s website, just like in classic Catan, “players still harvest and trade the resources wool, brick, lumber, grain, and ore with their opponents. And these resources are still used to build roads, settlements, and knights. Nothing new so far.” Other than the fact that classic Catan doesn’t have knights, sure. But, I’m sorry, marketing blurb, I’ve interrupted you. Please, continue.

But what makes Catan - Chocolate Edition different is that the game pieces are 32 chocolate bars made from the finest Belgian chocolate. The game rules are also simplified.” Wait, what? You can’t just tack on a statement about altering the game’s rules and expect it to go unnoticed! Simplified? In what way? Are we still playing Catan here or not?

Catan - Chocolate Edition is just like the classic Catan you originally fell in love with, slowly grew to appreciate over the years, eventually got a little bored with, but still keep a copy of to play when you have relatives over in order to prevent them from breaking out Apples To Apples. Except in this version of Catan, all the resources chocolate bars that players place on the table in front of themselves when they build things. And the larger their cocoa empire, the more victory points they have. And the first player to reach 5 victory points wins.

So, it’s just like regular Catan. Except made of chocolate. And this version is designed to be played in 10 - 15 minutes. And Instead of dice, a spinner is used to determine which resources are distributed to players. And resources used to build structures are kept in front of the players instead of returned to the bank. And the game’s end condition is different. As is scoring. AND you can eat the game when you’re done. Okay, I suppose that last one could still technically apply to classic Catan as well.

Will you be adding this new version of Catan to your collection? And what game would YOU like to see made out of chocolate. And… … why?