The game designer Klaus Teuber is dead. The publisher announces this Kosmos with. Accordingly, the inventor of the successful board game “The Settlers of Catan” died on April 1st at the age of 70. The Settlers of Catan was Klaus Teuber's life's work and the work of his life.
The sad news reached the publishing house Kosmos via Catan GmbH: “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 April 70, 1 at the age of 2023 after a short and serious illness.”
Catan inspires the world
It was once just a board game, but now "The Settlers of Catan" is a brand that is even used across industries: a large number of variants and expansions for the board game, video games, novels - Catan has developed into a world. It all started with the idea of a qualified dental technician from the village of Rai-Breitenbach in the Odenwald: Klaus Teuber.
What is considered shallow board game entertainment today was an innovation at the time. Above all, the direct interaction between the players was an idea that should inspire and enrich future works. The Game of the Year 1995 was the crowning achievement for the quality of The Settlers of Catan. The board game was to receive further awards, including at international level. Hardly any market could escape the charm of the simple but entertaining basic idea - Catan is now available in countless variants, even for the series A Game of Thrones, one of the most important literary phenomena of modern pop culture.
Klaus Teuber inspired millions of gamers worldwide, and with The Settlers of Catan provides a reason to bring families together around one table. Today, Catan is considered one of the most successful board games ever.
And the success of Catan has always been reflected in figures: the plant had completed more than ten million games in 2002 – that was twenty years ago.
“Klaus Teuber was one of the really great game designers and a dear and close friend
des hauses Kosmos“, the publisher pays tribute to what is probably its most popular author. Teuber has created a “unique gaming universe” that is available in well over 40 countries
got known. The father of the Catan series established and shaped the genre of the "German board game". And he never got tired of creating: Klaus Teuber worked until the end on the third volume of the Catan novel trilogy, which is an indication that The Settlers of Catan have more to offer than just game mechanics.
“Kosmos Verlag and all its employees mourn the loss of a unique person to whom we owe a lot,” wrote Kosmos. “His great creative power, special closeness and unbroken loyalty to his publisher are a role model and mission for us to continue his life's work in his spirit. We will miss Klaus Teuber dearly and will always honor his memory.”
Teuber's career had a promising start, suggesting that his work as a game designer could lead to great things. With his early works Barbarossa, Adel committ and Drunter & Drüber he won the “Game of the Year” award in 1988, 1990 and 1991. The fourth prize went to the author from Odenwald for The Settlers of Catan in 1995. At that time, Teuber was far from developing board games full-time. That was to change initially in 1999 and later with the founding of Catan GmbH in 2002: From this time on, Catan shaped the success of Klaus Teuber, with a few "interludes" such as Anno 1503 based on the then popular computer game (2003/2004) or Elasund in 2005.
What seems unthinkable today: Looking back, there were hurdles in bringing The Settlers of Catan to the fans. At the publishing level in particular, Teuber first had to wait for Franckh-Kosmos, because they turned the idea into a market-ready board game.
18 years ago Klaus Teuber was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Origins Awards, the most important US games award. Six years later, the author received another award for his life's work with the French As d'Or.
Klaus Teuber died on April 1st after a short and serious illness. He was 70 years old.
