His best-known game alone sold 27 million copies. Klaus Teuber also had prominent fans worldwide – but he lived modestly near Darmstadt.
The basic idea of the parlor game “The Settlers of Catan” originated in Klaus Teuber’s nursery. At that time, at the age of eleven, Teuber collected small toy figures made of hard plastic: brightly painted Romans, Vikings and knights. Instead of playing with the figures like most children do, eleven-year-old Teuber came up with a game: he and his school friends divided the floor of the children’s room into fields with woolen threads.
The inventor of the classic game “Settlers of Catan” is dead. Klaus Teuber, who developed the game in 1995, died on April 1 at the age of 70 “after a short and serious illness”, according to Catan GmbH and Kosmos-Verlag on Tuesday informed. Teuber remained a child to play with until the very end: According to Kosmos-Verlag, he worked on the third volume of his trilogy of novels that went with the game.
The figures populated mountains, fields and rivers. “We then competed for these areas and also had the right rules for it,” Teuber told the “FAZ” in 2012. “For example, we let riders fight foot soldiers and rolled the dice to see who would win.” From these childhood beginnings, a cosmos emerged that still inspires millions of people around the world today.
He was considered a rock star by his fans
Teuber was a rock star for many of his fans, writes the “Business Insider”. “He inspired millions of people all over the world with his many award-winning games,” said Kosmos-Verlag. With “Catan” he created a unique game universe that has become one of the most successful board games in well over 40 countries. “The Settlers of Catan” and the numerous expansions have sold more than 27 million copies. It is one of the most successful board games from Germany.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is said to be a self-confessed fan, writes the business magazine Wir. Various football teams in the NFL would also use the game to mentally prepare for upcoming matches. In January 2017, an Instagram photo of Hollywood actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard hit the media, skipping the glamorous after-show party after the Golden Globes ceremony in favor of a game of Catan.
Board game world championships are held regularly. Then people from dozens of countries compete to compete in the classic game. Teuber himself competed at one of these events. In 2010 he lost against the former handball player Stefan Kretzschmar – albeit out of competition.
In 2002, Teuber founded Catan GmbH together with his wife and sons, with which he marketed the games he had developed. Despite his wealth, he lived in a terraced house on the outskirts of Roßdorf near Darmstadt. His sons Benjamin and Guido also work as game developers in the family business and will continue their father’s work.
“Board games didn’t play a major role in his childhood until he was given the game Romans vs. Carthaginians at the age of 11,” says the company’s website about the game father. Teuber’s career start was anything but playful: after graduating from high school and doing military service, he first studied chemistry and then joined his father’s dental laboratory. To compensate for the stress of everyday work, he began developing games in the early 1980s.
Teuber already had great success with his first game in 1988
“First I wanted to create the financial security to be able to continue playing the games I enjoy,” he said more than 20 years ago. In 1988 he had a great success with his first game: “Barbarossa and the Riddle Masters” was awarded Game of the Year. He later won this award several times, including in 1995 with “Settlers of Catan”. According to Catan GmbH, after the great success, Teuber then concentrated entirely on the game world.
Together with his wife and “most important game partner”, he used to organize game nights with friends, the company writes. “I only had the feeling of creating something when I was making games,” said Teuber more than 20 years ago. “It’s like a pull, always great, always further.”
