I was writing a different newsletter this morning when the news broke about the passing of Klaus Teuber, so it seemed only right that I use this to mention that instead.
If Klaus’ name is not familiar to you, his legacy surely is. Klaus was the designer of Die Siedler von Catan/The Settlers of Catan, which later got renamed to simply ‘Catan’. Catan was instrumental in bringing hobby board games to a wider audience, and might well be responsible for you reading this today. Any time you’ve snickered at ‘got wood for sheep’, you owe it to this man.
What makes this especially sad news is knowing that he was actively working on new iterations of Catan, due to be released later this year.
Rest in peace, Klaus, and thank you ❤