Klaus Teuber, creator of the blockbuster board strategy game Catan, died Saturday, according to his family. He was 70.
The German-born designer began developing games during the 1980s, according to the company’s website. The multiplayer game, originally called Settlers of Catan, made its debut in 1995, CNN reported.
The game pits competitors against one another as they settle the island of Catan, using resources like wool, grain, lumber, brick, and ore.
“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that the Teuber family announces their beloved husband and father Klaus Teuber passed away at the age of 70 on April 1, 2023, after a short and serious illness,” according to a statement posted on the German-language Catan website.
The game topped 25 million copies in sales by 2010, according to a 2011 story by The Atlantic.
“It is becoming the most popular board game since Risk and Monopoly,” the magazine wrote. A version was created for Nintendo Switch in 2019, according to the cable news network.
Teuber was born in June 1952 in Rai-Breitenbach in what was then known as West Germany, The Associated Press reported. He was working as a dental technician during the 1980s when he began designing board games in his basement.
“I had many problems with the company and the profession,” Teuber told The New Yorker in 2014. “I developed games to escape. This was my own world I created.”
By 2020, the company prospered after the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to shelter at home. According to NPR, sales grew up 144% that year.
Today, Catan is available in more than 40 languages, according to CNN. More than 40 million games have been sold.
