Yes, until recently, I had never played Settlers of Catan. I've been to dozens of game nights where other people were playing. It looked too complicated at first, and then too boring, so I avoided it.

The popular strategy board game Catan should be familiar to videogamers; it was a celebrated Xbox 360 Live Arcade release. Now, it has made the jump to iPhone, a sensible platform for Catan. With a ...