Hamish Dean began playing the strategy board game with a group of friends 12 years ago.
Then in 2013, when he was in Los Angeles, where he spends part of every year working on his software business ShapeShifter, he started testing himself at a higher level, playing competitively.
After sharpening his skill level with competition in Los Angeles, Hamish became the first New Zealand Catan Champion in 2021, but was unable to defend his title in 2022 as the competition was cancelled because of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
However, his 2021 national title prize included a trip to Malta, in the Mediterranean, for the Catan World Championship on November 18 to 20 last year, and his ticket to compete there against other national champions from around the world.
The game of Catan was designed by Klaus Teuber of Germany in 1995 and involves two or four players competing to establish the most successful colony on the fictional island of Catan.
‘‘A typical game takes one and a half hours but at the World Games they take three to three and a half hours,’’ Hamish says.
‘‘Unbelievably, some took 45 minutes for their first turn.’’
There were 87 competitors from 48 countries at the Malta event, with Hamish the only representative from New Zealand.
His plan was to win, and he was confident he could do that, but he kept his inner optimism hidden from his opponents in the heats and made sure he was not one of the favourites by just sneaking into the semi›finals, finishing in 16th place which proved to be an advantage.
‘‘The 16th player gets last choice in their starting position. So the other 15 players would consider their starting position better than mine, and so at the start of the game, I am the least favoured,’’ Hamish says.
‘‘Because I had finished 16th in the heats no›one picked on me in the semis.’’ That enabled him a smooth ride flying under their radar to win his semi›final.
‘‘I am a good talker and I was good at convincing the other players to part with their resources,’’ he says.
His semi›final was the first to finish. He then had to wait two and a half hours for the other semi›finalists to finish, which was frustrating, but gave him a tactical advantage.
‘‘By the time of the final I was feeling very confident and under no pressure,’’ he says.
‘‘It is a game of negotiation, and I was able to convince the others to pick on each other.’’
His winner’s prize was a trip to defend his world title in 2024 with a date and location still to be decided.
He also won a range of board games, so many that he had to pay extra baggage fees to bring them home.
By SHELLEY TOPP
