Klaus Teuber
The designer who brought European game design to the world — and made the word “settlement” part of the global vocabulary.
Klaus Teuber (1952–2023) was a German game designer best known as the creator of The Settlers of Catan — one of the best-selling and most culturally significant board games ever published. His death in 2023 marked the end of a career that genuinely changed the hobby.
Teuber began designing games as a dental technician, using evenings and weekends to develop prototypes. He won the Spiel des Jahres — Germany’s most prestigious game design award — four times, a record that stands to this day.
The Settlers of Catan, released in 1995, became the game that introduced millions of people outside Germany to modern European board game design. It demonstrated that strategy games could be social, accessible, and deeply engaging without being either war games or trivia contests.
1995 — Kosmos
A resource-trading game on a modular hex board. It brought negotiation, variable setup, and accessible strategy to a mass audience and became the first modern board game to truly cross over into mainstream culture worldwide.
1990 — F.X. Schmid
A simultaneous-action game of collecting antiques and catching thieves. Won the Spiel des Jahres in 1990 and remains a beloved example of elegant, bluffing-driven design.
1988 — Schmidt Spiele
Players sculpt clay riddles for others to guess — not too quickly, not too slowly. Won the Spiel des Jahres in 1988 and showed Teuber’s instinct for making a game feel unlike anything else.
“Teuber proved that the best game designs feel inevitable in hindsight — simple rules, rich interactions, and a board that tells a different story every time you sit down.”