This Raspberry Pi powered board game can also work with Settlers of Catan

What better way to give a board game a digital spin than with a humble Raspberry Pi? With a little bit of ingenuity and a lot of tinkering, you can breathe a new technical life into pretty much any board game you can think of. From adding rule-checkers to having an artificial intelligence physically move the pieces, the possibilities are endless. However, sometimes, you just flat out make an entire board game using a Raspberry Pi. Because why not?

Such is the case with this project that aims to recreate Settlers of Catan with a fresh coat of Pi paint. You’ll need the original game to play it, but if you don’t, you can instead play the developer’s sci-fi alternative.

Related

3 Raspberry Pi projects with a gaming twist

Earn some geek cred.

Calculus is a Pi-powered version of Settlers of Catan

As spotted by Hackaday, this cool project is called Calculus. Over on its GitHub page, its developer breaks down the hardware and how it’s made. At its heart is an XIAO RP2040 (although the creator claims that a regular Pi Pico works just fine), and the code has a ton of commented segments so you can tweak the rules to your own liking.

Here’s how the game plays:

An electronic strategy board game about mining an asteroid and barter. It is also fully compatible with Settlers of Catan. So if you already own that game, you can play it using this board if you wish (using the cards and pieces from the original). The holders of the Catan copyright also generously allow you to make one (1) handmade copy of their game for personal use. A practical thing to do is buy their game, and use the included pieces and cards (although please note the pieces will only physically fit the full-size version).

If you don’t have Settlers of Catan sitting around, you can instead use the built-in sci-fi version of the game, called Calculus. Instead of settling on an island, you’re tasked with fighting over an asteroid’s resources against other mega-corporations, with a single hacker causing havoc for anyone. It’s a really cool project, and it’s very cool that you can use it regardless of whether you own Settlers of Catan or not.

If you like the sound of Raspberry Pi board games, there are plenty more like them. Check out our piece on

board games that received a Raspberry Pi twist
to get even more inspiration for your next tinkering project.