If any player does not own the game, the game will be limited to three people total, only the first island scenario, and always the same exact map - resources always in the same place and with the same number values.

If everyone owns the game, the maximum players is four (six with the next update), other scenarios are available, and the map can be randomized - resources and numbers will be in different places.

To invite players to a game they need to be on your friends list. Click on your avatar, select "Friends" and then "Add a Friend". In the search window enter your friend's username exactly as they spell it. Once you find them you can send them a "friend request". After they accept you will be able to start a custom match and invite them to play with you.

If you want to play more than 3 player, all 4 people playing must own the expansion.

@ottercarr Thank you...I am on it

Sometimes you can rejoin if you restart the app quickly enough, but it doesn't always work.

Unfortunately, if you have not purchased the base game you won't be able to play custom matches. If you and your friend both purchase the base game you will be able to start a custom match and invite each other to play along with other people you t or with AI players

@wtowne89 This often happens when there has been an update and players have different versions of the game. Did you check for that?

@Administrator Hello! I suppose I see where you're coming from...but it's not a team game. There can only be one winner. Also, just wanted to make it clear that we are not looking for "2v2" - just simply a way for friends to play with other people in the event that you don't have 3 other friends online at the exact same time and would rather not play against AI. I'd also argue that anyone configuring their Auto Match in the manner described above could reasonably expect the possibility of "team play" to occur, in which case they could just go back to playing how it's currently configured now. Just seems a bit shortsighted to not include a friends lobby based on a speculated "team play" problem.

Regardless, I appreciate the efforts the team puts into the game. It's been really great so far. I'm sure this topic has been discussed before, but I couldn't find anything relevant regarding multiplayer (outside of people being absolutely shocked that their friends would have to purchase the same expansion as them in order to play together online...seriously, forum is flooded with these people!) so I thought I'd post one myself. Thanks for the reply and hope this gets considered in the future.

Hi Nancydrew, in my case we are 5 and all of us own Catan the game extension, but only 4 join to the loby of the game. Could you help me to configure this?

This morning I kept getting a new error on the Windows app from Steam:
"Error server is blocked due to a long running script"

This afternoon, I can't even search for a game. I can't get past "Auto match" and "Custom match". I click on the button and the screen flashes and sometimes I can see the next screen before I'm back to the same spot.

21 Jan 2020 Unable to play. I can see in my network monitor that the application connects to Catan servers and has traffic. I just can't play.
23 Jan 2020 Still unable to play.
24 Jan 2020 Still unable to play.
...
1 February 2020 Problems have largely disappeared after a server update and I log out and back in