Klaus Teuber, creator of the popular tabletop game Catan, died on April 1, 2023, after a short illness, Teuber’s family announced in a statement. Teuber’s Catan Studio company also acknowledged his death in a statement on social media.
“While Klaus’ contributions to the board gaming industry are immeasurable, we will remember him most as a kind and selfless human being, an inspirational leader, and most importantly, as a friend,” Catan Studio said in the statement. “His legacy will continue to inspire and shape the gaming community for years to come.”
Teuber was born in 1952 and pursued a career in dentistry, but by the 1980s, he needed an escape from the profession. He started making board games in his basement and released Catan in 1995.
“I had many problems with the company and the profession,” Teuber told The New Yorker in 2014. “I developed games to escape. This was my own world I created.”
The multiplayer game tasks players with settling an island by gathering resources and using them wisely, and by the end of the decade, it proved so popular that Teuber was able to leave his job as a dental technician and focus on making board games full time.
Catan’s popularity continued to grow, and the company Teuber founded and ran with his family released a digital version, which even made it to the Nintendo Switch in 2019. NPR reported that during the first five months of 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Catan’s sales increased by 144 percent.
The game continues to grow in popularity – Coffee Stain recently ran a Catan crossover with Goat Simulator 3 – and the Catan Studio hopes fans will honor Teuber’s memory by doing more than just playing Catan.
“We encourage you to honor Klaus’ memory by being kind to one another, pursuing your creative passions fearlessly, and enjoying a game with your loved ones. Klaus’ impact on the world of gaming will never be forgotten.”
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
