it's all in the strategy
We bought this game and instantly became fans. The game takes a lot of strategy and has elements of luck. You can change aspects of the game to make it different every time that you play. It is a great game to involve the family and my children like it as much as any computer game. There are little pieces and cards, so make sure to pick everything up when you finish. It's not good for the car, though I think they make some kind of travel version, but it's fine for travelling as long as you don't leave pieces in your wake. The game is an average length of time, aobut an hour or so. We'd be interested in buying other games from this maker.

A Great Family Game
My daughter introduced our family to this game while on home from college. We've been playing it every weekend, including my 16 year-old son, my 19 year-old daughter, and my husband. If you use the random set-up, the game changes every time and poses new challenges.

Lots of fun
Having played both the older version and the new one I will say that I like the addition of the linking outer edges. They can be problematic though - mine tend to not lie perfectly flat and therefore don't hold the inside tiles together like they should.
Also the old version had wooden dice, and the new one has very ugly bright red and yellow plactic dice - not sure what the point of that is when all the other game pieces are wooden or cardboard.
The gameplay is amazing though, and the same for both versions. Every time I visit friends and family they require that I "bring Settlers!"

An Almost Perfect Board Game
I agree with all the other posts. Takes the best aspects of Diplomacy, Risk etc, but easier to learn, faster to play, and more interaction and fun. My neighborhood is now addicted, and my 9/8 year olds love to play as well. I highly recommend the Seafarers expansion. The Knights & Castles expansion makes it a much more complex game. If you have an older edition (3rd edition) of Settlers and then get a new 4th edition of the expansions, you will need to get the "upgrade kit" from the Mayfair Games site for $10. It is the frame of the board that fits together to form the water boundary. The older versions did not have this frame, and it makes the older and newer versions somewhat incompatible.

It's a great game
It brings a lot of fun to me and my friends. It's a nice party game and the play time is not very long which is good so we can play multiple times in one party.