Play Seafarers online: every option in 2026, and the free one

Where can you play Seafarers online?

Seafarers has been hard to play online for years. That changed this month, so here is the short list as it stands on 25 October 2026.

Hearthsea is our game. It is an independent, Catan-style game, not the licensed one, and it plays on Seafarers rules: ships, the pirate, fog, gold fields and island points.

Board Game Arena added Seafarers in October 2026

In the week of 24 October 2026 Board Game Arena added Seafarers as a mode of its existing Catan game, with scenarios that bring pirates, fog and gold. Cities & Knights was already there as a variant. BGA’s Catan page counts close to nine million games played, so finding a table is easy.

BGA is the closest thing online to the boxed game, with the official art and rules. It runs real-time and turn-based tables, which suits a group spread over time zones. It has no bots, so every seat needs a person, and its Premium membership decides what a free account can start. Check its Premium page before you plan a game night around it.

Seafarers on Colonist: what the membership unlocks

Colonist’s store lists Seafarers behind a membership. Plans start at $6.99 a month billed yearly, which is $83.88, and Colonist notes that only one player in a friends’ game needs to be a member. Its Seafarers mode covers four scenarios for 3–4 players: Heading for New Shores, The Four Islands, The Fog Islands and Through the Desert, eight maps in all. More scenarios are marked as coming later, and the 5–6 player version is a separate listing.

Colonist is fast and busy, with ranked play on the base game. If you already pay for a membership, Seafarers costs nothing extra. If you would only pay for Seafarers, a year of membership is a lot for one expansion. Our Colonist alternatives post goes through the rest of the field.

Catan Universe and the apps

Catan Universe is the official app on Steam, phones and the browser. The base game is free to try and the expansions, Seafarers among them, are unlocked with CATAN Gold bought in the app. It has bots and the official scenarios. Its recent Steam reviews are rough, mostly about prices and matchmaking, so read a few before you buy.

Can you play Seafarers online for free?

Yes. In Hearthsea, Seafarers is free on every account, solo or online, with no daily limit. You need a free account and a browser, nothing else.

1. Open Play and make a free account with an email address or Google.
2. Pick Play solo for bots or Online for friends, then choose Seafarers as the game.
3. Pick a map. Heading for New Shores is the classic first voyage; the Seafarers maps guide explains the rest.
4. Set the table: 2 to 6 players, bots from Settler up to Admiral, and a target score.

A Hearthsea game looks the same on a phone, a tablet and a laptop, so a mixed table works fine.

Playing Seafarers with friends or against bots

For friends, open a room under Online. It gives you a short room code, a link and a QR code, so people can join from a group chat in a few seconds. An empty seat can take a bot, which means three friends can still play a five-seat map.

For a quick game alone, the bots are the easier way in. Settler bots forgive mistakes while you learn ships; Veterans and Admirals race for the islands and will block your sea lanes. Our guide to the bots covers how each level trades and builds.

Which Seafarers maps to try first

• Heading for New Shores: one big home island and small ones offshore. The best first game, because the sea is a bonus, not a must.
• The Four Islands: everyone starts on a small island and has to sail early. Ships matter from the first rounds.
• The Fog Islands: the sea is hidden until a ship or road reaches it, and what you uncover can be land or gold.
• Through the Desert: a wide desert splits the main island, and the far side is worth reaching.

Hearthsea has these four plus 22 maps of its own, such as Pirate Strait, Maelstrom and Sunken Kingdom, and every one seats 2 to 6.

The rules that change in Seafarers

Ships cost one wood and one wool, and they are built on sea edges the way roads are built on land. A ship at the open end of a line can move once a turn. The pirate sits on the sea, blocks ships beside it and steals like the robber. Gold fields pay one resource of your choice. Your first settlement on each new island is worth extra points. And the Longest Road becomes the Longest Trade Route, where roads and ships count together if they meet at one of your buildings. Our Longest Road rules post covers how that route is counted.

Questions people ask

Sources

Read on 25 October 2026:

1. Backseat Gamer: Catan: Seafarers sets sail on Board Game Arena
2. Board Game Arena news
3. Colonist store: memberships and expansions
4. Catan Universe on Steam
5. CATAN: Seafarers, the publisher’s page

Keep reading

• Seafarers maps: ships, fog and gold
• 7 Colonist.io alternatives in 2026, free and paid
• Play a Catan-style game against AI bots

CATAN is a registered trademark of Catan GmbH. Hearthsea is an independent game and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Catan GmbH or its publishers. Other game names belong to their owners and are used here only to describe and compare.