“After I won a local Catan qualifier, I reached out to Donny to coach me for US Nationals in August. While I was completely okay with not winning any games, I wanted a chance to prove myself at the highest level. I played well socially but I knew that I had a lot to improve on for game fundamentals such as picking the best initial placements, evaluating opponents’ positions, and finding trade value with other players. Not only did Donny guide me through these concepts by reviewing my online games and showing examples of where I could’ve improved, he also came with me to US Nationals and coached me along the way, providing me with support and motivation. I won 2 out of my 4 games on the first day which qualified me for semi-finals the next day. My semi-final game was live streamed and although I didn’t win, I was clearly in the lead for most of the game, played my best, and got closer to being the US Catan Champion than I ever could’ve thought.”
- Navid from Texas, UT Austin Graduate, 2025 USA Catan Semi-finalist
“I was looking for a coach to win local Catan tournaments and came across Donny, becoming his second student. He ran his coaching program through Discord, and it was very well organized with clear objectives and takeaways after each short lesson. I tend to interrupt and ask a lot of questions and to my surprise, Donny handled that extremely well and provided insightful answers. He was also very accommodating with scheduling throughout the entire process, which is crucial for me as a business owner. After the coaching program ended, Donny invited me back for playing sessions with his new students, allowing me to keep fresh and benefit from free game reviews every so often.”
- Robert from New Mexico, Serial Restaurateur specialized in Asian cuisine
“Donny offered a flexible 1 on 1 Catan coaching program that cleverly combined placements, in-game actions, and social strategy lessons with playing sessions with some of the world’s best players where he records and debriefs with me on the games afterwards. After the coaching sessions, my online win rate went from 20% to 40% and I find myself thinking a lot more about who I can trade with, what they would want, and how to get better value. Donny’s tips were really helpful in leveling up my game significantly both online and in-person. I also played in all 5 of Donny’s Battle of the States (BOTS) online tournaments and love the team-based nature of it. I’ve had an exciting and fun time in each one and even placed 2nd overall for both Team New Jersey and individually in the BOTS #2!”
- Simon from New Jersey, PhD Student in Sustainable Engineering at Villanova
“Donny did a fantastic job with hosting the Battle of the States (BOTS) tournament. He made sure teams were balanced, everyone was scheduling their games on time, and wrote creative shoutouts after each round. Even though I was apprehensive about joining at first since some hyper-competitive tournaments can get pretty toxic, I really had a lot of fun because Donny created a team-based tournament format that was able to balance competitive and casual play. I loved being there to cheer for my teammates in the Discord channels and the best feeling for me was when Tag, Griffin, and Hakuna all congratulated me when I was doing well and won.”
- Darius from Texas, Online Tournaments Player and 2025 USA Catan Player
“Donny’s Catan tournament was A+: very well organized with amazing food and drinks at the venue Mochi & Cream. Even though I didn’t win any games, I had a wonderful experience and will definitely attend more of Donny’s events!”
- Karla from New Jersey, In-Person Tournaments Player
“Donny’s Catan tournament is the first one I’ve been to that actually started on time. He also purposely chose boards that led to faster games, solving the problem of official Catan tournaments taking over 10 hours”.
- Bo from New York, 2021 USA Catan Champion and 2024 Americas Catan Champion
“Donald taught us Hong Kong style mahjong in a fun, approachable, and engaging way. He broke down all the complex rules into simple steps and even came with a 2-page quick guide to reference. Me, my husband, and my friends all love the game now. I am currently trying to get my kid’s school to organize a parent’s mahjong event!”
- Ashita from New York, Endocrinologist
“Donald was my mahjong instructor for a corporate team-building event hosted at my company after work hours. I played mahjong many years ago but forgot most of the rules and strategies and Donald’s coaching brought it all back to life for me. Donald was very friendly and engaging towards me and my coworkers and taught well at a large table that ranged from coworkers who have never heard of mahjong before today to people like me picking the game back up.”
- Wei from New York, Brookfield Asset Management
“Donald came to my company for a corporate event where we get to learn mahjong and instantly, I could tell he was delighted to share his passion for mahjong with everyone here. His passionate energy helped everyone at the table put away our phones and focus on picking up the game as fast as possible. He got us addicted to mahjong now!”
- Frances from New York, Balyasny Asset Management