Explain
The robber in Catan in terms of a pickpocket
The robber in Catan is essentially a common pickpocket who only targets people having a particularly busy day at the market.
When someone rolls a seven, it acts as a city-wide police siren that triggers an instant state of mass panic. Everyone holding more than seven cards is forced to dump half their haul like a nervous commuter ditching a stash of stolen Waitrose croissants before a ticket inspector arrives. The roller then picks up the robber and drops him onto a specific hex, which is the equivalent of a professional thief setting up camp directly outside your front door so your postman can no longer deliver your Amazon parcels.
Once the robber is in position, the roller gets to swipe one card from a neighbour. It is less like a tactical board game move and more like someone pinching your Oyster card while you are distracted by a busker playing Wonderwall. You sit there, watching your brick supply disappear, feeling the same helpless resentment you get when a stranger steals your seat on a crowded train to Reading. It is a deeply personal violation of your property rights, compounded by the fact that you have to sit three inches away from the thief for the next two hours, pretending not to notice he is currently counting your stolen sheep.
Where the analogy breaks downActual pickpockets do not typically announce their arrival by rolling two six-sided dice.