Objective:
The objective of
Merchant's Journey is to collect the highest number of high-scoring civilization pairs.
Game Setup:
Shuffle a deck of 48 cards. Each face card represents each of the twelve civilizations in Argea. (To accomplish this, remove all the Aces from a standard deck of cards.)
- Each player receives five cards to form their hand.
- The remaining cards are placed face down to form a draw pile.
- A Merchant's Journey deck is built from the following cards:
| Face Card |
Value |
Civilization |
| 2 |
0, 30, or 50 |
The Blight† |
| 3 |
3 |
Taqqadiya |
| 4 |
4 |
Korolevia |
| 5 |
5 |
Vraya† |
| 6 |
6 |
The Ghorralands† |
| 7 |
7 |
Arkanmere |
| 8 |
8 |
Funanori |
| 9 |
9 |
Kusafiri |
| 10 |
10 |
Aurium Pirate Republic† |
| Jack |
11 |
Estemar |
| Queen |
12 |
Okkrgoth† |
| King |
13 |
Alandr |
† These cards have special abilities outlined below.
* The Blight civilization cards have no value unless three or more are linked; without linking they negate the value of the cards to their left and right
Players:
2-6 players
Gameplay:
- The first player draws a card from the draw pile and adds it to their hand.
- They then select one card from their hand and place it face up on the table, representing a city or civilization they are traveling to.
- Players can connect two cities by placing a new civilization card on either the left or right side of the civilization card already in play. The order may not be switched at any time unless a Vraya or Aurium Pirate Republic card is played.
- When a player connects two cities with a card, they gain the value of the pair.
- The next player then takes their turn and does the same, either adding a new city or connecting it to an existing one.
- Players may connect one of their cards to another card at any time as long as the card they wish to connect to has an open spot on at least one side.
- The game continues until the draw pile runs out.
- At the end of the game, players add up the value of the civilization pairs they made and the player with the highest score wins.
Special Card Rules:
- The Blight civilization card negates the face value of the card on either side of it. If three Blight civilization cards are connected, the player who linked them receives 30 points. If four are connected, the player receives 50 points.
- When played, Aurium Pirate Republic and Vrayan civilization cards can switch card placement with the card on their right or left.
- The Okkrgoth civilization card may only be moved by a Vrayan civilization card.
- A player who played a Ghorralands civilization card may switch it with any other Ghorralands civilization card once per game.
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