Merchant of Venus (Second Edition)
Merchant of Venus Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Game Overview
- Object of the Game
- Component List
- Component Overview
- The Galactic Cluster
- Setup
- Playing the Game
- Movement Phase
- First Contact Phase
- Transaction Phase
- Buy Actions
- Buying Goods
- Buying Equipment
- Goods Token Anatomy
- Grades (Color) of Goods
- Lasers and Shields
- Cargo Holds
- Drives
- Buying Racial Technologies
- Using First Contact Credits
- Sell Actions
- Market Shift
- Market Token Anatomy
- Picking Up Passengers
- Passenger Token Anatomy
- Dropping Off Passengers
- End of Transaction Phase
- Spending Credits
- Merchant Spaceport Phase
- End of the Game
- Bumps Along the Way
- Other Rules
- Missions
- Rewards
- Optional Rules
- Game Variants
- Appendix A: Goods
- Appendix B: Racial Technologies
- Quick Reference
- Credits
Game Overview
Merchant of Venus is a game of interstellar trade and exploration for one to four players. Each player represents a fledgling merchant eager to make a name for himself by exploring a galactic cluster recently opened for trade after a devastating alien attack.
Each player begins the game with a merchant ship and a gung-ho pilot fresh from the Academy. It is up to each player to find the most profitable trade routes in order to deliver goods, transport passengers, build spaceports, mine asteroids, and acquire fame by completing missions and upgrading their ship.
Let the best merchant win!
Two Games in One box!
This edition of Merchant of Venus contains two distinct games. The first game, hereafter referred to as the standard game, is a redeveloped and reimagined version of the original Merchant of Venus.
The second game, hereafter referred to as the classic game, is our implementation of Richard Hamblen's original game design.
This rulebook contains the rules for the standard game.
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to be the player with the most credits (money) at the end of the game.
Component List
This comprehensive list includes all the components found in the game box, including components used only in the classic game.
- Standard Game Rulebook
- Classic Game Rulebook
- 4 Plastic Merchant Ships
- 4 Plastic Ship Stands
- 8 Plastic Dial Connectors
- 1 Double-Sided Game Board
- 4 Dashboard Sheets
- 8 Ship Class Sheets
- 42 Encounter Cards
- 78 Small Cards, including:
- 10 Challenge Cards
- 14 First Contact Cards
- 1 First Player Card
- 20 Mission Cards
- 8 Pilot Cards
- 25 Reward Cards
- 12 Blue Dot/Asteroid Tokens
- 8 Cargo Hold Tokens
- 103 Credit Tokens
- 38 Demand Tokens
- 6 Drive Tokens
- 35 Encounter Tokens, including:
- 17 Hazard Tokens
- 9 Relic Tokens
- 6 Telegate Tokens
- 3 Neutral Spaceport Tokens
- 14 Factory Goods Tokens
- 14 Factory Deed Tokens
- 24 Spaceport Deed Tokens
- 25 Fame/Infamy Tokens
- 76 Goods Tokens
- 42 Market Tokens
- 14 Culture Tokens
- 8 Mission Tokens
- 15 Passenger Tokens
- 8 Pirate Tokens
- 2 Production Tokens
- 34 Racial Technology Tokens
- 8 Dial Pointers
- 8 Dial Washers
- 1 Round Marker
- 8 Shield Tokens
- 48 Merchant Spaceport/Drill Tokens
- 5 Six-Sided Dice, including:
- 4 White Speed Dice
- 1 Purple Effect Die
Component Overview
The following entries describe the components used in the standard game of Merchant of Venus. Components not described in this section are used only in the classic game and are described in the classic game rulebook.
Merchant Ships: These plastic ships represent the trade vessels each player controls on the game board.
Game Board: The double-sided game board depicts an unexplored galactic cluster ripe for trade. One side is used for the standard game and the other for the classic game.
Dashboard Sheets: These sheets represent the controls of each player's merchant ship.
Encounter Cards: These cards represent the various fortunes and follies that can befall a player during his travels through the cluster.
First Contact Cards: These cards represent the cultures of the galactic cluster.
Mission Cards: These cards represent the various missions a player can undertake to receive Reward cards and increase his fame.
Pilot Cards: These cards represent the skills and abilities of each ship's pilot.
Reward Cards: Players receive these cards for completing missions and defeating pirates.
First Player Card: This card indicates who is the first player.
Challenge Cards: These cards represent the goals and challenges faced by the player of the solo challenge game variant.
Blue Dot/Asteroid Tokens: Players place these tokens on the board after resolving certain encounters.
Cargo Hold Indicator Tokens: These tokens indicate a player has purchased an additional cargo hold.
Credit Tokens: These tokens are the currency of Merchant of Venus.
Drive Tokens: These tokens represent the latest in space travel technology allowing ships to move faster.
Fame/Infamy Tokens: These double-sided tokens represent the prestige or notoriety of a merchant.
Goods Tokens: These tokens represent the commodities that are traded throughout the cluster.
Market Tokens: These tokens represent a culture's market conditions and the equipment sold by that culture.
Mission Tokens: These tokens mark the destination of a player's mission.
Passenger Tokens: Passenger tokens represent Very Important Aliens who need transportation from one location to another.
Pirate Tokens: These tokens represent space pirates out to rob players of their hard-earned credits.
Production Tokens: These tokens are used to mark production rounds on the round track during the epic game variant.
Racial Technology Tokens: These tokens represent various ship upgrades and technologies that players can purchase to gain abilities.
Round Marker: This token marks the current game round on the round track.
Merchant Spaceport/Drill Tokens: These double-sided tokens represent player-built spaceports or asteroids currently being mined.
Telegate Tokens: These tokens represent artificial wormholes that can provide time-saving, but at times unpredictable, shortcuts through the cluster.
Dice: There are four white speed dice and one purple effect die. The players roll the speed dice to move their ship and to assign to ship abilities; they roll the purple effect die to determine other effects.
The Galactic Cluster
The board depicts the large and diverse galactic cluster 5632 where players seek to make their mercantile fortunes. This section describes the various elements of the board in detail.
Spaces
The primary features of the board are the interconnected spaces on which players' spaceships move through the cluster. Each type of space is illustrated on the board: Blue Space, Encounter, Yellow Space, Navigation Space, Red Space, Telegate, Laser Hazard, Orbit Space, Shield Hazard, Surface City, Piloting Hazard, Neutral Spaceport, Asteroid, and Galactic Base (their individual effects are described later).
Systems and Routes
The galactic cluster consists of 14 systems each connected by one or more trade routes.
A system is defined as all spaces connected by a contiguous solid line (gray or green) and a market.
Trade routes are consecutive spaces connected by dashed lines. They constitute the paths players use to travel from one system to another.
If a space is connected to both a solid and a dashed line, the space is considered part of the connected system.
The Asteroid System: The Asteroid System is composed of a web rather than an elliptical path of spaces. These spaces, being connected by contiguous solid lines, are all considered part of the Asteroid System, including the two orbit spaces at either end of the system.
Anomalies: The Supernova and the Supergiant anomalies are not systems, and the spaces surrounding them (being connected by dashed lines) are trade routes. As these anomalies are the destinations of two missions, they both have a name and a mission token area.
Culture Identifiers: Each culture is identified by a symbol and a number. For example, the Zum culture has its own symbol and number.
Markets
Each system contains a market composed of several different areas: the Market Token Area, the Racial Technology Area, the Goods Token Area, and the Mission Token Area.
Galactic Base
Galactic Base is not a system but acts as a neutral spaceport where players can upgrade their pilots, purchase unwanted Reward cards, purchase a second mission, and deliver/pick up certain passengers (rules for pilots, rewards, and passengers are discussed later). Galactic Base also acts as the starting space for players at the beginning of the game.
Dashboard Assembly
Each dashboard sheet has two resource dials that require assembly. Attach the resource arrows to the dashboard sheets by following the steps below.
- Push one side of a plastic connector through the back of one of the holes in the dashboard sheet.
- Attach one of the dial arrows of the corresponding color to this connector on the front of the dashboard sheet.
- Attach one of the dial washers of the corresponding color on top of the resource arrow.
- Press the other half of the plastic connector to hold the arrow and washer in place as tightly as possible.
Repeat this process for both dials on each dashboard sheet.
Merchant Ship Assembly
Attach each merchant ship to its base as shown in the diagram in the rulebook.
Setup
To prepare a standard game of Merchant of Venus, carefully follow the steps below.
- Remove Classic Game Components: Return all of the following components to the game box: encounter tokens, culture tokens, demand tokens, spaceport and factory deed markers, factory goods tokens, shield tokens, and ship class sheets. These components are not used in the standard game (see "Removing Classic Game Components" in the Quick Reference for a visual guide).
- Place Game Board: Unfold the board and place it centrally on the table, ensuring the "Standard Game" side (see lower left corner) is faceup.
- Prepare Cluster: Shuffle the First Contact cards. Then place one First Contact card facedown in each system on the board.
- Prepare Culture Supply Areas: Separate the market tokens, goods tokens, and racial technology tokens. Then group the tokens by culture next to each culture's supply area to the left side of the board.
- Prepare Decks: Shuffle the Encounter, Reward, and Mission decks. Then place these decks separately facedown near the board.
- Prepare Token Stockpiles: Sort the blue dot/asteroid tokens, cargo hold tokens, drive tokens, fame/infamy tokens, pirate tokens, and telegate tokens by type and place them in stockpiles near the board. Shuffle all passenger tokens and place them facedown in a stockpile near the board.
- Select a Player Color: Each player chooses one available color and takes the dashboard sheet, mission tokens, merchant spaceport/drill tokens, and plastic merchant ship corresponding to that color.
- Select Pilot: Merchant of Venus offers four pilots, each associated with a culture: Human, Eeepeeep (or "Eeep" singular), Whynom, and Qossuth (these are also referred to as pilot home cultures). Each player chooses one of the pilots (if players cannot agree, choose randomly) by taking the two corresponding Pilot cards and placing the level 1 pilot (see "Pilot Card Anatomy" below) faceup on the Pilot card space of his dashboard sheet (see "Dashboard Sheet Anatomy" below).
- Distribute Mission Cards: Deal one faceup Mission card to each player. If a player's Mission card has a destination, he places his mission token in that system on the board (see "Missions" below).
- Determine First Player: Randomly select a player. That player receives the First Player card and is hereafter called the first player.
- Prepare the Bank and Starting Funds: Sort the credit tokens into piles by denomination and place them near the board. Give each player an amount of credits equal to the number of players multiplied by 20. Then, counting clockwise from the first player, give the third player an extra c20 and the fourth player an extra c40.
- Set Laser and Shield Values: Each player chooses either his laser or shield dial. He sets that dial to "2," then sets the other dial to "1."
- Place Round Marker: Place the round marker on the "1" space of the round track.
- Place First Passenger: Draw one passenger token from the passenger stockpile and place the token on its specified starting location (see "Passenger Token Anatomy" below).
- Place Merchant Ships: Each player places his merchant ship on the Galactic Base space on the board.
Players are now ready to begin their business venture!
Playing the Game
Merchant of Venus is played over a series of game rounds. In each game round, players take turns exploring the galactic cluster, buying and selling goods, and upgrading their ships. The game is played for 30 game rounds, after which each player counts his assets and the player with the most credits is declared the winner.
Beginning a New Round
Each new game round (with the exception of the first round) begins with the first player advancing the round marker one space on the game round track and resolving the effect of the game round's corresponding icon:
- Passenger Icon: The first player randomly draws a passenger token from the stockpile and places it on its starting culture as indicated on the passenger token (see "Passenger Token Anatomy" below). If the passenger's starting culture has not yet been discovered, he places the token in the corresponding culture's supply area to the left of the board.
- Drill Icon: Each player retrieves any drill tokens he has placed on the board and redeems them for credits (see "Drills" below).
Player Turns
After the first player advances the round token, the game proceeds to player turns. During each game round, every player takes one turn, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise.
A player's turn consists of four phases, performed in the following order:
- Movement Phase
- First Contact Phase
- Transaction Phase
- Merchant Spaceport Phase
After a player completes his Merchant Spaceport phase, his turn ends and the next player's turn begins. After the last player finishes his turn, players begin a new game round.
Movement Phase
A player's Movement phase consists of four steps, performed in the following order:
- Declare Heading
- Set Speed
- Move
- End Movement
A player may choose to skip his Movement phase to remain on his ship's current space and end his turn. If a player skips his Movement phase while on a surface city or spaceport, however, his turn proceeds directly to the Transaction phase instead (see "Transaction Phase" below).
1. Declare Heading
If, at the start of the Movement phase, the current player's ship is on any space other than a surface city or spaceport, he must declare his heading by pointing his ship in the direction he wishes to travel (along a path connected to his current space). If he fails to declare a heading before rolling his speed dice, he must move along the path in the direction his ship currently faces.
If the current player begins his Movement phase on a surface city or spaceport, he may skip this step and proceed to his Set Speed step.
Dashboard Sheet Anatomy
- Laser Value Dial
- Shield Value Dial
- Pilot Card Space
- Drive Token Space
- Navigation Die Box
- Throttle Die Box
- Ship Upgrade Slot
- Ship Upgrade Die Box
- Cargo Hold Indicator
- Cargo Holds
- Fuzzy Dice Indicator
2. Set Speed
After the current player declares his heading, he rolls three speed dice and totals the results. This sum is his movement value representing the maximum number of movement points he can spend to move his ship during his Move step.
After rolling, the current player may be eligible to assign one of his rolled dice to his ship's throttle to roll an additional speed die (see "Assigning Dice" below).
After a player rolls his speed dice, he is committed to moving his ship and must proceed to the Move step.
3. Move
After the current player sets his speed, he spends his movement value to move through the galactic cluster along his current path (in the direction he set in the Declare Heading step). Moving from one space to the next along a gray (solid or dashed) line costs him one movement point, while moving along a solid green line costs him two movement points.
During this step, the current player can come across telegates, navigation spaces, hazards, pirates, and other surprises that can divert, interrupt, or even end his Movement phase. The finer points of moving through the galaxy are found in "Bumps Along the Way" below.
If a player chooses not to land his ship, or if he is not stopped by other game effects, he must spend his entire movement value. After spending his last movement point, his turn immediately ends.
4. End Movement
The current player ends his Movement phase by either landing his ship or by spending his entire movement value.
A player may only land on a surface city, spaceport, or asteroid. If a player lands his ship on a surface city or a spaceport, his Movement phase ends and his turn proceeds to the First Contact phase (see "First Contact Phase" below). If he lands his ship on an asteroid, his turn immediately ends.
Additional Movement Rules
Players should observe the following additional rules during the Movement phase:
- A player can never roll more than four speed dice during his turn, even if certain combinations of abilities say that he may.
- Ships can move past one another without movement penalty.
- Multiple ships can occupy the same space.
- After a ship departs from a space, it cannot immediately turn around and return to that space. That is, a player cannot backtrack during his Move step.
Component Limitations
If players run out of credit tokens, blue dot/asteroid tokens, or fame/infamy tokens, please use suitable substitutes (such as pennies, beads, etc.) to supplement those provided. All other component types in the standard game are limited to the amounts included in the box.
Assigning Dice
In order to use certain abilities, a player must assign dice to boxes on his dashboard sheet. To do so, he simply takes any of his rolled speed dice and places them in the appropriate spaces of his dashboard sheet. A player can only assign dice during his Movement phase, and only dice rolled during his Set Speed step can be assigned.
A speed die always contributes its result to a player's movement value, even while assigned to an ability. Players cannot change the value of a die when assigning it.
The number of dice a player can assign is equal to that of his pilot's level (see "Pilot Card Anatomy" below). For example, a player with a level 1 pilot can assign one die and a player with a level 3 pilot can assign three dice every Movement phase.
After a player assigns a die to his dashboard sheet, that die cannot be reassigned to another ability, or removed, for the rest of his turn.
Under no circumstances can a player assign more than one die to a single die box on his dashboard sheet.
All ships begin with two abilities that may be assigned dice during the Movement phase: navigation and throttle. In addition, many racial technologies require an assigned die to function.
Navigation: Assigning a die to navigation determines how a player's ship moves through a navigation space (see "Navigation Spaces" below) or a telegate (see "Telegates" below).
To assign a die to navigation, the current player places one of his rolled speed dice on the navigation die box of his dashboard sheet. The value of this assigned die is his navigation value for that turn.
Throttle: If any of the current player's rolled speed dice show a result of 1, the current player may assign that die to his throttle die box to roll one additional speed die. The sum of the four rolled speed dice is his movement value for that turn.
Movement Example
The orange player wishes to move to the Jungle World but wants to avoid the piloting hazard.
- At the start of his Movement phase, he declares a heading by rotating his ship to face the direction he wishes to move.
- Next he rolls three speed dice with results of 6, 3, and 2 for a movement value of 11 — just enough to reach the Jungle World.
- To move through the navigation space, he assigns a die to navigation by placing the 2-result die on the navigation die box of his dashboard sheet (see "Navigation Spaces" below).
Reminder: Moving along a green line costs two movement points (such as between the orbit space and the surface city in this example).
Ship Upgrades
Some racial technologies require an assigned speed die to function. These are called ship upgrades (see "Ship Upgrades" below) and are distinguished by their icon.
To assign a die to a ship upgrade, the current player places one of his rolled speed dice on the die box next to the upgrade he wants to use.
Throttling Example
-
The green player wants to reach the Colony World from Galactic Base. He needs a movement value of at least 9 to reach one of its surface cities.
He rolls his speed dice with results of 4, 2, and 1, giving him a movement value of 7.
-
Since one of the dice shows a result of 1, the player can assign it to the throttle die box on his dashboard sheet.
-
Assigning a die to throttle allows the player to roll a fourth speed die. Rolling this die results in a 5, giving the player a total movement value of 12, enough to reach either surface city on the Colony World.
First Contact Phase
At the beginning of each Merchant of Venus game, every system is unexplored and each culture's location in the cluster is unknown. Undiscovered cultures are represented by a facedown First Contact card.
If the current player ends his Movement phase on a surface city or neutral spaceport of a system containing a First Contact card, he takes the following steps:
- He flips the First Contact card faceup, revealing which culture inhabits this system.
- He takes the revealed culture's market tokens (there are three market tokens for each culture), shuffles them facedown, and places them in a faceup stack on that system's market token space. If there are any passenger tokens in this culture's supply area, he places them near the system's market token area.
- He places the revealed culture's goods tokens and racial technology tokens in their respective spaces with their cost values faceup.
- He takes the First Contact card and takes an amount of credits equal to the culture's IOU value from the bank, placing the credits on top of the card (see "Using First Contact Credits" below).
- He may then immediately take up to three buy actions and up to three sell actions with that culture (see "Buy Actions" below).
The culture is now open for trade with any player who lands in its system, including the player who just discovered it.
First Contact Card Anatomy
- Name
- Culture Identifier
- IOU Value
- Flavor Text
First Contact Example
- The green player is first to land on the surface city of the Trapped Rogue Planet. He flips its First Contact card faceup, revealing the Volois culture.
- He then takes the Volois market tokens from the Volois supply area, shuffles the tokens, and places them in a faceup stack in the market token area.
- Next he takes all of the Volois goods tokens, placing them in the goods token space.
- He then takes the Volois racial technology tokens and places them in the racial technology space.
- Finally, he takes the Volois First Contact card, placing c120 on it. He may now immediately take up to three buy actions and three sell actions.
Transaction Phase
A player at a surface city or spaceport may trade with the system's culture during his Transaction phase. This includes buying goods, equipment, and racial technologies from the culture, as well as selling goods to the culture and transporting passengers to and from the system.
A player may perform the following actions during his Transaction phase:
- Buy
- Sell
- Pick Up a Passenger
- Drop Off a Passenger
There is no limit to the number of such actions a player may take during his Transaction phase, and he may take the actions in any order.
Important Exception: If the current player lands on a system's surface city during the Movement phase of the same turn, he can perform only one buy action and one sell action in the subsequent Transaction phase. He may still pick up or drop off an unlimited number of passengers. This limitation does not apply to spaceports.
Note: The Nebula Habitat, the Asteroid System, and the Multi-Generational Ship do not have surface cities. Instead, these systems have spaceports on which a player must land in order to conduct his Transaction phase.
Buy Actions
When trading, the current player may perform a buy action to purchase one of the following from the system's culture:
- Goods
- Piece of Equipment
- Racial Technology
Each purchase type is described in detail below.
Buying Goods
Each culture sells one type of good, represented by the goods tokens in its system's market.
To buy a good, a player pays an amount of credits to the bank equal to the good's cost (see "Goods Token Anatomy" below). He then takes the goods token from the culture's market, placing it in an eligible cargo hold below his dashboard sheet (see "Capacity" below).
Goods and Technology Tokens: When buying goods and racial technologies from a culture, players are not restricted to those tokens found on the top of their respective stacks, and may purchase any of the goods and technology tokens in that system (players can look at the back of any goods or technology token at any time).
After purchasing a goods token, it is placed in an available cargo hold.
If the current player has no cargo hold space, he cannot buy goods unless he makes room in his ship (see "Making Room in a Ship" below).
Example: The red player lands on a surface city of the Jungle World where the Nillis reside. Because he just landed, he may only perform one buy action and one sell action. He does not have enough credits to make a purchase, so he decides to take his sell action first to raise some funds.
First he sells one Designer Genes token for c120, constituting his sell action for this Transaction phase.
Then he purchases one Bionic Perfume goods token for c80, constituting his buy action for this Transaction phase. He places the Bionic Perfume token in an empty cargo hold on his ship.
If the red player skips his next Movement phase, remaining on the surface city, he may perform any number of buy and sell actions with the Nillis during his next Transaction phase.
Buying Equipment
Each culture offers two pieces of equipment for sale as indicated by its market token. There are four types of equipment: lasers, shields, cargo holds, and drives.
To buy a piece of equipment, a player pays an amount of credits to the bank equal to the equipment's cost (as printed on the culture's market token).
The following entries describe the various equipment types.
Goods Token Anatomy
- Name
- Culture selling this good
- Cost
- Resale values (see "Sell Actions" below)
- Cultures buying this good
- Capacity requirement (see "Capacity" below)
Grades (Color) of Goods
The grade of a good or a racial technology is indicated by the color of its token. There are three grades of goods and racial technologies: basic, premium, and luxury. The higher a good's grade, the more expensive it is.
- Basic (Copper): c10 - c40
- Premium (Silver): c50 - c110
- Luxury (Gold): c120 - c200
Lasers and Shields
Lasers and shields help players face hazards (see "Hazards" below) and pirates (see "Pirates" below).
When a player buys a piece of laser or shield equipment, he increases the appropriate dial by one point on his dashboard sheet.
Example: A player purchases one laser, increasing his laser dial by one point.
Cargo Holds
Cargo holds store a player's goods, passengers, and certain racial technologies. Each player begins the game with two cargo holds (illustrated by the green cargo hold indicators on his dashboard sheet) and may purchase two additional cargo holds during the course of the game.
After a player buys an additional cargo hold, he places a cargo hold indicator token above the leftmost available cargo hold on his dashboard sheet. This indicates the cargo hold is now available to hold cargo.
Example: The green player purchases a cargo hold during his Transaction phase. To illustrate the acquisition, he places a cargo hold indicator token above the third (being the leftmost available) cargo hold.
Drives
Drives help ships move more swiftly around the cluster by allowing them to skip certain spaces on the board.
After a player purchases a drive, he places it on the drive token space on his dashboard sheet, discarding any previous drive on the space.
There are three kinds of drives: yellow, red, and combo.
- The yellow drive allows a player to skip over all yellow spaces on the board.
- The red drive allows a player to skip over all red spaces on the board.
- The combo drive allows a player to skip over all red and yellow spaces on the board.
If a player does not wish to use his drive during his Move step, he must announce this during the Declare Heading step of his Movement phase.
Drive Movement Example: When travelling from a space in the Colony World system to the surface city of the Jungle World system, the orange player's red drive allows him to skip three red spaces along his path, costing him a total of 8 movement points instead of 11.
Buying Racial Technologies
Each culture sells one type of racial technology, represented by its racial technology tokens. Rules and descriptions for each racial technology are found in "Appendix B: Racial Technologies" below.
To buy a racial technology, the current player pays an amount of credits to the bank equal to the cost of the racial technology.
After a player acquires a racial technology, he may use its ability as described on the back of the token, with the exception of ship upgrades, which require the assignment of a speed die (see "Ship Upgrades" above).
A player cannot have two or more of the same racial technology tokens at the same time (with the exception of the Data Probe).
There are four types of racial technologies: ship upgrades, utilities, structural techs, and special techs. The following entries describe the racial technology types in detail.
Ship Upgrades: When a player buys a ship upgrade tech, he places the token to the right of the topmost available ship upgrade slot on his dashboard sheet.
In order to use a ship upgrade ability, a player must assign a rolled speed die to its corresponding ship upgrade die box during his Movement phase (see "Assigning Dice" above).
If a player has no available ship upgrade slots on his dashboard sheet, he cannot buy another ship upgrade unless he makes room in his ship (see "Making Room in a Ship" below).
Structural Techs: When a player buys a structural tech, he places its token in an eligible cargo hold.
The icon signifying a structural tech also represents the tech's capacity requirement (one dot) a player needs in order to equip the tech on his ship (see "Capacity" below).
If a player has no available room in his cargo holds, he cannot buy a structural tech unless he makes room in his ship (see "Making Room in a Ship" below).
Special Techs: There are two special techs, each placed in a specific area of a player's dashboard sheet:
- Throttle Boost: When a player buys a Throttle Boost, he places the token facedown in the throttle die box.
- Fuzzy Dice: When a player buys Fuzzy Dice, he places the token facedown above his dashboard sheet.
Utility Techs: When a player buys a utility tech, he places its token to the left of his dashboard sheet. Utility techs cannot be jettisoned or offloaded (see "Making Room in a Ship" below).
Using First Contact Credits
When buying from a culture, the player who established first contact with that culture may use the IOU credits placed on the culture's First Contact card. These credits function just as a player's normal credits, but can only be spent with that culture.
Credits remaining on a culture's First Contact card at the end of the game do not count toward a player's final score.
Sell Actions
For a player to sell goods, his ship must be on a surface city or spaceport of a culture that buys that particular type of good. The cultures to which a good can be sold are listed on each of its goods tokens (see "Goods Token Anatomy" above).
Example: The Bionic Perfume, purchased at the Nillis culture, can be sold at the Volois, Graw, Niks, and Dell cultures.
When selling goods to a culture, a player must first determine the condition of the culture's market by looking at the token currently on top of its market token stack. The condition of the market determines which price a player receives for selling the eligible goods token to that culture, as described below.
- Low Market: The goods token is sold at its lowest resale value.
- High Market: The goods token is sold at its highest resale value.
- Active Market: The goods token is sold at its center resale value.
The resale values of a goods tokens are listed on its reverse side (see "Goods Token Anatomy" above).
When a player sells a good, he receives its resale value in credits from the bank. Then he returns the goods token to its culture's supply area at the left side of the board (do not return the token to the culture's market). Each sale of a goods token counts as one sell action.
Market Shift
A market shift occurs whenever a player performs at least one sell action in a culture's market. After the current player completes all his sell actions, he takes the culture's top market token and places it at the bottom of that culture's market token stack, revealing the next faceup market token.
If a market shift reveals an active market (signified by the gear icon), that culture produces one goods token (see "Market Production" below).
Selling Goods Example
- The green player has decided skip his Movement phase during his current turn in order to take unlimited buy and sell actions at the surface city.
- The market token at this culture shows a high market, allowing the green player to sell his three Bionic Perfumes for the top resale value shown on the goods tokens.
- He collects c160 for each token for a total of c480.
- Because he sold at least one goods token during his turn, the green player (after executing any remaining sell actions) shifts the market by placing the top market token on the bottom of the market token stack, revealing the market token below — a low market in this case.
Market Token Anatomy
- Culture Name
- Culture Identifier
- Market Condition Icon
- Available Equipment
Picking Up Passengers
Picking up passengers and dropping them off at their destinations is another way for players to earn credits.
To pick up a passenger, the current player must be at a surface city or spaceport of a system containing at least one passenger token. During his Transaction phase, he can pick up any number of passengers at that culture by placing the passenger tokens in eligible cargo holds below his dashboard sheet.
Note: Most passenger tokens have a capacity requirement of one dot. However, the "Diva" and "Caterer" passenger tokens have a capacity requirement of two dots (see "Capacity" below).
Passenger Token Anatomy
- Passenger Title
- Starting Location
- Destination
- Fare
- Capacity Requirement
- Fame/Infamy
- Passenger Icon
Dropping Off Passengers
To drop off a passenger, the current player must be at a surface city or spaceport of the system designated as the passenger's destination.
First the current player collects the passenger's fare in credits from the bank, along with any fame or infamy tokens specified on the passenger token. Then he removes the passenger token from play by returning it to the game box.
Note: The Galactic Base icon represents Galactic Base. If it appears as the starting location or the destination of a passenger token, that passenger either starts on, or must be dropped off at, Galactic Base.
End of Transaction Phase
After the current player has completed all the actions of his Transaction phase, he continues to the Merchant Spaceport phase.
Spending Credits
When a player spends, or is asked to pay, credits, he simply takes a sufficient amount of available credit tokens from his play area and returns them to the bank (unless he is making payments to another player). Change may be made at the bank at any time (i.e. players may break large credit denominations into smaller ones).
Merchant Spaceport Phase
Several systems have spaceports printed on the game board at the start of the game. These are called neutral spaceports.
A player can build his own spaceports at systems on an empty orbit space. These player-constructed spaceports are called merchant spaceports.
Important: If a player performed one or more buy actions during his First Contact phase or his Transaction phase, he cannot build a merchant spaceport during that turn.
To build a merchant spaceport in a system, the current player must be on one of its surface cities and must pay c200 to the bank. After doing so, he places a merchant spaceport token of his color on an empty orbit space connected by a single green line to the surface city on which he is located (see "Building a Merchant Spaceport Example" below). Lastly he moves his ship onto the new merchant spaceport token and ends his turn.
If there is no empty orbit space adjacent to a surface city, no merchant spaceport can be built there.
Note: Merchant spaceports are worth c200 at the end of the game, even if they were purchased at a discount (see "Pilot Home Culture Discounts" below).
Trading on Merchant Spaceports
After a merchant spaceport has been built in an orbit space, players can no longer move from the space containing the merchant spaceport to the connected surface city. If all of a system's orbit spaces contain merchant spaceports, players can no longer access that system's surface cities and instead must conduct their Transaction phases on the system's merchant spaceports.
In addition to the normal rules for buy and sell actions, a player that conducts a buy or sell action at a merchant spaceport must pay the spaceport's owner c10 for each buy or sell action. If the current player is unable to pay the c10 fee after the transaction, he cannot make the buy or sell action.
For each buy or sell action the current player conducts at his own merchant spaceport, he receives c10 from the bank instead of paying a fee.
Example: The red player conducts a sell action with the Qossuth culture at a merchant spaceport owned by the green player. The red player moves a Pedigree Bolts goods token from his cargo hold to the Qossuth culture supply area. He receives c300 from the bank, after which he pays c10 to the green player.
Merchant Spaceports in the Asteroid System
To build a merchant spaceport in the Asteroid System, the current player must be located on one of the system's neutral spaceports. After paying c200 to the bank, he places one of his merchant spaceport tokens on the orbit space connected to the neutral spaceport by three contiguous green lines. Then he moves his ship to the orbit space containing his new merchant spaceport and ends his turn.
After a merchant spaceport is built in the Asteroid System, it bankrupts the connected neutral spaceport. To signify this, place an asteroid token on top of the bankrupt neutral spaceport.
End of the Merchant Spaceport Phase
After the current player has built a merchant spaceport, or chosen not to, his turn is over. A player cannot build more than one merchant spaceport during a single turn.
Building a Merchant Spaceport Example
The green player has landed on the Trapped Rogue Planet. Since he took no buy actions during his Transaction phase, he may build a merchant spaceport during the Merchant Spaceport phase.
- First he pays c200 to the bank.
- Then he places one of his merchant spaceport tokens on the orbit space connected to the surface city where his ship is located.
- Finally he moves his ship to the space containing the new merchant spaceport and ends his turn.
Ending a Turn
A player's turn ends when any of the following occurs:
- He finishes his Merchant Spaceport phase.
- He fails a hazard check.
- An Encounter card effect ends his turn.
- He ends his Move step (or skips his Movement phase) on any space other than a spaceport or a surface city.
When a player's turn is over, the player to his left begins his turn. When the last player ends his turn, a new game round begins.
End of the Game
When the last player ends his turn in round 30, the game ends. Each player then determines his final score by taking the following steps:
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Sell Merchant Spaceports: Each player removes all his merchant spaceports from the board, collecting c200 from the bank for each spaceport he removes.
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Count Fame: Each player performs the following three steps in order to determine his total fame (see "Fame" below).
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Each player totals all fame tokens in his play area, adds the fame from his Reward cards, the fame for his completed Mission cards, and the fame from his dashboard sheet (for ship upgrades, additional cargo holds, and his laser and shield levels).
Note: Unlike ship upgrades and cargo holds, which cumulatively provide fame points for each upgrade, lasers and shields provide only the amounts of fame indicated by the current positions of their dial arrows (see "Fame for Ship Enhancements" below).
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If a player has the Fuzzy Dice racial technology, he rolls two dice and gains an amount of fame equal to the total result of both dice.
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Each player then loses one point of fame for each point of infamy he accumulated during the game. A player with less than 0 fame cannot win the game and is disqualified at this point.
The sum of the above is a player's total fame.
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Award Bonus Credits: Each player now receives an amount of credits equal to his total fame multiplied by 10. If a player's Fuzzy Dice roll had the same result on both dice (i.e. he rolled doubles), he instead receives an amount of credits equal to his total fame multiplied by 20.
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Determine Final Score: Each player totals the value of all credit tokens in his play area, resulting in his final score. Unspent credits on First Contact cards do not contribute to a player's final score.
Winning the Game
The player with the highest score at the end of the game wins. In the event of a tie, the tied player with the highest total fame (as calculated in his Count Fame step) is the winner. If there is still a tie, the tying players share the glory of winning.
Scoring Example
This diagram shows the green player's play area at the end of the game. To determine his final score, he does the following:
He removes his five merchant spaceports from the board, taking c200 for each for a total of c1000.
Next he counts 29 fame, including:
- Four one-point fame tokens
- Six fame for two relic Reward cards
- Six fame for three completed Mission cards
- Six fame for two additional cargo holds
- Two fame for his second ship upgrade
- Four fame for his laser dial
- One fame for his level 2 Pilot card
Because he has the Fuzzy Dice racial technology, he rolls two dice, producing the following results:
He adds the total result of the dice, eight, to his accumulated fame, for a subtotal of 37 fame. Then he reduces his fame by two because of his two one-point infamy tokens, leaving him with a total fame of 35.
Because he rolled two results of four (i.e. doubles) on his Fuzzy Dice roll, he takes c20 for each point of fame (instead of the normal c10) for a total of c700.
Finally, he adds all of the credit tokens in his play area together for a total of c2540; this is his final score.
Bumps Along the Way
While exploring the galaxy, players will run into many hazards, pirates, and encounters. Some give the current player precious cargo; others send him hurtling to the opposite end of the galaxy. The following sections describe the various surprises that await players.
Navigation Spaces
Navigation spaces mark the nebulous routes through the galaxy where careless pilots often find themselves taking a wrong turn.
A player's ship must exit a navigation space using the path that matches his navigation value (see "Assigning Dice" above).
A ship can never exit a navigation space in the direction from which it entered during the same turn. Therefore, if a player has a die assigned to navigation that would force him to exit the navigation space in the direction from which he entered that turn, he instead ends his turn on the navigation space. If a player starts his turn on a navigation space, this restriction does not apply.
If the current player cannot, or does not wish to, assign a die to navigation before exiting a navigation space, the player to the current player's left chooses the path by which he exits (as per the above rule, the path from which the current player entered the navigation space that turn cannot be chosen).
Remember that after a speed die has been assigned, it cannot be changed during the current player's turn. Therefore, if the current player travels through multiple navigation spaces during his Movement phase, he must use the same navigation value on each navigation space.
Navigation Example
- The orange player begins his turn on Galactic Base and declares a heading towards the Nebula Habitat system.
- He rolls his speed dice resulting in a 4, 2 and 1.
- Before exiting the navigation space, he assigns the 4-result die to his navigation die box, exiting the navigation space en route to the adjacent encounter space.
Telegates
Telegates are wormholes through space that can instantly transport a player around the galactic cluster.
If the current player enters a telegate space with a normal (i.e. non-telegate) move during his Move step, he immediately resolves the following:
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He may choose to assign a speed die to his navigation die box if he has not done so already.
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If he has assigned a speed die to his navigation die box, he immediately moves his ship to the telegate with the number that matches his navigation value.
If his navigation value matches the telegate number on his current space, or if there is no telegate with that number on the board, his ship remains on its current space and he continues his Move step (skipping the remaining steps below).
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If he does not have a die assigned to his navigation die box, he rolls the purple effect die and immediately places his ship on the telegate with a number identical to that of the rolled result.
If the result of the purple effect die matches the telegate number on his current space, or if there is no telegate with that number on the board, his ship remains on its current space and he continues his Move step (skipping the step below).
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After using a telegate, the current player declares a new heading and continues his Move step from the destination telegate. Being transported between telegates does not cost movement points.
Telegate Examples
Example 1: The green player enters the telegate "2" space and chooses to assign a speed die showing a 2 result to his navigation die box. Since this navigation value matches the telegate number in his current space, his ship is unaffected by the telegate and he continues his Move step to the adjacent encounter space.
Example 2: The green player has yet to assign a speed die to his navigation die box this turn. After entering the telegate "2" space, he decides to roll the purple effect die instead. The roll produces a result of 5, so he must move his ship to the telegate "5" space on the board, choose a new heading, and continue his Move step.
Only a player who enters a telegate space during his Move step is affected by it (in other words, a player who starts his turn on a telegate space simply moves to the next space during his Move step).
Branching Paths
As the current player moves along the path of his declared heading, he may encounter a branch in his path.
When the current player exits a branching space in the same Move step he entered it, he must declare which of the forward branches (he cannot reverse direction) is his new heading. Then he continues his Move step.
Hazards
Hazards test a player's lasers, shields, or the skill of his pilot.
When a player enters a hazard space, he must roll the purple effect die and compare its result to the corresponding attribute on his dashboard sheet or pilot card. This is a hazard check. The following entries describe each hazard check in detail.
Laser Checks: If the current player's effect die result is less than his current laser value, he passes the hazard check and continues his Move step as normal.
If his effect die result is equal to or greater than his current laser value, he fails the check and may either end his turn on that hazard space or decrease his laser value by one point and continue his Move step as normal. If he chooses the latter, he ignores any other laser hazards for the rest of his turn, treating them instead as blue spaces.
Shield Checks: If the current player's effect die result is less than his current shield value, he passes the hazard check and continues his Move step as normal.
If his effect die result is equal to or greater than his current shield value, he fails the check and may either end his turn on that hazard space or decrease his shield value by one point and continue his Move step as normal. If he chooses the latter, he ignores any other shield hazards for the rest of his turn, treating them instead as blue spaces.
Piloting Checks: If the current player's effect die result is less than the pilot skill value on his current Pilot card, he passes the hazard check and continues his Move step as normal.
If his effect die result is equal to or greater than the pilot skill value on his current Pilot card, he immediately ends his turn on that hazard space.
Pirates
The battles that raged through the cluster left behind numerous disenfranchised groups and bands of deserters, many of whom, in desperation or in greed, turned to the scourge of commerce: piracy.
Pirate tokens typically come into play via Encounter card effects (see "Encounters" below).
As soon as the current player enters a space containing a pirate token during his Move step, he must engage with those pirates as follows:
- If he entered an area containing a pirate token by using his last movement point, he is ambushed by the pirates; he automatically loses the engagement and skips the remaining steps (see "Losing a Pirate Engagement" below).
- He chooses an attribute (lasers, shields, or pilot skill).
- He then rolls the purple effect die and modifies the result by the value printed on the pirate token.
- If the result is less than the value of his chosen attribute, he wins the engagement. If the result is equal to or greater than the value of the chosen attribute, he loses. See the effects of losing or winning a pirate engagement below.
Winning a Pirate Engagement
The outcome of winning a pirate engagement depends on the attribute chosen in step 2 above.
The engagement is won by rolling against the pilot attribute: The current player may add a number of movement points up to that of his pilot's level to his movement value. Then he continues his Move step, leaving the pirate token on its space.
The engagement is won by rolling against the shield attribute: The current player receives two fame. Then he continues his Move step, leaving the pirate token on its space.
The engagement is won by rolling against the laser attribute: The pirate is defeated. The current player collects c20 for every infamy token accumulated under the pirate token. Then he takes those infamy tokens and converts them to fame by flipping the tokens to their fame side. Finally he flips the pirate token to its asteroid side, draws a Reward card, and ends his Move step.
Losing a Pirate Engagement
If the current player loses an engagement with pirates, he must take the following consequences:
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If transporting one or more goods tokens with a color (i.e. grade) matching that of the pirate token, he must return one such goods token (his choice) to its culture's supply area.
If he has no goods token matching the color of the pirate token, he pays c20 to the bank. If he cannot pay c20, he pays all his remaining credits to the bank instead.
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He ends his Move step and places an infamy token beneath the Pirate token.
Pirate Engagement Example
- The green player is traveling in the Polluted Planet system when he enters a space containing a pirate token.
- The green player currently has the following attributes: Lasers = 4, Shields = 2, Piloting = 3.
- Since the pirate token will modify his die roll by +2, the player's only chance is to roll against his laser value.
- He rolls the purple effect die for a result of 1 which is modified by the "+2" pirate token for a final result of 3.
- As this result is less than his laser value of 4, the green player wins the engagement.
- He receives c60 from the bank (c20 for each of the three infamy tokens accumulated by the pirate). Then he flips the pirate token to its asteroid side.
- Finally, he takes the three infamy tokens as fame (flipping the tokens), draws a Reward card, and ends his turn.
Encounters
When a player enters an encounter space, he immediately draws an Encounter card and resolves its text. After resolving the Encounter card, he discards it and resumes his Move step unless otherwise instructed by the card.
Some cards instruct the current player to place a token on the encounter space (such as a pirate token, for example). This token remains on the space for the rest of the game, replacing the encounter space.
Encounter Card Production
Some Encounter cards feature a production and culture icon near their bottom edge. When such a card is drawn, in addition to the card's other effects, the current player takes all of the goods tokens from the indicated culture's supply area and returns them to the market in that culture's system (if the culture is not yet discovered, nothing happens).
Title Cards
Some Encounter cards have the title trait. These are also called Title cards.
Instead of being resolved and discarded, Title cards remain in play and can change hands during the course of the game.
The effects and conditions of Title cards are fully described in their texts.
Intel Cards
Some cards in the Encounter deck have the intel trait. These are also called Intel cards.
When drawn, an Intel card is typically placed beside the round track where a player may purchase it by paying the price and meeting the conditions detailed on the card.
When used by a player, Intel cards are usually returned to the side of the round track, after which they are eligible for purchase again.
The effects and conditions of Intel cards are fully described in their texts.
Asteroids
Asteroids are chunks of rock so large that players can land their ships on them. When entering a space containing an asteroid, the current player can choose to end his turn in that space even if he has unspent movement points remaining.
In addition, a player whose ship is equipped with the License to Drill racial technology can place one of his drill tokens on an asteroid space as his ship passes over or lands on the space (see "Drills" below).
Other Rules
The following entries describe other important Merchant of Venus rules.
Market Production
When a culture's market reveals a market token with a production icon (also known as an active market), the culture immediately produces another goods token, if able.
If there are any goods tokens belonging to the culture in that culture's supply area (placed there, for example, by a player selling one of that culture's goods tokens), the current player takes one such goods token from the culture's supply area and places it in the goods token area of that culture's system. If there are no goods tokens in a culture's supply area, the active market produces nothing.
Goods are also produced when certain Encounter cards are resolved (see "Encounter Card Production" above).
Capacity
Freight capacity in Merchant of Venus is symbolized by the capacity icon with a number of capacity dots.
The capacity requirement of goods tokens, passenger tokens, and some racial technology tokens are designated on each token by a capacity icon of one or two dots. For example, the Designer Genes goods token has a capacity requirement of two dots.
Each of a player's cargo holds has a capacity of up to two dots. Thus, a single cargo hold can hold either a) one token with a capacity requirement of two dots, or b) one or two tokens with a capacity requirement of one dot each.
Capacity Example
The red player skips his Move step to remain on a surface city in the Water World system. Doing so gives him an unlimited number of actions during his Transaction phase.
The Water World system's market offers Bionic Perfume goods tokens and a Fancy Spoiler racial technology token. In addition, the "Scientist" passenger is available to be picked up in this system.
During his Transaction phase, the red player takes the following actions:
- With a buy action, he purchases a Bionic Perfume goods token. This token has a capacity requirement of two dots, meaning it fills a single cargo hold. He pays c80 to the bank and places the Bionic Perfume goods token in one of his empty cargo holds.
- With another buy action, he purchases the Fancy Spoiler racial technology token. He pays c60 to the bank and places the Fancy Spoiler, which has a capacity requirement of one dot, in an empty cargo hold.
- Then, as a pick up passenger action, the red player takes the "Scientist" passenger on board his ship. The passenger has a capacity requirement of one dot, so the red player places the "Scientist" passenger token in the cargo hold already containing the Fancy Spoiler racial technology token. With two tokens, each of which has a capacity requirement of one dot, the red player's second cargo hold is now full.
Making Room in a Ship
Occasionally, a player may need to make room in his ship for more lucrative cargo, upgrades, or passengers. There are three ways, other than selling goods, to make room in a ship: reorganizing, offloading and jettisoning.
The following entries describe these in detail.
Reorganizing: A player may shift cargo (i.e. goods, passenger, and structural tech tokens) between his various cargo holds at any time, as long as he does not exceed the capacity of any cargo hold while doing so.
Offloading: At any time during a player's Transaction phase, if he is located on a surface city or spaceport, he may offload any number of goods, racial technologies, or passengers.
To do so, he simply removes the desired tokens from his cargo holds and places them in the market of his current system. The offloaded goods, racial technology, or passenger tokens immediately become available for purchase or pickup at that system.
Normally, a market's available goods, technologies, and passenger tokens would be those originating from that system's culture. However, offloading (and some card effects) make it possible for markets to contain goods, technologies, and passengers that originated in other systems.
Offloading does not count as an action, and players do not receive credits for offloading tokens.
Offloading at Galactic Base: Goods and racial technologies cannot be offloaded at Galactic Base but passengers can be offloaded here.
Jettisoning: When the current player ends his Move step on any space other than a surface city or spaceport, he may jettison any number of goods, racial technologies, or passengers.
When jettisoning a goods or technology token, he simply removes the desired tokens from his cargo holds and places the tokens in their originating culture's supply area at the side of the board.
If he jettisons a passenger token, he removes it from the game by returning it to the game box. Then he rolls two dice and takes a number of infamy tokens equal to the higher result.
Ship Improvements
When a player offloads or jettisons a ship upgrade tech, he immediately shifts his other equipped ship upgrade techs upwards on his dashboard sheet so that available ship upgrade slots are always at the bottom.
Drills
If a player has acquired the License to Drill racial technology, he can place drill tokens on asteroid spaces as his ship passes over or lands on them. Only one drill token can be present on any particular asteroid space at one time.
At the beginning of every even-numbered game round, each player receives c10 for every drill token he has placed on the board. After collecting any drill credits, each player reclaims his drill tokens from the board (see "Beginning a New Round" above).
Drills are located on the reverse side of merchant spaceport tokens. If a player has placed all of his drill tokens on asteroids, he cannot purchase a merchant spaceport until he has recovered his drills. Likewise, if a player has used all his tokens as merchant spaceports, he cannot place drill tokens.
Pilots
All players begin the game with a level 1 pilot on their dashboard sheet. A pilot's level is indicated by the level icon on his Pilot card (see "Pilot Card Anatomy" below).
Upgrading Pilots
Throughout the game, a player may upgrade his pilot's level to enhance the pilot's skills and abilities:
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Upgrade to level 2: During his Move step, the current player may upgrade his pilot from level 1 to level 2 by landing his ship at Galactic Base and paying c60 to the bank. He then flips his Pilot card to its level 2 side.
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Upgrade to level 3: During his Move step, the current player may upgrade his pilot from level 2 to level 3 by landing on a surface city or spaceport in the system containing the pilot's home culture and paying c60 to the bank. This upgrade cost is not reduced by the pilot's home culture discount (see "Pilot Home Culture Discounts" below).
After doing so, the current player chooses which level 3 pilot ability he would like to use (i.e. which side of the level 3 Pilot card will be used) and places that side of the level 3 pilot card faceup on the pilot space of his dashboard sheet, discarding the previous pilot card.
After choosing which level 3 pilot upgrade to use, a player is unable to use the other level 3 upgrade (i.e. the other side of the level 3 Pilot card) for the remainder of the game.
If a player is located on Galactic Base or a surface city or spaceport of his pilot's home culture but chooses to skip his Movement phase, he may still upgrade his pilot immediately prior to starting his Transaction phase.
Pilot Home Culture Discounts
Players receive a discount to all buy actions made in the system containing their pilot's home culture. On every buy action made in such a system a level 1 pilot provides a c10 discount; a level 2 pilot provides a c20 discount; and a level 3 pilot provides a c30 discount. This discount can never cause a price to be negative (i.e. the minimum price of any purchase will always be zero).
The pilot discount applies to all buy actions performed by a player at his pilot's home culture, including those made to purchase goods, equipment, and racial technologies. The discount also applies to merchant spaceports.
Example: The green player is on the Trapped Rogue Planet where the Eeepeeep culture resides. During the green player's Transaction phase, he conducts a buy action to purchase one Pedigree Bolts goods token. Normally, the Pedigree Bolts would cost him c200; however, the green player has the Eeepeeep level 2 pilot which grants a c20 discount at the pilot's home culture (i.e. the Eeepeeep). The green player's price for the Pedigree Bolt goods token is therefore c180.
Pilot Card Anatomy
- Pilot Level
- Piloting Skill
- Pilot's Home Culture and Discount
- Training Location and Cost
- Flavor Text/Pilot Ability
- Fame
- Laser Level: At the end of the game, each player receives an amount of fame equal to the fame number on the current position of his laser dial indicator. For example, a player with a laser level of four receives two fame at the end of the game.
- Shield level: At the end of the game, each player receives an amount of fame equal to the fame number on the current position of his shield dial indicator. For example, a player with a shield level of five receives four fame at the end of the game.
Note: As indicated on the dashboard sheet, laser or shield levels of 1-3 award no fame.
Fame
Fame represents a player's esteem in the galaxy; the more fame he earns, the more renowned he becomes.
A player's fame contributes directly to winning the game. At the end of the game, each player receives c10 for each point of fame he has accumulated (see "End of the Game" above).
A player can earn fame in various ways, including upgrading his ship and pilot, completing missions, defeating pirates, delivering certain passengers, and gaining Reward cards.
Fame for Ship Enhancements
As indicated on a player's dashboard sheet, enhancing certain areas of his ship grants him additional fame at the end of the game:
- Cargo Holds: A player who purchases one additional cargo hold receives two fame at the end of the game. A player who purchases two additional cargo holds (the maximum allowed) receives six fame at the end of the game (two for the first purchased cargo hold and four for the second).
- Ship Upgrades: A player who owns two ship upgrades receives two fame at the end of the game. A player who owns three ship upgrades receives six fame at the end of the game (two for the second ship upgrade and four for the third).
Infamy
Just as some actions can increase a player's reputation by earning him fame, less noble deeds can earn him infamy. Each point of infamy reduces a player's fame by one point at the end of the game (see "End of the Game" above).
Mission Card Anatomy
- Name
- Destination
- Objective
- Board Panel Indicator (where the destination system is located)
- Fame
- Flavor Text
Reward Card Anatomy
- Name
- Fame (some cards)
- Ability
- Relic Icon (some cards)
- Trade-In Value (some cards)
- Flavor Text
Missions
During game setup, each player receives one Mission card and places it faceup to the left of his dashboard sheet.
If a player's Mission card designates a destination system, he places one of his mission tokens in that system (there is no limit to how many mission tokens may be in a system). This helps visually identify the objective of a player's mission.
To complete a mission, a player must land on a surface city, spaceport, or other indicated space in the designated system and fulfill the requirements specified in the Mission card's objective text. If the card's destination is "None," only the Mission card's objective must be fulfilled.
After completing a mission, the current player places the Mission card facedown in his play area (indicating it is completed and will award him fame at the end of the game) and draws a Reward card. Then he draws another Mission card from Mission deck, relocating his mission token to the new destination system specified by the new Mission card (if any).
Second Mission
A player can purchase a second mission by landing his ship at Galactic Base and paying c60 to the bank during his Movement phase.
After purchasing a second mission, the current player draws a Mission card and places it to the left of his dashboard sheet below his first Mission card. In addition, he receives five fame.
He can complete either of his two missions in any order. After he completes any of his missions and receives a Reward card, he immediately draws a new Mission card to replace it.
In other words, a player who purchases a second mission at Galactic Base will have two active missions for the rest of the game.
If a player is located on Galactic Base but chooses to skip his Movement phase, he may still purchase a second mission immediately prior to starting his Transaction phase.
Rewards
Players earn Reward cards by defeating pirates and completing missions. When a player draws a Reward card, he places it faceup in his play area and may use its ability as long as the card remains there.
Some Reward cards have a relic icon. These cards provide fame at the end of the game and interact with the "Archeologist" Encounter card.
Some Reward cards have a trade-in icon. When a player draws a Reward card with this icon, instead of keeping the card, he may immediately exchange it for c50 (this decision must be made as soon as the card is drawn — after he decides to keep it, he can no longer trade it in for c50).
Reward cards exchanged for their trade-in value are placed beside the board and become immediately available for purchase at Galactic Base for c60. Purchasing such a Reward card at Galactic Base takes one buy action.
Optional Rules
When players have become familiar with Merchant of Venus, they may wish to explore the following game options.
Title & Intel Cards in Play
Players who wish to enhance player interaction can separate the following cards from the Encounter deck during setup:
- Archeologist
- Confirmed Location
- Drill Baron
- Infamous
- Slaver
- Star Maps
Then place these cards faceup beside the round track before the game begins. They are in play from the start of the game.
Asteroid System Telegate
To ease movement across the Asteroid System, players can begin the game with the telegate "1" token on the leftmost encounter space of the Asteroid System.
When using this option, the "Telegate 1" Encounter card does not reposition telegate "1." If drawn, discard the card with no effect.
Maximum Production
Players who wish to keep goods from becoming scarce may opt to maximize production. When a market shift reveals an active market (i.e. its market token shows the gear icon), that market produces all of its available goods tokens from its culture's supply area (as opposed to just one token).
Demand
This option uses the demand tokens from the classic game to represent special demand for certain goods. It does not replace the normal rules for buying and selling goods but provides a credit bonus to players who sell the type of good listed at the market containing the demand token.
During setup, shuffle and place all the demand tokens facedown next to the passenger tokens. At the start of every odd-numbered game round (including the first round), place a random passenger token as normal; then draw a random demand token, reveal it, and place it faceup in the market of the culture indicated on the token.
If the token's culture has not yet been discovered, place the demand token in the culture's supply area to the side of the board. When that culture is later revealed, the demand token is transferred to the discovered system's market along with the rest of the tokens from the culture's supply area.
When a player sells a goods token in a system that contains a demand token for that same type of good, he receives an amount of credits from the bank equal to the good's normal resale value (the sell price determined by the low, high, or active market indicator) plus the bonus credits shown on the demand token. After the transaction, the goods token is placed in the culture's supply area as normal, and the demand token is removed from the game.
High Demand
If there are multiple demand tokens for the same good at a culture's market, a player who sells such a goods token there receives bonus credits equal to the bonus value of all the demand tokens combined. Regardless of how many demand tokens contribute to the bonus, only one of those demand tokens is removed for each goods token sold of that type here.
Game Variants
Experienced players looking to engage with Merchant of Venus in completely new ways can explore the following three variants.
Light Speed Game
Players who wish to play a faster-paced version of Merchant of Venus should set up the game as instructed in steps 1–9 of Setup. Then, beginning with step 10, perform the following steps in order:
- Prepare the Bank and Starting Funds: Sort the credit tokens into piles by denomination and place them near the board. Give each player an amount of credits equal to the number of players multiplied by 100.
- Determine First Player: Randomly select a first player. That player receives the First Player card and is hereafter called the first player.
- Upgrade Pilot and Equipment: Each player upgrades his Pilot card to level 2 (i.e. flips the Pilot card) and sets both his laser and shield dials to "3."
- Reveal First Contact Cards: Beginning with the player to the first player's right and proceeding counterclockwise, each player chooses and reveals one First Contact card on the board. After doing do, he places the revealed First Contact card in his play area, adds the IOU credit tokens to the card, and places that culture's goods, racial technology, and market tokens in the chosen system's market. Continue this step until each player has chosen two First Contact cards.
- Purchase Starting Goods: Beginning with the player to the first player's right and proceeding counterclockwise, each player performs an unlimited number of buy actions to buy goods from one or both of the cultures he revealed (as per the normal rules for buying goods tokens). Players cannot use their IOU credits or pilot discounts during this step.
- Place Round Marker: Place the round marker on space "16" of the round track to indicate the starting round of play.
- Place Passengers: Randomly select five passenger tokens and place them faceup on their starting cultures (as per the normal rules for placing passengers).
- Select Starting Spaces: Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player selects the starting space for his ship to be either Galactic Base or a surface city or spaceport in the system of one of the cultures for which he holds a First Contact card.
The game then proceeds as normal.
Solo Challenge Game
Though a player can play a solo game of Merchant of Venus by simply attempting to maximize his profits within 30 rounds, the solo challenge game variant provides an additional set of challenges for a solo player to overcome in order to win the game.
Solo Challenge Setup
To set up a solo challenge game, remove the Title and Intel cards from the Encounter deck. Then, follow the normal setup rules with the following change to step 10:
- Prepare the Bank and Starting Funds: The player selects two options from the table below. The "Max" column indicates the maximum number of times an option can be chosen.
| Max | Options |
|---|---|
| 2 | c50 |
| 1 | c30 and a Hard Burn |
| 2 | c30 and a Data Probe |
| 2 | c30 and a Less Fancy Spoiler* |
| 1 | Stealth Field |
| 1 | +2 lasers** |
| 1 | +2 shields** |
| 1 | +1 laser and +1 shield** |
* If this option is chosen twice, the player replaces the Less Fancy Spoiler with the Fancy Spoiler.
** The bonus provided in this option is in addition to the starting value given in step 12 of setup.
Then arrange the Challenge cards as follows:
- Sort Challenge Cards: Sort the Challenge cards by color into five separate facedown piles. Then shuffle each pile and draw its top card. Return the remaining Challenge cards to the game box.
- Place Challenge Cards: Place each Challenge card faceup next to the round track so the round indicator on the card aligns with the corresponding game round.
The player now continues with the remaining setup steps. After setup is complete, the game is ready to begin.
Challenges
A Challenge card becomes active at the start of the game round indicated on the card and remains active until the challenge is completed. As long as a Challenge card is active, the effect on the card (usually a negative effect to the player) is also active.
In addition, immediately before every movement step, the player must pay the fee listed on the active card to the bank. If multiple Challenge cards are active, the player must pay the total of all the fees to the bank. If, at the start of any round, the player cannot afford a Challenge card's fee, he immediately loses the game.
To complete a Challenge card, the player must fulfill the conditions of its challenge. He can complete the Challenge cards in any order, whether the card is active or not. After the player completes a Challenge card, he removes the card from play and returns it to the game box; the card's effect and fee are no longer active.
Irreversible Effect: Upon becoming active, some Challenge cards feature an irreversible effect that will impact the game even after the card has been removed. The fee of such a Challenge card goes away as normal after the card is returned to the game box, but the consequences of its effect do not.
Winning the Solo Challenge Game
To win, the player must complete all of the Challenge cards by the end of round 30. If the player does not complete all the Challenge cards by the end of round 30, he loses the game. If he wins, the player can tally his final score (see "End of the Game" above) and seek to beat that score in future solo games.
Challenge Card Anatomy
- Name
- Round Indicator
- Challenge
- Effect
- Fee
Epic Game
Players looking to maximize profits across an epic session of Merchant of Venus can play this game variant lasting well past round 30.
Before starting an epic game, players should mutually decide how long the game should run (such as 40, 50, or even 60 rounds). If the players cannot agree, simply roll five dice and add 30 to the rolled total to determine the number of rounds to play. We do not recommend playing more than 60 rounds.
After completing round 30, but before proceeding to round 31, players must perform the following steps in order:
- Advance Round Marker: Flip the round marker to the "30" side and place it on space "1" of the round track. This indicates the current round number is above 30 (i.e. when the marker is on space "4," the round number is 34).
- Produce Goods: Take all of the goods tokens from the culture supply areas and place them in their respective markets on the board (unless the culture is not yet discovered).
- Place Production Round Markers: If playing 41 rounds or more, place one production round marker on space "10" of the round track (reflecting turn 40). If playing 51 rounds or more, place an additional production round marker on space "20" of the round track (reflecting turn 50).
- Refresh Passenger Token Pool: Take all the passenger tokens not in play (i.e. passengers that were delivered in the previous rounds and returned to the box) and shuffle them facedown with the remaining undrawn passengers to form a new pool. Depending on the number of rounds played, the passenger pool may need to be similarly refreshed several times. Refresh it when a player draws the last remaining passenger.
The game then proceeds as normal. When the last player completes his turn in the final round, the game ends and players proceed to final scoring (see "End of the Game" above).
Note: In an epic game, it is possible the bank will run out of credits before the game is over. If this occurs, players should keep track of their credits on paper.
Production Rounds
When the round marker reaches one of the production round markers on the round track, take all goods tokens from the culture supply areas and place them in their respective markets on the board. If a culture has not yet been discovered, leave its goods tokens in its culture supply area.
Encounter Deck
When playing beyond round 30, the Encounter deck may need to be reshuffled after the last card is drawn. Before reshuffling, remove all Encounter cards without the "30" icon (found in the lower right corner of the card) from the game. Then shuffle the rest of the Encounter cards to form a new Encounter deck.
Appendix A: Goods
The following entries describe the goods of Merchant of Venus.
Bionic Perfume: A delicacy for all types of nostrils! This long-lasting perfume is mixed with a variety of rare substances that produce a multitude of odors.
Canned Traits: Need a new personality? The Volois have you covered! These canned personality traits will help you become the person you've always wanted to be.
Glorious Junk: Fresh from the trash pits of the Graw's glorious past, this junk consists of tools that can still be repaired and old gadgets that were used to discover the galaxy's most mysterious secrets.
Living Toys: These adorable little animals were designed to withstand the tyrannical demands of any toddler. Some can even do tricks!
Finest Dust: What do you get when you grind up worthless rocks as finely as possible? A suitable substitute for water, of course!
Rock Videos: These energetic sounds and surrealist illusions are enjoyed by viewers with too much imagination, and studied by those with too little.
Melf Pelts: These mousey little melfs are mean creatures, but their pelts are as luxuriant as you can get. Captured by the Shenna, these little furballs are sure to please.
Immortal Grease: This self-renewing lubricant was engineered by the famous Yxklyx biochemist, Uqzxr Wnnmn Xclyz.
Chicle Liquor: The alcoholic beverage that was "brewed to be chewed!" The chewing-gum-like nature of this potent beverage means you won't have to order another round.
Pedigree Bolts: These high-quality bolts are capable of replicating themselves automatically, as long as they are fed the proper raw materials.
Impossible Furniture: Designed by the clever-minded Whynoms, these unique pieces of furniture will ensure that any dinosaur, plant, snail, giant tentacle slug, or bacterium will have a place to sit when they visit.
Designer Genes: These Cholos-crafted genes are hand made to hand make your chromosomes to your liking.
Megalith Paperweight: Carved by the Wollows to exercise their minds, these monstrous creations can be used as architecture, planters, or your own monolithic arrangements.
Psychotic Sculpture: Expand your mind with these gnarly works of art! Use them for decoration, worship, or disturbing conversation pieces.
Appendix B: Racial Technologies
The following entries describe the various racial technologies of Merchant of Venus.
Fancy/Less Fancy Spoiler
This flashy device provides a slight propulsion boost while grabbing the attention of potential customers. It does, however, take up a lot of space.
Culture: 1 Cost: c60/c30 Grade: Luxury/Basic Type: Structural Tech
The Fancy Spoiler adds one point to the current player's movement value if his total speed dice result is odd; it adds two points to his movement value if his total speed dice result is even.
The Less Fancy Spoiler adds only one point to the current player's movement value if his total movement dice result is odd.
Spoilers have a capacity requirement of one dot. At the end of the game, a spoiler gives its player an amount of fame equal to the result of one die roll.
A player cannot have both the Fancy and the Less Fancy Spoiler racial technology tokens at the same time (they are considered the same technology).
Market Flux
Market Flux technology began as an instant login for lazy brokers to access their systems. Now it allows unscrupulous hackers to influence market trading.
Culture: 2 Cost: c90 Grade: Rare Type: Ship Upgrade
When a player assigns a die to this upgrade, he chooses one discovered system and performs a market shift in its market (see "Market Shift" above).
Hard Burn
This primitive rocket augmentation provides raw power to any ship's impulse boosters.
Culture: 3 Cost: c30 Grade: Basic Type: Utility
A player may use the Hard Burn token after rolling his speed dice to add 10 points to his movement value. After a player uses Hard Burn, he immediately returns the token to its originating culture.
Stealth Field
With the reliance on spaceports for intergalactic trading, a smuggler can save precious credits by slipping through security and interacting with a spaceport's black market.
Culture: 4 Cost: c60 Grade: Luxury Type: Ship Upgrade
When assigned a die, a Stealth Field has the following two functions:
Stealth: When visiting an opponent's merchant spaceport, the current player does not pay the c10 fee to the owner of the merchant spaceport for each buy and sell action.
Black Market: A player may exploit the black market to sell a goods token to the culture who would be next in the sequential list of cultures buying that good.* The current player gains two infamy tokens for each goods token he sells in this way.
* Every goods token shows the cultures who will purchase that good. This is presented as a list of culture identifiers in ascending numerical order. When using the Black Market, culture 1 follows culture 14.
Example: The Melf Pelts can normally be sold at cultures 8, 9, 10, and 11. Using the Black Market, the current player can also sell Melf Pelts to culture 12. He would gain two infamy tokens for each Melf Pelt goods token he sold to culture 12.
License to Drill
After the destruction of hundreds of planetoids during the Rastur War, resource-rich asteroids are common in the galaxy. Unfortunately, mining rights are highly regulated.
Culture: 5 Cost: c60 Grade: Luxury Type: Utility
The License to Drill allows a player whose ship passes over, or lands on, an asteroid space to place one of his drill tokens there. If a drill token already exists on the asteroid space, another drill token may not be placed there until the existing token is removed.
At the beginning of each even-numbered round, each player receives c10 for each drill token he has on an asteroid. Then each player retrieves his drill tokens and returns them to his play area.
Shuttle
Since the Rastur War came to an end, the demand for passenger transport around the cluster has greatly increased.
Culture: 6 Cost: c60 Grade: Luxury Type: Ship Upgrade
If the current player has assigned a die to the Shuttle, he may pick up any number of passengers in systems with a spaceport or surface city within a number of spaces equal to or less than the value of the die assigned to the Shuttle (see "Picking Up Passengers" above).
Additionally, he can drop off passengers to systems with a surface city or spaceport within a number of spaces equal to or less than the value of the die assigned to the Shuttle (using the normal rules for dropping off passengers).
The Shuttle (i.e. counting the spaces between a player's ship and a spaceport or surface city) ignores all hazards, and green lines cost the Shuttle one movement point instead of the usual two.
The current player can use the Shuttle only during the Set Speed and End Movement steps of his Movement phase.
Throttle Boost
The powerful throttle boost can improve acceleration by up to 400 percent! But hurry, the best throttles tend to go to the first merchants to make an offer.
Culture: 7 Cost: c30 Grade: Basic Type: Special Tech
After purchasing a Throttle Boost, the current player places the Throttle Boost token over the throttle die box of his dashboard sheet.
The back of each Throttle Boost token shows the new die values the current player can assign to his throttle. These are different for each Throttle Boost token.
Stasis Tanks
Although there is more demand for interstellar transportation, passengers have become no less cranky when it takes too long to reach their destinations. Recent advances in life-support technology have introduced comfortable resting tanks for organic life forms, allowing passengers to effectively hibernate during their trip.
Culture: 8 Cost: c60 Grade: Luxury Type: Structural Tech
One Stasis Tank token has a capacity requirement of one dot. Any number of passengers can be placed on this token without taking up extra cargo space, including passengers that would normally take up a full cargo hold.
Wave Emitter
While a merchant's primary purpose is trade, many realize that performing services for Galactic Base can greatly increase their prestige.
Culture: 9 Cost: c30 Grade: Basic Type: Utility
After a player who owns a Wave Emitter ends his Movement phase, he may force any other player whose ship is on the same space as his own ship to exchange one Mission card with him. A player can only use this ability once per turn.
A player who owns a Wave Emitter at the end of the game receives three additional fame for each completed mission.
Data Probe
The most cunning merchants believe that knowledge is power. Since this galaxy cluster is largely unexplored, Data Probes can be useful tools for gaining information.
Culture: 10 Cost: c30 Grade: Basic Type: Utility
During the Set Speed step of a player's Movement phase, he can use the Data Probe to perform the following ability:
Scout: The player may secretly look at two facedown First Contact cards. After doing so, he may switch the locations of the two cards. Lastly, he may secretly look at the top Encounter card after which he returns the Encounter card facedown to either the top or the bottom of the Encounter deck (his choice).
After a player uses a Data Probe, he immediately returns the token to its originating culture.
A player can have any number of Data Probes at one time, but he can use only one Data Probe per turn.
Fuzzy Dice
These seemingly useless artifacts from an ancient civilization have become a status symbol among the merchant class. Any merchant who hangs one of these from his dashboard is guaranteed his fifteen minutes of fame.
Culture: 11 Cost: c30 Grade: Basic Type: Special Tech
After a player purchases the Fuzzy Dice special tech, he places its token above his dashboard sheet.
At the end of the game, a player with the Fuzzy Dice rolls two dice and gains an amount of fame equal to the total result of both dice. If he rolls the same result on both dice (i.e. doubles), he receives c20 for each point of fame, instead of c10, during final scoring.
Variable Shield
While not as flashy as normal shields, variable shields place function over form.
Culture: 12 Cost: c90 Grade: Rare Type: Ship Upgrade
When the current player assigns a die to the Variable Shield, he adds the value of the assigned die to his current shield value for the rest of his turn.
The bonus gained from the Variable Shield cannot be reduced to automatically pass shield hazards on the board.
Zen Paint Job
Every passenger wants to fly in the coolest ride and they'll pay extra to do so. However, like the disco era of Old Earth, this fad is sure to fade.
Culture: 13 Cost: c30 Grade: Basic Type: Utility
After a player with a Zen Paint Job delivers a passenger, in addition to receiving the normal fare, he rolls two dice, multiplies the combined result by 10 and receives that amount of bonus credits.
At the end of the game, before final scoring, a player equipped with a Zen Paint Job tech token loses three fame.
Variable Laser
Sister to the variable shield, the variable laser is the answer to strong armaments needed quickly.
Culture: 14 Cost: c90 Grade: Rare Type: Ship Upgrade
When the player assigns a die to the Variable Laser, he adds the value of the assigned die to his current laser value for the rest of his turn.
The bonus gained from the Variable Laser cannot be reduced to automatically pass laser hazards on the board.
Quick Reference
Game Board Legend
Blue Space, Encounter, Yellow Space, Navigation Space, Red Space, Telegate, Laser Hazard, Orbit Space, Shield Hazard, Surface City, Piloting Hazard, Neutral Spaceport, Asteroid, Galactic Base.
Grades (Color) of Goods
- Basic (Copper): c10 - c40
- Premium (Silver): c50 - c110
- Luxury (Gold): c120 - c200
Removing Classic Game Components
When setting up a standard game, players will need to remove the components used only in the classic game: Culture Tokens, Ship Class Sheets, Demand Tokens, Encounter Tokens, Factory Deed Tokens, Spaceport Deed Tokens, Factory Goods Tokens, and Shield Tokens.
Icon Reference
- Production Icon: When this icon appears on a market token, the corresponding culture produces one good. If it appears on an Encounter card, the corresponding culture produces all of its goods tokens in its culture supply area.
- Galactic Base Icon: Passengers with this icon must be either picked up at, or delivered to, Galactic Base.
- Ship Upgrade Icon: Designates a racial technology that must be placed to the right of a ship upgrade slot on the dashboard sheet.
- Capacity Icons: A token with two dots takes up a full cargo hold. A token with one dot takes up half a cargo hold.
- Relic Icon: Designates which Reward cards provide fame and interact with the "Archeologist" Encounter card.
- Trade-In Icon: A Reward card with this icon can be immediately exchanged for c50. If the card is exchanged, it is set beside the board and is available for purchase at Galactic Base for c60.
- Throttle Icon: Designates the space on the dashboard sheet where a player can assign a die to his throttle.
- Navigation Icon: Designates the space on the dashboard sheet where a player can assign a die to his navigation.
- Fuzzy Dice Icon: Designates the space on the dashboard sheet above which a player places his Fuzzy Dice token.
Credits
Classic Game Design: Richard Hamblen Standard Game Design: Rob Kouba Producer: Christopher Hosch Game Rules: Rob Kouba and Christian T. Petersen Editing & Proofreading: David Hansen Additional Content: Brady Sadler and Tim Uren Graphic Design: Chris Beck with Shaun Boyke, Dallas Melhoff, Brian Schomburg, and Evan Simonet Ship Design: David Griffith Cover Art: Alex Aparin Interior Art: David Griffith, Johannes Holm, and Henning Ludvigsen Executive Game Designer: Corey Konieczka Executive Producers: Michael Hurley and Christian T. Petersen Publisher: Christian T. Petersen
© 2012 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved. Avalon Hill and its logo are trademarks of HASBRO, Inc. Merchant of Venus, Wizards of the Coast, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. Used with permission. Licensed by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Fantasy Flight Games, Fantasy Flight Supply, and the FFG logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc.