Tabletop Spotlight: Merchants of Araby
Want to make a deal? Than have we got a game for you! IN Merchants of Araby, everything is negotiable!
The Tabletop Spotlight is on Merchants of Araby! This is another fun game that comes from a successful Kickstarter and our friends at Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy brought over a copy to check out:
The basic idea is simple – players take the role of a merchant who is out to make the most money. The person with the most wealth at the end of 4 rounds is declared the winner. The basic way folks make money is they can use their “workers” (which includes their entourage of allies, merchants, and camels) to perform tasks to make coin. There are bandits that may attack your caravan and djinn can impact your play as well. But the real kicker is that EVERYTHING is negotiable.
As the folks from Daily Magic say:
“You’ll also be doing a lot of negotiating. Simply stated, everything in Merchants of Araby is negotiable for everything. You can trade gold for camel placement, cards for products, actions for promised actions, camel placement for ally tasking, cards from entourage to entourage, cards from hand to hand, something for nothing. The list is nearly endless. If you can strike a deal, then feel free to do so.”
That’s right – if you like to wheel-and-deal with your friends then you’re going to love this game! I also liked the art style. It’s a good mix of realism and cartoony – sort of like comic book! The components are all really well done and I have to call out the box for this product for sure. The box is also the play area! On top of that, it’s also got magnets inside, and I mean, how do those even work!?
Overall, between the fun mechanics and the cool art this game has some potential. I also think the replay value is there because of the different trading/randomness that can ensue. Every time you play this game with a group of people you’re going to have to take into account their personalities and how averse they are (or aren’t) to trading. And if you really enjoy that type of thing then you should definitely check out Merchants of Araby.
The Merchants of Araby
Become the wealthiest merchant prince or princess in all of Araby by establishing an entourage of merchants and allies, teaching virtues, summoning djinni, negotiating frequently, and making successful caravan investments.
Game Play Overview
During your turn perform actions such as playing cards, tasking merchants, Starting a caravan, and negotiating with your opponents.
These Actions may be taken multiple times and in any order you choose.Advertisement
Products are usually generated by tasking Merchants in your entourage.
Magical Djinn cards may be played on any turn.
The Ally cards in your entourage assit your Merchants in a variety of ways.
Virtue cards activate immediately for an instant bonus to you and often to an opponent of your choosing.Caravan cards are the primary source of earning coins and negotiation in the game. The main revenue generating devices in the game are the caravan cards, each representing a journey to a distant city in Araby to sell valuable products. Player participation, bandits, and market fluctuations will affect each caravan’s payout.
Each product space on the caravan card may hold one camel token which represents a particular product generated specifically for the caravan.
Add camels to caravans by tasking merchants, playing a djinn card, or negotiate with another player to generate a product for you by tasking their merchant or djinn.
An opponent may not add a camel to your caravan without negotiating for your permission.
When your turn ends, your caravan becomes locked to you and you may not add more of your camels to it unless the active player grants you permission to do so through some negotiation.
Your caravan is never locked to opponents wishing to place camels on it, but they always have to negotiate for your permission to do so.
Your caravans depart at the start of your next turn.
When they do, watch out for bandits out to steal your goods! Bandits favor the most choice products so the more lucrative your camel placement, the more likely it will be hit by bandits.Advertisement
You wanna make a deal?!
