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How to Play

Dale of Merchants

2-4 players 30-30 min 7.2 Board Game Geek Rating

Aspiring merchants compete in Dale's annual trading contest to join an elite guild. Players learn trading techniques, manage inventory, and exchange goods using deck-building mechanics. Victory goes to whoever successfully completes their merchant stall first, earning prestigious guild membership in this competitive commerce game.

Published 2015

Dale of Merchants

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Select Animal Decks
Choose one more Animal Deck than the number of players; return unused decks to the box
2
Build personal decks
Deal each player one value-1 card from each selected Animal Deck, plus enough Junk cards to total 10 cards
3
Prepare draw piles
Each player shuffles their cards and places them face-down as their personal draw pile
4
Create Junk pile
Place remaining Junk cards face-up near the play area as the Junk pile
5
Remove extra value-1 cards
Return unused value-1 Animal Cards to the box
6
Build Market Deck
Shuffle all remaining Animal Cards together into one face-down Market Deck
7
Set up the Market
Place the Market Board next to the Market Deck; draw 5 cards face-up onto the Market Board
8
Draw starting hands
Each player draws 5 cards from their draw pile into their hand
9
Determine starting player
The player who woke up earliest starts; in consecutive games, a loser from the previous game starts

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Action Phase Overview
Choose exactly one of four available actions to perform during your turn
2
Market Action
Purchase 1 card from the Market by paying cards from your hand equal to or exceeding the card's cost
3
Technique Action
Play 1 Technique-type card from your hand and execute its effects in order
4
Stall Action
Expand your merchant stall by placing cards from your hand onto your stall
5
Inventory Action
Discard any number of cards from your hand to your discard pile
6
Passive Card Effects
Passive-type cards take effect while in your hand; show the card when activating but do not play it
7
Bonus Actions
When a card shows the bonus action icon (+), take another action immediately after resolving all card effects
8
Getting Rid of Cards
When a card says to "get rid of" something, Junk goes to the Junk pile and Animal Cards go to the Market discard pile
9
Cleanup Phase - Draw Cards
Draw cards from your draw pile until you have 5 cards in hand
10
Cleanup Phase - Refill Market
Slide remaining Market cards to the right; fill empty spaces from left to right using the Market Deck

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Victory Condition
The first player to complete their 8th stall stack immediately wins the game and joins the guild
2
Team Game Variant
In 4-player team games, teams share one stall; the first team to complete their 10th stack wins

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

Правила від Games 7Days

Правила від Games 7Days

Instructional

(1147) Dale of Merchants - unboxing (PL)

(1147) Dale of Merchants - unboxing (PL)

Unboxing

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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