How to Play

The Guild of Merchant Explorers

1-4 players 45-45 min 7.6 Board Game Geek Rating

Players begin with one city and expand across personal map boards by placing connected cubes based on revealed terrain cards. Complete areas, cross seas, establish new cities, and discover treasure for special abilities. Cities remain between rounds while cubes are removed, making city placement crucial. Score through area completion, connections, and shared objectives to win.

Published 2022

Get Ready

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

Distribute maps

Give each player a matching map (Avenia recommended for first game) and a set of 13 village tokens and 36 explorer cubes in one color

Place the Exploration Board

Put the Exploration Board in the middle of the table and place the "II," "III," and "I/II/III" era cards on their matching spots

Create the Exploration Deck

Shuffle the "I" era card with the 5 basic explore cards to form the Exploration Deck and place face down beside the Exploration Board

Prepare the Investigate Deck

Shuffle all 28 investigate cards and place face down beside the Exploration Board

Prepare the Treasure Deck

Shuffle all 40 treasure cards and place face down beside the Exploration Board

Set up the supply

Place the 16 discovery towers, 32 trading posts, 40 treasure tokens, and all coins in a central supply reachable by all players

Select goal cards

Find the 6 goal cards matching your chosen map, shuffle them, deal 3 face-up below the Exploration Board, and return the rest to the box

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Reveal an explore card

One player reveals the top card of the Exploration Deck and places it on its matching space on the Exploration Board

Place explorers simultaneously

All players place explorers from their supply onto their own map according to the revealed card's action

Follow the Golden Rules

You must place each explorer adjacent to a village or previously placed explorer on spaces without explorers, villages, or discovery towers

Place explorers one at a time

Always place explorers sequentially, resolving map features as soon as requirements are met

Explore grassland spaces

Place up to 2 explorers one at a time on grassland spaces (do not need to be adjacent)

Explore desert spaces

Place up to 2 explorers one at a time on desert spaces (do not need to be adjacent)

Explore mountain space

Place 1 explorer on a mountain space

Explore sea spaces

Place up to 3 explorers on adjacent sea spaces forming a straight line

Explore any adjacent spaces

Place 2 explorers one at a time on 2 adjacent spaces of any terrain type

Discover villages

When you fully explore a region (all spaces covered with explorers), immediately replace one explorer on a blank space with a village token and earn coins based on the current era

Explore discovery spaces

When exploring a discovery space with any action, return the explorer to supply, place a discovery tower, and earn coins based on total discovery towers placed

Collect coins

When exploring a coin space, immediately earn the number of coins shown

Explore ruin spaces

When exploring a ruin for the first time, place a treasure token under your explorer and draw a treasure card to resolve immediately or keep for end-game scoring

Complete trade routes

When connecting 2 cities with an unbroken chain of explorers/villages/capital, multiply the city values for coins and place a trading post on one city

Handle era cards

When an era card is revealed for the first time, draw 2 investigate cards, choose 1 to keep and use, and discard the other to the bottom of the Investigate Deck

Use investigate cards

In later eras when a matching era card appears, take the action on your corresponding investigate card

End an era

When the Exploration Deck is empty, remove all explorers from your map (leave villages, trading posts, treasure tokens, and discovery towers)

Prepare next era's deck

Shuffle basic cards plus all era cards revealed so far to form the new Exploration Deck

Complete goals

When you meet a goal's requirements during an explore action, place an explorer on the card and earn the higher coin value if first (or tied for first), otherwise earn the lower value