Merchant of Venus (Second Edition)

2012 · Science Fiction

Merchant of Venus (Second Edition)

Players act as interstellar traders who pilot ships between interconnected star systems to discover alien worlds and establish trade routes. Goods follow a supply-and-demand system: players deliver commodities to alien markets for profit, then reinvest earnings to buy upgraded ships, equipment (shields, lasers, engines), and to build spaceports and factories that improve trading efficiency and production. Optional rules introduce ship-to-ship combat and other interaction. Play ends when a player reaches the target total value in cash plus deeded assets, with the required goal adjustable for shorter or longer games.

Players
1–4 best 3
Playing time
120–240 min
Age
14+
Complexity
3 / 5
2.9 on LudoyaSpace ExplorationTransportationCommodity SpeculationPick-up and DeliverPoint to Point Movement

On Ludoya's tables

Full stats in Ludoya
13
Plays logged
17
Players
2h 35m
Average play
9
In collections
6
On wishlists

2.9/10

from 7 Ludoya reviews

  • Garfield1.0

    #37 #coins (18x1, 10x5, 20x10, 20x50, 20x100, 10x500, 5x1000) #sell? Very boring gameplay. Just pick up stuff and deliver it. Over and over again. It took as about 2hrs to reach half of the needed 2'000 credits! We stopped after 2hrs when someone reached 1'000. We played the classic version and it was so boring. I read the rules for the standard version and I have no desire to test that version because it just adds more stuff but the core is still the same. Boring pickup and and deliver over 3-4 hours?! How can you enjoy that? And there is almost no player interaction. [c] Theme: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Very little --> Gameplay: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Very repetitive and boring --> Interaction: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]None --> Artwork: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Nice --> Luck: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Dice rolling for movement --> Strategy: ★☆☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Not many possibilities --> Components: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok --> Play duration: ★☆☆☆☆<!-- size 7]Far too long --> Easy to teach: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok --> Rules quality: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Setup time: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Too much --> No downtime: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Ok --> Replay value: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]A lot of random stuff --> [/c]

  • Evan4.6

    Cute pickup and delivery game with funny space theme and exploration mechanic. A bit long, and a bit fiddly, but it's a lot of fun. Sort of the ultimate realization of the roll-and-move genre. 4 player mode has a lot of downtime between turns. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ☆ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ★ Multiple plays stay interesting ☆ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★★☆☆ Raw enjoyment

Read the reviews and rate it

Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.