Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
In The Guild of Merchant Explorers, each player starts with one city on their personal map board. Shuffle the deck of terrain cards, then reveal most of these cards one by one.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Network and Route Building
Create connected routes that improve reach, delivery, control, or scoring.
Bingo
Mark matching results on a personal grid and complete required patterns.
Line Drawing
Draw lines to connect, divide, trace, or claim parts of the play area.
Hexagon Grid
Use a hexagonal map where each space connects evenly in six directions.
Hidden Victory Points
Some scores remain concealed until a reveal or the end of the game.
Pattern Movement
Pieces move according to defined geometric patterns.
Read the full game description
In The Guild of Merchant Explorers, each player starts with one city on their personal map board. Shuffle the deck of terrain cards, then reveal most of these cards one by one. Based on the terrain revealed, each player places on their board cubes that are connected to their starting city or other cubes. You want to complete areas on your board, cross the seas to new land, and establish new cities on the board. You can explore capsized ships for treasure — which gives you special placement capabilities — and create linked connections between locations to score bonus points. Common objectives can be completed by all players, with those who complete it first scoring more points. At the end of a round, all cubes are removed from each board, leaving only the cities behind, so if you don't establish new cities, you'll be stuck in the same places. The Guild of Merchant Explorers contains multiple copies of four different maps, and the game is designed so that you can play remotely with one or more copies.