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?
Merchants of Qultah is a dice manipulation game for 2-4 players, where you roll dice to negotiate with extraterrestrial merchants, activate unique actions, chain them to combos and outbid your opponents to eventually win by acquiring the goods with the highest total value by the end of the game. In the not too distant future scientists discovered a new planetary system called Qultah.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Market
Buy and sell through a shared supply whose availability or prices can change.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Hexagon Grid
Use a hexagonal map where each space connects evenly in six directions.
Re-rolling and Locking
Keep selected dice and reroll the remainder to pursue a desired result.
Variable Set-up
Starting conditions, resources, or layouts change between plays.
Read the full game description
Merchants of Qultah is a dice manipulation game for 2-4 players, where you roll dice to negotiate with extraterrestrial merchants, activate unique actions, chain them to combos and outbid your opponents to eventually win by acquiring the goods with the highest total value by the end of the game. In the not too distant future scientists discovered a new planetary system called Qultah. Soon merchants were sent to earth to trade their intergalactic goods. Their ships landed in the beautiful city of Vienna. During their stay, the city was crowded with people who put their negotiation skills to a test. Do you have what it takes to outplay your opponents and trade with the Merchants of Qultah? During each round, you will encounter up to 8 extraterrestrial merchants, which can either be chosen or drawn randomly from a pool of 30 cards. These merchant cards build your game board for the first of two rounds. You will use your six dice, which represent your trading goods, to negotiate with the different merchants. The higher your result, the better is your argument. The players take their turns clockwise and once all players have used their dice, the round is over. Players reach their deals and collect their rewards. Sounds easy, right? HA-HA, there's always a catch! During your turn you try to manipulate your opponents dice, or your own, to either outplay them or get yourself in a better position. It is a constant battle of outbidding your negotiations. Then there are merchants who offer you different goods for different results, so you may have to go low to even get something in the end. But what if you are outbid before the round ends... —description from the designer