An entertaining card game for 2–5 players
aged 10 and up by Jeffrey D. Allers
Object
You are traders in the colonial era travelling around to conduct trade with Indians. In many villages you barter
goods for other goods. In other villages, you receive wampum, decorative strings of shells, in exchange for your
goods. Cleverly trade in the right village at the right time and collect the most wampum!
Game Materials
90 Goods
(18 cards each of 5 types of goods)
5 Traders
(1 per player color)
5 Chests
(1 per player color)
1 Canoe
5 Villages
(with starting values of 2, 3, 3, 3, 4)
Set Up
Each player takes 1 Trader and the matching-colored Chest, placing both cards face-up in front of themselves.
Pick a Starting Player however you like; he gets the Canoe.
Place a number of Villages with the following Starting Values in the middle of the table,
according to the number of players:
2-3 players: 2/3/4
4 players: 2/3/3/4
5 players: 2/3/3/3/4
Any leftover Villages are not required.
Remove the following number of Goods from the game, according to the number of players:
2 players: 5 different Goods, that is, 1 of each type of goods
3 players: none
4 players: 2 different Goods, picked at random
5 players: none
Put the Goods you’ve removed back in the box. Shuffle the remaining Goods. Give each players 5 Goods which he
puts in his hand. Place a number of Goods next to each Village equal to its Starting Value. All remaining Goods
are placed to the side, face down, as a Deck.
Game Play
A game is comprised of several Rounds. Each Round consists of 5 Phases which proceed in the following order:
• Phase 1: Make An Offer
• Phase 2: Determine Starting Player
• Phase 3: Distribute New Goods
• Phase 4: Check Limits
• Phase 5: Make the Swap
Phase 1: Make An Offer
Each Village will only trade with 1 Trader. If more than one Trader wishes to trade with a Village, the Indians will
naturally trade with the one who has the most goods with him.
Beginning with the Starting Player and proceeding in a clockwise direction, choose any number of Goods you like
(at least 1!) and place them face down next to one of the Villages. Fan the cards slightly so that all players can easily
see the number of cards. Place your Trader Card on top. These Goods represent your Offer to be allowed to trade in
that Village.
At most 1 Trader may provide Goods to a Village at any given time. If you would like to place your Goods next
to a Village where there’s already another player’s Offer, you have 2 Options: either pick another Village without
an Offer, or outbid the other player. To do that, you must lay down a greater number of Goods than the other
player has offered.
A player who has been outbid must move with his Offer (unchanged!) immediately to another Village. There he
can outbid a player, if that player’s offer has fewer Goods, or he can move to a Village without an Offer next to it.
As soon has every player has had a turn and there is a Trader next to each Village, this Phase is over.
Example: Green offers 5 Goods in order
to trade in the third Village, and thus
displaces Purple who had only
offered 2 Goods there. Purple
must now immediately make
an Offer to another Village.
Purple can’t make an Offer
to the fourth Village,
because Red has already
offered two cards there,
and Purple’s offer
isn’t higher. Purple
has the choice of
trekking over to
either the first or
second Village. He
decides on the first
Village, displacing
Blue. Blue must
now place his
Offer next to the
second village, because Blue can’t displace any other player
with his Offer of only
1 Good.
Phase 2: Determine Starting Player
Whoever is transporting the most Goods receives a Canoe for support.
The player with the highest Offer now receives the Canoe and becomes the new Starting Player. If more than
one player has tied for the highest Offer, the Canoe goes to the one who is sitting next in clockwise order from
the previous Starting Player.
Example: Green has made the highest Offer. Green gets the Canoe.
Phase 3: Distribute New Goods
All Traders earn a base income in the form of Goods.
Each player draws 2 Goods from the Deck and puts them into his hand. Special rule for a 2-player game: place
an additional 2 Goods in the Village that did not receive an Offer.
If the Deck is empty, you are now in the next-to-last round. See End of Game.
Phase 4: Check Limits
Because of the many hazards on their arduous journeys, the number of Goods the Traders can store varies each round.
Determine the Hand Limit. It is as high as the highest Offer of the current round +3 Goods. Any player who
has more cards in his hand in this Phase must discard as many cards as necessary until he reaches the limit. The
discards remain face down and may not be looked at again.
Tip: This limit only applies during this Phase. During all other phases, you may have as many Goods cards in
your hands as you like.
Example: The highest Offer this round, Green’s, consists of 5 Goods. The Hand Limit is therefore
5 + 3 = 8 cards. Blue currently has 10 Goods in his hand. He puts two of the cards from his hand back
into the box.
Phase 5: Make the Swap
Depending on the Offer of the Trader, the Indians will give him either other Goods or wampum.
Conduct one after the other the exchange of Goods in all villages. How a Trader’s swap goes, depends upon
which Goods he brought to the Village.
1. Exchange for Goods
If, in your Offer, there is at least one Good that matches a Good already present in the Village, the Indians
will trade for Goods. Take all the Goods that are in the Village and put them in your hand. After that, place all
the Goods from your Offer into the Village and take your Trader back.
Example: Red has brought 1 Pelt and 1 Tobacco to the fourth Village. Because there is already 1 Tobacco
in the Village, the Indians trade for Goods. Red takes the 4 Goods from the Village, and puts them in his
hand, finally placing the Pelt and the Tobacco from his Offer into the Village.
2. Exchange for Wampum
If your Offer contains only Goods which are not present in the Village, the Indians will trade for Wampum.
First, place 1 Good of each kind from your Offer into the Village. Then place all the other cards from your
Offer facedown under your Chest card. Each of these cards is worth 1 Wampum.
Example: Green has brought 3 Corn and 2 Guns to the third Village. Because there are no Corn or Guns
already in the Village, the Indians trade for Wampum. Green puts 1 Corn and 1 Gun from his Offer
into the Village. Green places the 3 cards with the Wampum side up and places them under his Chest.
Green has just collected 3 Wampum.
End of Game
As soon as the Deck is gone, you are in the next-to-last round. Play the current round to the end. Then, a
final round ensues, in which you skip Phase 3: Distribute New Goods. After the last round, each player may add
1 Card of each type of Good remaining in his hand to his Chest as Wampum. After that, whoever has the most
Wampum cards under his Chest wins the game. In the case of a tie, there are multiple winners.
Example: After the last round, Green still has 2 Corn, 2 Pelts, and 1 Tobacco in his hand. Green takes
1 Corn, 1 Pelt, and 1 Tobacco and places them as Wampum in his Chest.
Credits
Game Designer: Jeffrey D. Allers
© 2010 Pegasus Spiele GmbH, Strassheimer Str. 2, 61169
Illustration: Dennis Lohausen (www.dennis-lohausen.de)
Friedberg, Germany. All rights reserved. www.pegasus.de
Graphic Design: Giulia Riccio, Hans-Georg Schneider
Realization: Thygra Board Game Agency (www.thygra.com)
The author and publisher thank Susanne Kutzner, Bernd
Eisenstein, Günther Cornett, Peer Sylvester, Michael Schmitt,
Benjamin Kutzner, Matti Schröder, Sam Brown as well as the
Hippodice Spieleclub e. V., at whose 2009 game-designing
competition Wampum took second place.