Description

An auction game where each player selects one of five trades (fishmonger, farmer, poulterer, dealer in wild animals, and gardener). Each trade has five cards having values of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 counters. The object of the game is to try to collect all five cards of their chosen trade, which is considered completing one’s “Stock”.

All 25 trade cards (5x5) are shuffled with five dealt to each player. Each player also starts with counters totalling a value of 20. The first player selects a card from their hand to auction and places it face down on the table. The highest bidder wins the card and adds it to their hand, with the counters going to the seller. Should a player complete their “Stock”, it is announced (thus ending the game) and that player also receives a bonus of 10 counters.

The game also features 10 speculation cards - five of which earn additional counters (“pay”) and five deduct counters (“draft on bank”). These cards are placed face down and are usually drawn when a player is in financial distress. Players can also pawn any of their own trade cards for their face value in counters.

At the end of the game, any player who did not speculate during the game is required to draw one speculation card before determining final scores. The player with the highest score, calculated by adding the values of trade cards in hand plus the value of their counters, is the winner.