It is an age of great discoveries. New and wonderful items find their ways into the hands of the greatest merchants. And if there ever is a place those traders love, it is the town of Dale.
There’s an extraordinary guild in the Dale founded by the greatest merchants. The tricky part is getting the membership since one must win the annual trading competition to be invited to the guild.
Notable animalfolk merchants from all over the world have gathered in the town to take part in the event. Everyone has only one goal in mind – to be celebrated as the winner and the newest member of the legendary guild.
In Dale of Merchants, players take the roles of those participating merchants learning new techniques, trading goods, and managing their stock. The player who first manages to complete their astounding merchant stall wins the game and gets access to the guild!
- deep, satisfying deck-building with practical constraints
- expansions add variety and flavor
- complexity can be intimidating for new players
- trade, deck-building, and race to complete stalls
- medieval market with traveling merchants
- lighthearted, competitive
- Resist
- Caverna
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deck building — build a deck to contribute to marketplace stalls
- deck-building — build a deck to contribute to marketplace stalls
- set collection — complete stalls with ascending requirements
- set-collection and stall completion — complete stalls with ascending requirements
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Chakra is wonderful
- I absolutely love it and I'm so freaking happy I didn't get rid of it
- Dutch Blitz is the best time
- Rove is absolutely amazing
- Witchcraft is a fantastic card based game
- Azul I am so excited to talk about my number 72
- Role Player is wonderful wonderful game
References (from this video)
- Accessible and quick to teach
- Solo mode available
- May appeal more to lighter-weight players
- Deck-building with a racing element to complete stalls
- Animal merchants and stalls
- Light and whimsical
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Deck building — Build a deck to influence stall actions and progress.
- deck-building — Build a deck to influence stall actions and progress.
- Race — Race to complete a set number of stalls first.
- racing — Race to complete a set number of stalls first.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Concordia is fantastic.
- Endgame scoring is so cool and unique.
- Obsession is such a fun game.
References (from this video)
- beautiful gorgeous artwork
- first game from Snowdale Design
- many different factions with unique behaviors
- simple four actions (mainly three useful ones)
- lots of variety from faction abilities
- available in small box sets or collector's edition
- Cosmic Encounter-style player powers
- some factions more complex than others
- warning needed for complex faction selection
- anthropomorphic animals
- merchants
- market trading
- multiple factions
- Cosmic Encounter
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- all these factors that go into this list and the games that I enjoy at any particular time
- I like deck builders, it's a good fun mechanic
- watch their brains click and then you're like yes got you hook line and singer
- it's only a game
- these people should not touch card games - hate those people
References (from this video)
- Fun theme with playful chaos
- Good social interaction
- Light on depth; mainly casual
- Trading and chaotic interaction
- Animal-themed market and trading
- Light, humorous
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — Draft animal cards to expand your shop and abilities.
- player interaction — Direct interaction through stealing, stealing back, and chaos.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's only a game
- New Zealand is definitely my factor
- I would give it a six out of ten
- Horse steak was surprisingly nice
References (from this video)
- easy to learn and fast-paced
- expansion content included in the collection box
- interactive market and stall mechanics
- potentially fiddly overpay and passive card interactions for some players
- rule complexity could be challenging for first-time players
- Economic engine-building through market interactions and card drafting
- A magical market town with anthropomorphic animals
- Educational, mechanic-focused tutorial narration
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — Players build a personal deck from junk cards and market purchases.
- draw/shuffle — When decks run out, players reshuffle their discard into a new deck; market cards refresh as plays occur.
- market — Market row with cards that can be bought by paying a cost determined by card value plus modifiers; payment is made with cards from hand.
- overpay and passive payment — Passive cards allow overpaying by discarding extra cards to pay for a purchase.
- plus actions chaining — Plus symbols grant extra actions, potentially chaining multiple actions together.
- scoring via stacks — The objective is to complete the eighth stall stack to win the game.
- stall (8 stacks) — A rule-driven stack system where players complete one of eight stacks by playing cards of a single animal type that sum to the stack value.
- technique cards — Technique cards provide effects; some are passive and some require actively playing them for additional actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Dale of Merchants is a fast-paced easy to learn deck building card game for 2-4 players.
- The ultimate goal is to create 8 stacks of cards in your play area the stacks must have a specific value total from 1 to 8 and the first player who plays the 8th stack wins.
- There is a market a technique a stall and an inventory action.
- The first player who plays the eighth stack onto their style automatically wins the game.
- Very important if the played card has a plus on the top left corner then the player can proceed and take an additional action.
- If I take the market action and use this card as part of the payment then I can overpay.
References (from this video)
- my number one game this year
- has development as a solo mode on board game arena
- will gain more plays once solo mode is released
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- bidding/resource management — auction-like market and resource planning
- deck-building — deck-building with market-driven decisions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I love Wingspan. As you know, it's my number one board game of all time.
- My number one game this year is Date of Merchants.
- This is like one of my most favorite games ever.
References (from this video)
- Fun
- Like Dale of Merchants
- Trading
- Market
- Dale of Merchants 2
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Collection
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- We love trick taking games
- This game is so much freaking fun
- I adore GMT games, they are becoming one of my favorite game publishers
- If you remember Vast Crystal Caverns is in my top five games of all time
- We bloody love it
- We can't stop playing
- It's a blimp game not a train game
- That's just work
- I don't think I want to play it
- I'll get it eventually
References (from this video)
- Deep strategic potential for those who love deck-building
- Too busy and complex for those not into deck-building
- Not suited for casual players
- dense market interaction and resource management
- fantasy trading and merchant empire
- immersive but heavy on mechanics
- Dominion
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building — deck represents merchant actions and resources
- engine-building — scoring and actions scale with card acquisitions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- 2020 was the year that i finally decided i don't like legacy games
- if you like discovering new games and if you like playing a new game every week that's fantastic
- the experience for paradise lost was ... terrible