The Guild of Merchant Explorers is a strategic board game for 1–4 players that takes about 45–60 minutes to play. Designed by Matthew Dunstan and Brett J. Gilbert and published by AEG, this game focuses on exploration, expanding influence, and building networks. It unfolds over four rounds (called eras), where players compete to earn as many coins as possible—these represent victory points.
Players take on the role of members of the Guild of Merchant Explorers, sent by the queen to the far reaches of the kingdom of Tigomé. Their mission is to explore unknown landscapes—meadows, mountains, deserts, and seas—while founding villages, establishing trade posts, discovering treasures, and building observation towers. Each player has their own map of the kingdom, which they gradually fill with exploration cubes.
Instead of the classic roll-and-write mechanism, players draw terrain cards and place cubes on the map based on the terrain shown. They start from the capital city and expand their influence to adjacent spaces. When they complete an entire terrain type, they can build a village there, which remains on the map even after the era ends. Each game features randomly selected goals that players strive to achieve for extra points. Ruins allow players to draw treasure cards that grant special bonuses. In every era, players choose one exploration card that gives them a powerful and unique action they can reuse multiple times.
If you’re excited by the idea of exploring unknown lands and building a thriving trade empire, The Guild of Merchant Explorers will definitely awaken your adventurous spirit! 🧭💰🏞️
