The Guild of Merchant Explorers Review – One More Voyage to the Unknown

For such inspired gameplay, The Guild of Merchant Explorers is the blandest, board gamey-ist, most word salad of a title I’ve seen. It does nothing to inspire confidence that the game will enthral you. But at the same time, it tells you exactly what it’s all about.

That’s right, in The Guild of Merchant Explorers, you run a guild of merchants, who explore the vast unknown world.

Before playing, you need to select one of four world maps to explore and give each player their copy. This map breaks down the world into a series of hexes representing different terrain types; grassland, mountain, desert, and ocean.

The game starts in earnest when a player draws an explore card. Then everyone simultaneously takes that action. Usually, this card shows several hexes and terrain types, meaning you place explorer cubes on those types of hexes. So long as they’re adjacent to another explored space.

Within the explore card deck, there are cards showing an Investigate icon. The first time this card is drawn, you get to choose your own unique and powerful way of exploration. However, when this card is drawn in future rounds, you get to use the drawn ability again.

By using these exploration cards, you can fill regions with cubes to create a village. Importantly, these help you to expand your guild round after round. Once the round is over, all explorers are removed from their maps, leaving villages behind.

So before they’re wiped out, you want to use your explorers to collect coins, create trading routes between cities, uncover ancient ruins, complete map objectives, and investigate weird magical towers. All these activities reward you with coins, and whoever has the most after four rounds wins.

You are merchants after all.

Progress Over Perfection

The Guild of Merchant Explorers is an extremely sharp board game. Turns move quickly, decisions are fun, and there’s this fantastic feeling of progress throughout the game.

In the beginning, you’re given a goal to achieve and a slew of ways to make money. But you don’t start with even one cube on the board. You’re wondering how you’re going to achieve anything.

Yet by the end of the game, the world map has broken out in a rash of your coloured cubes. You’ve reached places you didn’t think were possible and completed tasks that were once beyond your reach.

It’s a magnificent feeling.

But as great as the ending is, it’s the fun you have along the way that makes The Guild of Merchant Explorers a wonderful game. Specifically, the fun had with Investigate cards.

Before these cards, everyone usually takes the same moves. You’re all taking turns simultaneously, and all taking the same action from the explore cards. Everything changes when everyone gets their first Investigate card.

Suddenly, you can explore significantly more territory but with conditions. For example, explore a continuous path of up to 5 grasslands and/or sea spaces, or explore 1 desert space, then 3 spaces connected in a straight line. There are 28 unique Investigate cards, and once everyone gets one, no two journeys are the same.

Making Inroads

While the goal is to make money, there is no shortage of ways to do this. Choosing the one that benefits you both in the short term, as well as setting you up for long-term success is the challenge. It’s this abundance of choice that makes The Guild of Merchant Explorers a delight. As you’re always debating and evaluating the best way to get money.

Whether it’s exploring the seas to uncover the ruins, creating trading routes between cities, or racing to the far ends of the world to explore the discovery towers. There’s always something to do.

Combined with the fast, simultaneous turn-taking nature of the game, it always feels like you’re on the move. Putting together a plan and watching it quickly unfold throughout the round.

Often it unfolds horribly, as the explore cards aren’t drawn in the order you want. Causing you to change plans, to swerve, to agilely adapt to the reality of the draw. The Guild of Merchant Explorers not only allows this style of play but encourages it by always letting you know what cards are going to come up.

Each explorer card drawn is added to a central tableau. Clearly showing what’s been drawn – and what’s left to draw. This lets you easily plan out the rest of the round, as well as adapt when a card draw goes awry.

Roland Wright Has Done It Again!

If you’re reading this review and thinking that The Guild of Merchant Explorers is just a roll-and-write in disguise. You’re not wrong. This game takes the concept and makes it tactile with wooden tokens to great effect.

However, it shares some of the downsides of the genre. For instance, there’s virtually no interactivity with other players. The only chance to interfere with them is by racing to the shared objective first. Meaning you can think you did well, but end up losing – and there’s nothing you can do about it.

I’m normally not a fan of games like this because the role other players take on is one of slowing you down. Although, the beauty of The Guild of Merchant Explorers is that no one slows down. Because you’re making these fun but bite-sized decisions that build on top of each other, rarely does anyone need to sit with their thoughts.

Beyond the excellent gameplay, there is plenty of variety in the game box. There are four different worlds to explore. Each changes the game through the terrain, while some add additional rules and complexity if you want a heavier game.

Between these maps, the goals, and 28 investigation cards, each game of The Guild of Merchant Explorers feels like a fresh expedition. Filling you with the excitement of the possibilities to come.