The Market: A Pocket Game is live (A Market in your Pocket)
Update: The Market: A Pocket Game has launched on Kickstarter and the campaign will run for 21 days. If you live outside the US and Canada, you may back at the PnP tier, as the game does not ship internationally. Otherwise, you may pledge for a copy of the game, or get it together with a leather wallet. Art prints are also available in higher pledge tiers.
Our preview post below was published on May 6.
The Market: A Pocket Game is an 18-card push-your-luck and resource management game for 1-4 players. It is set in the post-apocalyptic world of Tempo (the setting of the designer's previous game, Empyrean Hero). It will launch on Kickstarter on May 11 and will ship only to Canada and the US, with a PnP version available for international backers. A second box is needed to play with 3-4 players.
The goal of the game is to gather ‘Hope’, akin to Victory Points. You start with three temporary resources featuring each of the three resources of the game. Each side of the temporary resource cards shows a number of resources (from 0 to 3): the side facing up is the number of resources you can use.
On your turn, you can choose one of three possible actions: ‘Gather’, to rotate one of your temporary resource cards by two notches (or two by one notch). ‘Explore’, to draw a card from the central deck, then buy it or pass. If you pass, you can reveal a second card, and again buy it or pass. If you pass a second time, you can rotate one of your temporary resource cards by one notch. You can also ‘Purchase’, that is, buy an already revealed card from the market.
Each card features a cost for the three resources of the game, and then provides a permanent amount of a resource (and possibly some Hope). To purchase them, you must pay the cost that is not covered by your already collected cards, by rotating back your temporary resource cards.
In the solo mode, you must achieve at least 10 Hope to secure a win, but you can try to achieve the greater goal of 20 Hope. The solo mode introduces a new action: you can no longer 'Gather' from your temporary resource card. Instead, you can draw a card from the Market deck. You may then discard a card from your hand to rotate the temporary resource cards as many times as the cost of the card you just discarded. Once the Market deck is depleted, the game is over!