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COMMERCE

Official Rulebook

1. Game Overview

Commerce is a strategic board game focused on trade, expansion, and technological progress across historical eras. Players compete to build powerful economies, advance technology, and dominate the world through multiple possible victory conditions.

The game emphasizes:

  • Resource management
  • Trade and negotiation
  • Territorial expansion
  • Technological advancement

2. Victory Conditions

The game ends immediately when a player fulfills any one of the following conditions:

2.1 Domination Victory

  • All enemy workers have been destroyed.

2.2 Technology Victory

  • Send a colony ship to Alpha Centauri, or
  • Reach PlayerCount * 20 Technology Points during the Modern Era.

2.3 Monopoly Victory

  • Possess more gold than the bank, and
  • Own all resource cards of a single resource type.

2.4 Culture Victory

  • If all tiles are connected, have the most tiles connected to your Network

3. Eras of Play

The game progresses through six eras:

  1. Ancient
  2. Classical
  3. Medieval
  4. Renaissance
  5. Industrial
  6. Modern

Advancing eras unlocks new resources, technologies, and upgrades.

4. Game Components

4.1 Tiles

The game board is made up of terrain tiles:

  • Desert
  • Water
  • Ocean
  • Grassland
  • Mountains
  • Forest
  • Farmland
  • Tundra

Each tile produces resources depending on the current era.

4.2 Resources

Resources are collected by placing workers on tiles and successfully rolling the dice.
Only one resource per tile may be collected per turn.

Resource Availability by Era

Terrain Ancient Classical Medieval Renaissance Industrial Modern
Desert Spices Artifacts Oil Gas
Water Fish Lobster Shells
Ocean Whale Oil
Grassland Cow Wool Egg Sausage
Mountains Stone Iron Gold Aluminum Silicon
Forest Wood Resin Truffles Hardwood
Farmland Wheat Rice Tomatoes Cotton Potatoes Bananas
Tundra Clay Exotics Coal Minerals

Resources are used for:

  • Construction
  • Upgrades
  • Trade

5. Money

5.1 Gaining Money

Players gain Money by:

  1. Selling resources to the bank
  2. Collecting taxes
  3. Trading with other players

5.2 Spending Money

Money is spent on:

  1. Purchasing resources from the bank
  2. Trading
  3. Paying worker wages
  4. Infrastructure maintenance

6. Game Setup

  1. All players roll the dice.
  2. The player with the highest roll becomes Player 1.
  3. Player 1 places one settlement into any tile.
  4. Each player begins with 1 worker.

7. Turn Structure

Players take turns clockwise. A turn consists of the following phases:

  1. Worker Placement

    • The current Player may place/move workers on any allowed tile.

  2. Resource Phase

    • Roll the dice.
    • All players collect all eligible resources.

  3. Trade Phase

    • All players may freely negotiate trades.

  4. Build Phase

    • The current player may construct buildings, roads, or upgrades.

8. Construction and Upgrades

8.1 Worker Upgrades

Worker Level Upgrade Cost Upgrade Cost Upgrade Cost Upgrade Cost Upgrade Cost Upgrade Cost
Level 1 3 Food 1 Stone
Level 2 2 Different Food 1 Iron 1 Animal Product
Level 3 3 Different Food 1 Iron 1 Animal Product 1 Building Material
Level 4 4 Different Food 1 Iron 2 Animal Products 2 Different Building Materials 1 Luxury Good
Level 5 5 Different Food 4 Iron 3 Coal 3 Different Building Materials
Level 6 6 Different Food 4 Iron 5 Aluminum 3 Oil 1 Tech Good 2 Luxury Goods

8.2 Settlements and Cities

Structure Cost Cost Cost Cost
Settlement 5 Food 3 Wood 2 Clay 2 Animal Products
City 10 Food 5 Stone 2 Iron 3 Clay

8.3 Roads and Ships

Infrastructure Cost Cost
Road 3 Clay
Ship 2 Wood 1 Wool

9. Technology

Tech Era Points Material Material Material Material Material Material
Wheel Ancient 1 05 Wood 01 Stone 01 Clay
Sailing Classical 1 03 Wood 02 Wool 01 Iron 1 Resin
Compass Medieval 1 01 Iron 01 Gold
Harpoons Medieval 1 01 Iron 01 Exotics 01 Egg
Printing Press Medieval 2 10 Stone 01 Gold 01 Shell
Electricity Renaissance 3 05 Iron 01 Gold 01 Coal
Chemistry Renaissance 3 01 Artifact 01 Cotton 01 Whale 1 Coal
Physics Renaissance 4 02 Artifacts 10 Clay 05 Gold
Penicillin Industrial 3 10 Oil
Sensors Industrial 2 01 Rare Mineral 01 Oil 01 Aluminium
Medicine Industrial 3 05 Oil 05 Aluminium 05 Resin
Machinery Industrial 5 15 Aluminum 10 Coal 10 Iron
Internet Modern 5 15 Silicon 05 Minerals
Rockets Modern 10 20 Aluminum 20 Gas 10 Silicon
Antimatter Modern 10 50 Bananas
Colony Ship Modern Win tech 50 Any Food 10 Iron 20 Aluminium 20 Gas 10 Silicon 5 Minerals

10. Advancing Eras

Advancing an Era is done, if the Sum of tech points of all Players is equal to or higher than a certain point

Source Points
Building settlements 1
Upgrading settlements 2
Connecting new resources 1
Constructing world wonders 2
Researching technologies See Table above
Purchasing points with gold 100
Era Needed Techpoints
Ancient 0
Classical PlayerCount * 3
Medieval PlayerCount * 8
Renaissance PlayerCount * 10
Industrial PlayerCount * 15
Modern PlayerCount * 20

Progressing to the era is done when a round is finished

11. Workers

Worker Limits and Movement

  • 6 Workers per Player max
  • 1 Worker at the beginning of the game
  • Can move freely 1 Tile per Turn in any direction
  • Can move +n Tiles for n = connected street
  • Can only move through water if a ship connects the shore to the sea
  • Maximum of 3 workers per tile (no matter if your own or combined with enemy)
  • Working a tile will result in (WorkerLevel) Amount of 1 resource of the tile the worker is standing on

11.1 Enemy Roads

  • When you want to use enemy roads, you and the street´s owner throw a dice
  • If the owner throws higher than you, you downgrade your worker by 1(if already at 1, remove the worker entirely)
  • If the street´s owner does not wish to throw dice you can pass

11.2 Combat Resolution

  • If you walk onto a tile with another player on it you may throw dice to battle him
  • For each attack, level your worker down by a level, no matter if you beat him or not
  • Attacking another player will not result in level below 0 (death), ensuring death only when being attacked

Combat Advantage Formula The battle result is dependant on the workers level: The formula is defined as follows: The attacker´s eyes count has to be (EnemyWorkerLevel - YourWorkerLevel + 2) higher than the defenders count

Example 1: Same level

Enemy Level 1 Your Level 1 1 - 1 + 2 = 2 Enemy throws Dice = 3 You have to have 5 or higher

Example 2: Higher Attacker level

Enemy Level 1 Your Level 3 1 - 3 + 2 = 0 Enemy throws Dice = 3 You have to have 3 or higher

Example 3: Higher Defender level

Enemy Level 3 Your Level 1 3 - 1 + 2 = 4 Enemy throws Dice = 3 You have to have 7 or higher

Example 4: Vastly higher Attacker Level

Enemy Level 1 Your Level 6 1 - 6 + 2 = -3 Enemy throws Dice = 3 You have to have 0 or higher

12 resource Definitions

This game defines Food as:

  • Fish
  • Meat
  • Egg
  • Sausage
  • Truffles
  • Wheat
  • Rice
  • Tomatoes
  • Potatoes
  • Bananas
  • Lobster This game defines luxury goods as:
  • Spices
  • Artifacts
  • Lobster
  • Shells
  • Whale
  • Gold
  • Exotics
  • Cotton This game defines building materials as:
  • Wood
  • Hardwood
  • Iron
  • Stone
  • Aluminium
  • Clay This game defines as burnables:
  • Oil
  • Gas
  • Whale
  • Wood
  • Hardwood
  • Coal
  • Resin This game defines tech materials as:
  • Rare Mineral
  • Silicon

13 Settlements and cities

You collect taxes every turn

  • 3 Money from every settlement
  • 6 Money from every city Both can only be build on an empty tile, that is connected to your Road

14 Streets and sea routes

They combine all cities(your own and the enemies) into a trade network. They help the worker to move further/allow them to enter ocean tiles

15 Maintenance

  • Every road costs 1 Money per Player turn
  • Every worker level costs 1 Money per Player turn
  • Every tile further from a town will add 1 Money to worker cost

Example 1: Level 1 Worker At town --> 1 Money Example 2: Level 1 Worker 1 Tile away from Town --> 2 Money Example 3: Level 3 worker is 2 Tiles away from town --> 5 Money

16 Trade:

Trade is the most important part of this game, as all game mechanics are designed to encourage trade between the players, rather than with the bank or waiting for the right resource (like it is the case in Catan) Trade in general is open and free. That means, that there are no limits to how much you can trade, in which way, at which time, at which rate etc. As long as all trading partners agree on the trade contract, it is fine with the rulebook. That not only includes resources, but special event cards, cities and settlements, workers and everything else (except the tiles). Go wild with your trade agreements and embrace the capitalism. There is but one caveat for a 100% success rate on a trade you have to be in the same trade network. If you trade without a trade network there is a chance for a bandit attack. A bandit attack goes as follows:

  1. The trade partners agree on a contract.
  2. The Partners throw dices Now there are several cases:
  3. Case 1 all trade partners throw 1 or 2
  • Everyone loses his goods to the bank
  1. Case 2 everyone who throws 1 or 2
  • Those players throw all their cards into a pot
  • The players with 3 eyes or more now can split the pot in any way they agree on
  • If no agreement is reached every player receives their stolen goods back

17 World wonders:

Every era has 1 expensive world wonder that can only be build by one person. This building gives that player a unique boost in the game

Era World Wonder Cost Effect
Ancient Pyramid 20 Stone Allows Artifacts to be acquired from Ancient time onward
Classical Colloseum 10 Stone, 10 Clay receive 1 pre medieval Food every turn
Medieval Notre Dame 10 Stone, 1 Iron receive 10 gold once from the bank
Renaissance Pisa Tower 10 Stone, 10 Iron, 5 Artifacts Remove worker distance cost
Industrial Brandenburg Gate 20 Stone, 10 Aluminium, 10 Iron When fighting you can reduce the needed eye amount by 1
Modern Liberty Statue 20 Stone, 10 Rare Minerals, 10 Iron Double any non-luxury yield

18 Global Events:

Global events will always happen. What event and for how long it will last is dependant 2 factors.

  1. Throw the event cube, this will determine what kind of event will happen
  2. Throw a normal cube, this will determine for how many rounds this event will persist.

There are following events:

  • Positive natural events --> Example: Monsoon --> Double food production
  • Negative natural events --> Example: Drought --> Cut of food production
  • Positive economy events --> Example: Low-Credit --> Bank-goods only cost half as much
  • Negative economy events --> Example: Bandits --> Every player looses half its resources

The following events are not round-based. Rather the normal cube´s eye count determines the player offset. For Example: 3 Eyes is 3 Players in clockwise direction from the first player

  • Positive social events --> Example: Wedding --> Every Player has to give you a gift
  • Negative social events --> Example: Coup --> You loose 1 worker to the other player

The first Event happens after the first round is finished. Player 1 will always throw the dice´s to decide the event If it is a social event the next event will happen at the beginning of the next round

19 Local Events

Local Events can be used by the player after moving the workers. Local Events will happen instantly and once finished will go back to the bank Local Events can be things like stealing from a player of your choosing, doubling a yield etc. Local Event cards can be acquired the following way:

20 Game Materials

This game includes:

Cubes

  • 1 Normal D6 Cube
  • 1 Colored D6 Cube
  • 1 Event D6 Cube

Tiles

  • X Desert Tiles
  • X Water Tiles
  • X Ocean Tiles
  • X Grassland Tiles
  • X Mountains Tiles
  • X Forest Tiles
  • X Farmland Tiles
  • X Tundra Tiles

World Wonders

  • 1 Pyramid
  • 1 Colloseum
  • 1 Notre Dame
  • 1 Sistine Chapel
  • 1 Brandenburg Gate
  • 1 Liberty Statue

Cards

  • 40 Economy Events (20xgood, 20xbad)
  • 40 Social Events (20xgood, 20xbad)
  • 40 Natural Events (20xgood, 20xbad)
  • 40 Local Events
  • 60 Spices Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Artifacts Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Oil Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Gas Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Fish Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Lobster Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Shells Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Whale Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Oil Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Cow Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Wool Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Egg Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Sausage Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Stone Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Iron Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Gold Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Aluminum Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Silicon Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Wood Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Resin Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Truffles Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Hardwood Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Wheat Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Rice Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Tomatoes Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Cotton Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Potatoes Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Bananas Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Clay Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Exotics Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Coal Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)
  • 60 Minerals Cards (20x1, 20x5, 20x10)

6 Players (Every following times 6)

  • X Settlements
  • X Cities
  • 1 Capital
  • X Streets
  • X Boats
  • 6 Workers