Traders Dilemma is a card base game set in the early 1800's in which players must negotiate and barter amongst each other to achieve their end goal and win the game. The game can be played from anywhere as small as two players and up to as large as eight. The game is better played with larger amounts of people as more people can trade, strike alliances and agreements and backstab other players if a lucrative opportunity comes their way. At the beginning of the End Goal Deck is shuffled and placed out in a fan like shape, each player then chooses one card from random to be their objective. End Goals range from generating a certain amount of wealth to building a specific building or dominating the economy by owning a certain amount of trading posts.

The game begins with players starting out with a single trade post card which generates income every turn which can then be spent to gather resources or purchase laborers to expand your trading post into thriving towns. As the game progresses players may build trading posts in other players' towns for a portion of their profit every turn. Every second trade post built allows the player to draw an extra card each turn to a maximum of three. This can allow players to gain a quick lead but also increase the risk of drawing hazard cards.

Hazard cards are cards inside the normal with buildings etc. that take effect immediately in the owning players' trading posts and will specify if one or more are affected. These effects will always impact your income in some way, either by reducing for a set amount of turns or requiring the player to pay a lump sum for repairs etc., some may even force the player to abandon a trading post if they don't have the funds required to save it. The player may also elect to not fix the problem but effects will increase in potency each turn.

Players may trade between one another for resources or construct buildings to increase resource acquirement or income. Each building has a maximum that each player can build so if a lumber that provides two wood every turn has a maximum of two, a player can only build two of them in each trade post they own.

Once a player decides to build a town their income can increase dramatically but towns also come with an increased risk of hazard cards. Every fourth turn that the player who owns a town must draw from the separate town hazards deck which is more powerful than those encountered in the normal deck.

The more players there are, the more is to be had and also potential frustration. Trader's dilemma is a game for most age groups over 12.

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