GUIDE HUB
Merchant Auction guide
Use rumors and market sense to bid across eight lots and grow your purse.
For players who like risky one-shot bids
Avoiding bad buys
Merchant Auction is sealed bidding guided by rumors. Weigh rumor trust against overpaying; some rivals inflate prices on purpose.
Set a share of your purse per lot. You do not need every item—skip shaky rumors and concentrate on clearer lots.
Appraisals and budget
Appraisals narrow value ranges but are limited—save them for conflicting rumors or expensive lots. Burning them early leaves you blind at the end.
When rivals bid aggressively, passing can protect late-game options better than winning a hollow lot.
Across eight lots
Treat early lots as information, the midgame as your main investments, and the endgame as purse defense. Final standing usually rewards smart leftovers more than raw win count.
Your score is simply the gold you end with
Score here is whatever gold you hold after the eighth lot. You start with 100, so buying nothing at all scores 100. That means a purchase only helps when you get the item below its true value, and every overpay subtracts directly. Passing is not a timid move—it is the baseline you measure every bid against.
Kingdom points work differently: “3 + profit ÷ 6 (capped at 30) + 2 if you won any lot + 5 for a legendary.” Profit does the heavy lifting; simply winning lots is worth little. The legendary bonus of 5 is real, so chase one when your read is strong.
The three rivals bid as a multiple of the true value. The cautious one bids 0.68–0.86×, the bold one 0.84–1.06×, and the erratic one anywhere from 0.55× to 1.15×. Around 0.9× of true value is the dividing line for winning the lot: below it your margin is healthy, above 1.06× you are nearly guaranteed to win and nearly guaranteed to lose money. Each rival can also pass—the erratic one sits out roughly one lot in five.
An appraisal narrows the value to within 3–8 of the truth, far tighter than the rumor floor and ceiling. Save your three uses for lots where the rumors disagree widely or the item looks expensive.
Play this game
One bid, rumor, and nerve.