STAR TRADER'S
LUCK
v1.04 - Designed by Jorge Arroyo
MATERIAL:
5 Goods Dice – Each has a picture of a good on each side.
1 Police Die – With 2 faces showing a Police symbol, the rest blank.
A piece of paper and a pencil for each player.
GOAL:
Become the wealthiest trader within the allocated time.
GAMEPLAY:
Randomly decide which player will start playing. The active player then takes
their turn and play passes the player that has spent less total time. In case of a tie, the
turn passes to the tied player closest to the active player to their left. Note that a player
may in some cases play two turns in a row if everyone else spent more time than they
did.
Decide how long the game is going to be in game days. A turn can take between
1 and 5 days of game time. A short game can be played with a limit of 25 days, and
50 days are recommended for a normal game. Each player notes their starting amount
of money: 10 credits.
On their turn, a player must take the following steps. Skip step 1 on the first turn,
as players don't need to travel to their first planet, and it is always of a big size.
- Step 1 – Traveling
The player must decide how much time to spend to travel to their next planet.
They can spend 1, 2 or 3 days. By spending more time, a bigger planet will be reached,
so a player can either reach a Small, a Medium or a Big planet.
Alternatively, a player can choose to travel to the planet that the last player went
to. Before picking the dice up, they must say so and spend one more day than the time
required for a planet of that size. So if the last player went to a medium planet, the next
player must spend 3 days instead of 2. If this option is chosen, no re-rolls are possible,
and the player gets the exact same buying and selling options that the last player got.
- Step 2 – Determining Available Goods and Prices
If exploring a new planet, the player now rolls a number of Goods dice: For a
Small planet, roll 3 dice, for a Medium planet, roll 4 dice and for a Big planet roll 5
dice.
After rolling, the player must set aside at least one die (which can't be re-rolled
anymore), then can re-roll the rest. This procedure can be done once again with the
remaining dice for a maximum total of 3 rolls.
The Goods shown in the dice are the available goods on that planet, and they're
also available in those quantities. So, if three Robot faces are up, three actual Robot
units are for sell on that planet.
If the player has cargo from another planet, they can sell all of it by spending 1
day. Then if they want to and have no cargo, they can buy any number of goods
(limited by the availability) of one type by also spending 1 day. To determine the selling
and buying price (which on any one planet are the same), use the following table:
For example, if 3 Robot faces are up, the price for 1 Robot good is 6 credits. The
player can buy up to 3 Robot goods and all the goods bought that turn will have the
same price, no matter how many the player buys. As the maximum number of possible
available goods is 5, and players can't buy until they sell all their cargo, it's never
possible to have more than 5 units of cargo on a ship.
Once this step is done, the player notes what they bought and at what price.
Also, the player should track the amount of credits they have at all times and the total
amount of time spent. It's good to note the time and money spent as the turn is played,
then at the end note the total for both. This way, mistakes are easier to avoid.
ILLEGAL GOODS
If the Goods roll doesn't show a particular good, then that good is considered to
be illegal on that planet. A player wanting to sell that type of good must roll the Police
die. If the roll shows a police symbol, then the police notices the illegal activity and
confiscates all the illegal goods from the player. The player is still free to buy goods.
Note that the player must spend 1 day anyway for the sell even if it wasn't completed.
The selling price of an illegal good is always 2 times what the player payed for it (that's
why buying price has to be tracked).
END
Once all the players have spent the total time agreed on at the start (no one can't
take more time after reaching the limit), the game ends and the player with most money
wins.
OPTIONAL RULES
- Free Buying and Selling: The players may buy goods even if they have other goods on
their ship (up to the maximum 5). They may also buy different kinds of goods if they
want on a planet. When selling they also can sell any number of goods from any type. If
playing with this rule, players should track both goods bought and goods sold on each
turn. This rule can be combined with the one below.
- Expanding the Cargo Bay: Players start with a limit of 3 goods that can be carried on
their ships (4 for a short game). Once each turn, they can, if they want, expand their
cargo bay by 1 unit. This takes 1 extra day and the price is 5 times their current limit.
CREDITS
Design and Graphics: Jorge Arroyo
Thanks to John W. and Thomas Arnold for the suggestions and the help to clarify these
rules. 
DICE
Print this page on light cardboard, cut, fold and glue to build the required dice.
LICENSE
These rules and pictures are © Jorge Arroyo Gonzalez, 2009 and are released with a
Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND. You can distribute this file as long as it is not
modified and no profit is made.