The Aztec Market

About this board game

The Aztec Market is a 2–4-player market game with an approximately 45-minute playing time, set in the great pre-Columbian market of Tlatelolco in Mexico. Each player takes the role of a merchant seeking goods from sellers while working to increase their value.

The game uses four different types of goods and a modular board that changes every turn. Players can move the board pieces, making the market’s shifting layout an important part of the strategy. To improve their chances of buying, merchants spend influence points to adapt the market to their needs.

• Trade for four types of goods.
• Spend influence to shape the market.
• Move modular board pieces as the market changes each turn.
• Play a fast game built around small, accessible rules.

The Aztec Market is described as almost a pure German-style game: its rules are small and easy to learn, its sessions are fast, and its attractive theme supports the experience without dominating the game flow. The result is a focused market game in which changing board positions and carefully used influence guide each merchant’s opportunities.

First designed by Spanish gamer Victor Melo, the game won the “I Board Games Creation Contest” at Granollers in Barcelona and later won the 2007 Concurs Ciutat de Granollers de creació de jocs. It also has an easy print-and-play prototype, requiring printed counters and extra components from other games or even from a kitchen, such as beans.

Released in 2009, The Aztec Market offers a compact introduction to modular-board play and influence-driven market decisions for groups of two to four players.