Trading

The original game was invented by Harry E. Gavitt and published in 1903 by Gavitt Publishing and Printing. In that game players deal and trade cards to corner the railway stock market. Be the first to get all the cards of one railway line, call out “Topeka” and you’ll win the hand!

But Pit, the more famous version, adapted by noted psychic Edgar Cayce, was first published by Parker Brothers in 1904 and in many editions since. In this loud, real-time trading game, players are given the task of cornering the market in one type of commodity. There are as many suits as there are players, and all the cards are dealt out at the start of each round. When the trading begins, players offer sets of cards to each other in the hopes of completing a set for themselves. If you're successful, you ring the (optional)bell and yell out, "Corner on wheat!" (or whatever your commodity is). You then score points depending on which it was - some are more valuable than others. Two cards labeled Bull and Bear may be used to add wild/penalty cards to the gameplay.

Most editions support up to 8 players, but at least one allows up to 10.

Printings:

Gavitt Publishing and Printing (1903) (As Gavitt's Stock Exchange)
Parker Brothers (1904-???)
Out of the Box Publishing (2004-Present)
Winning Moves

Microbadges

Even for the mightiest pirates there comes a time when they must retire from their lives of invading and plunder — but what's coming afterward? Well, on the five peninsulas of Grog Island, they can invest their loot in rock-solid businesses, such as peg-leg shops, carpentries for figureheads, workshops for voodoo dolls, or the infamous "Grog Hole" pub.

The core of Grog Island is its unique auction mechanism, which uses five colored dice. The players use these dice and the pips on them to create and raise bids. While the winner of an auction can claim buildings on certain peninsulas, the players who have passed are also rewarded: Not only do they receive goods like grog bottles or treasure maps but they also visit merchant ships where they can trade these goods for money, parrots or treasure chests. The auction mechanism of Grog Island makes for tactical and interesting gameplay as in certain moments, passing can be almost as rewarding as winning an auction. Finding the right balance between bidding and backing out is the key to winning.

The game ends as soon as one player has claimed a certain number of buildings, then all players score the secret goal cards they received both at the start of and during the game. These cards may give points for majorities on peninsulas as well as for claiming certain types of buildings or collecting certain goods. The player with the most points wins.

From the SimplyFun website:

Exclusively Created for SimplyFun

Welcome to the unsettled Island of Catan. Using combinations of resources - wood, brick, wheat, wool and ore - players build, barter and trade in this family strategy game. The faster you build roads, settlements and cities, the more points you earn towards victory. Clever trading, lively negotiation, and the luck of the dice add to everyone's fun and enjoyment. Once you start playing you won't want to stop.

Simply Catan is based on the international, award winning classic game Settlers of Catan, which has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Designed for beginning players, Simply Catan takes less than 5 minutes to set up and 30 minutes to play.

Also includes advanced play rules with variable game board and development cards.

Belongs to the Catan Series.

In Dragon's Gold, each player controls a team of dragon hunters (two knights, a thief, and a wizard). Like all dragon hunters, they have only one goal: gold, silver, jewels and magic objects. As for actually killing a dragon? It's a piece of cake. But the most difficult part comes after the dragon is dead: the adventuring party has to figure out how to share the spoils.

As soon as a dragon is overpowered, then some additional gems are revealed, and the players who had participated in that hunting party start a negotiation over how to divvy up the gems. If the sixty-second sand timer runs out, then no one gets treasure. When all of the dragons have been slain and the treasure claimed or discarded, the game ends and players score for their holdings, with silver and magic objects worth 1 point each, gold worth 3, the Black Diamond worth 7, and the colored gems scoring 10-15 points for those players who hold more than everyone else. (In the Advanced game, the colored gems score 8-12 points in addition to a variety bonus of 5 points for each set of different colored gems a player holds. The Black Diamond is worth 19 points [in the 2011 edition], but negates a player's score for all colored gems.)

Starship Catan is a two-player card game that is thematically similar to Starfarers of Catan, but has different game play. Players explore randomly shuffled decks of cards looking for potential colonies, good trading deals, opportunities to help planets, and either avoid or combat pirates. Players can upgrade their ships' systems, including weapons to combat the pirates, thrusters to be able to explore further each turn, scanners to see (and avoid) cards that are coming up, and several others. Victory points are earned by establishing colonies, building upgraded ship's systems, having the most friendship points, and having the most hero points. The first player to 10 VP's wins.

Starship Catan is part of the Kosmos two-player series and the Catan Series.