
- BGG rank
- BGG #3,129
- BGG rating
- 6.8
Sierra West
- 1–4 players
- 40–60 min
- Complexity 3.0/5
- 2019

Rules assistance for Merchants Cove: The Oracle
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Merchants Cove: The Oracle is an expansion for Merchants Cove released in 2021 for 1–5 players, 60–90 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Jonny Pac, Drake Villareal, and Carl Van Ostrand and its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Dice Rolling, and Commodity Speculation.
As Haggatha the Oracle, you deal in fortunes for the unfortunate. Read the stars, divine the future, and twist the fates in your attempts to part folks from their precious gold. Weary adventurers visit your shop in search of hope and guidance. You offer this through lucky charms and horoscopes, but sometimes you need to do a little voodoo, too. Just be careful not to let your dark dabblings—or dirty dishes—scare away too many honest customers! The Oracle is a new merchant you can play as. It is centered around a roll & write style game, with a pen, dry-erase board, and custom dice tray. Each turn you throw a handful of runes (a coin, bone, voodoo meeple, and dice) into a divided dish, then you record the results on your board in various ways to perform actions—and predict the future! —description from the publisher
Merchants Cove: The Oracle supports 1–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Merchants Cove: The Oracle is 60–90 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Merchants Cove: The Oracle for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Merchants Cove: The Oracle has a complexity rating of 2.4 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Merchants Cove: The Oracle belongs to these categories: Fantasy, Economic, and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Dice Rolling, and Commodity Speculation. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Merchants Cove: The Oracle are: Jonny Pac, Drake Villareal, and Carl Van Ostrand. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Merchants Cove: The Oracle as an expansion for Merchants Cove. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Merchants Cove to use it. Check that your edition of Merchants Cove is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.