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Merchant of Venus is a 1988 Avalon Hill board game that’s seen some resurgent interest recently. (I think my copy was acquired for $2 from a liquidation store in the late 1990s.) The corny name and campy style belies an interesting combination of space exploration and pick-up-and-deliver games. It doesn’t have the sleek play of a modern strategy game, but nonetheless it still has its fans.
I was not surprised, then, to hear that Merchant of Venus is being republished. What I was surprised to hear this weekend was that two different companies have made competing claims for that privilege!
Fantasy Flight Games announced that it acquired the rights to Merchant of Venus from Hasbro (current owner of Avalon Hill) and has been working on a new version for more than a year. Stronghold Games announced that it acquired the rights to Merchant of Venus from the original designer, Richard Hamblen.
Since the conflict has become public, both companies have issued statements supporting their claims [FFG, Stronghold]. While neither side seems ready to concede (and I suspect from their histories, very different approaches to the project), they have so far both been gracious.
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