Once there was a mighty Galactic Empire, peopled by an uneasy alliance of intelligent species. Politicians schemed for power under a figurehead Emperor, while warlike species kept the peace and dozens of worlds traded in ideas, resources and products. Richest of all were the traders of interspecies luxury goods, who cleverly terraformed a world to produce these rare luxuries. Their planet was a byword for wealth, luxury and shrewd trading; and when the Empire finally collapsed into a dark age of savagery, the memory of The Merchant of Venus lived on, a legend of the shrewd trader who brought wonderful things from beyond the stars. Now it is the 32nd century, two centuries after the fall of the First Galactic Empire, and a young, lusty, civilization is bursting forth into the Galaxy with the newly rediscovered star drive. It is the heyday of the independant interstellar merchant, a time when a few daring entrepreneurs can make fortunes and build trade empires.

Merchant of Venus is a design with remarkable versatility. Few, if any, games can claim to be equally exciting whether played solitaire, head-to-head or with three, four, five or six players. Not only can this game claim that distinction, Merchant of Venus uses it to vary the strategy dramatically as the number of participants change.