Merchants of the Crystal Sea is a two player, push your luck card game. Expeditions will gather new resources discovered on the island and return them back to the ship. Your goal is to score as many resource points as possible before the end of the game. But your opponent might have other ideas. Both players have to decide when to return back to the ship with the current resources or press your luck, trying to weather the events and retrieve a much bigger load. Your ship has five expeditions to send out and collect resources. When it is time, collect the resources and return back to your ship and count the booty. Events may alter the success of your expedition. The longer you stay on the island the greater the chance you have to deal with these events (good or bad!). —description from the designer