Ocean Trader is a game which attempts to recreate all of the risks and rewards of the 19th century world shipping trade. Players use their ships to pick up and deliver commodities from a variety of ports around the world. This is complicated by the fact that for every demand only the first two deliveries receive payment, with the first delivery paying twice as much as the second. Players may buy commodities with no current demand and speculate that demand will appear close enough to make a delivery worthwhile. Players may purchase "shares" but these are merely a game-ending mechanism; once a player has a majority of them they may declare it. Twelve more turns are played and that player wins if they still have the majority (and at least one ship and enough cash).