The story
Fiction and adapted settings written by Akitsora Gaming for this title, including invented dialogue and events. This is not a historical or folklore reference. The rules and specification tables define the gameplay and math.
A wooden chest, a ledger and a well-worn route — every year the peddler follows the same itinerary back to the same inn.
I. Checking the chest
At first light he sets the chest from his back onto the inn's table, opens it drawer by drawer and checks each item against the ledger.
Paper parcels, hemp cord, bamboo scoops, seal-paste boxes — everything has its place, and one missing parcel means the books won't balance.
II. Restocking
Whatever was used since the last visit is replaced. The triangular paper parcels are tied one by one and slipped back into their drawers.
What the children wait for are the paper balloons he brings — the number at the centre of each one on the board is its multiplier (base game ×2 to ×20).
III. The hand-over table
Gather 4 route tags and the indigo curtains at the door blow open as he steps up to the hand-over table. Over the next 15 spins the multiplier keeps growing (×2 to ×500).
3 more tags add 5 more spins.
IV. Closing the books
Stock counted and accounts balanced, he closes the ledger, raises it to his chest and bows to the household — and he will be back in the same season next year.