Trade Routes Game Review

Trade Routes Game Background

Trade Routes is a simple path-making and resource management game involving cargo ships. Draw paths toward the ports to sell and acquire good to trade in other ports. Earn 100 million dollars in trading goods to win.

This game was developed by MarketJS.

How to Play Trade Routes

To select, left click with your mouse or tap on the touchscreen with your fingers. On the welcome screen, select the play button to begin. You can also select the question mark button on the top left corner to open the

Select and drag to draw a path for the ship to take. Release to set the ship going. To view the products each port is buying and willing to trade, select the radio tower button next to it. Select the map marker button on the top left corner to center the screen on the container ship.

Basic Gameplay Advice

Your goal is to earn $100 million by trading goods from one port to the next. Each port is willing to buy and sell different items. You must move to the ports that want to buy the items you have and possess the items you need. Once the ship enters the port, it will buy the products it needs and trades it for the products it’s offering, plus cash. Repeat the process until you reach your target goal.

Besides cash, the game has 4 tradeable products: apples, metal, circuit boards, and game controllers. Each individual port only buys one item and sells the other. You must visit the ports in the correct order to meet your goal.

Advanced Playing Tips & Strategy

The game does not vary in the order you should enter the ports.

• Center left
• Bottom left
• Top left
• Center right
• Top right

The game helpfully highlights the ports you can visit by marking the radio tower buttons in orange instead of blue.

Educational Aspects

This game is a rudimentary introduction to international trade involving large freighter vessels.
That said, this game does not go in-depth with the concept and a lot of the real-world details (e.g. tariffs) are abstracted.

Player Age Recommendations

This game is suited for school-aged players and above. We recommend it for players who like path-making games.