In the wake of the Atomic Age in City of Wonder, Playdom has added a fitting feature: Mercantilism. Researching this new school of economic thought commonly known as ripping people off is simple enough. Just research Trade when you reach Level 7, then research Mercantilism at Level 8 and, just like that, you're on your way to becoming a master merchant.

The research unlocks a functional building called The Marketplace, which has a giant golden coin on the roof so your friends can't miss is. And that's extremely important. When players visit each others' cities and that city happens to have a Marketplace, they can buy Surplus Goods from that player's Marketplace at a randomly fluctuating price. These Surplus Goods can drop randomly when you collect from production contracts in the form of Rubies, Tulips, Lumber and Steel.

These Goods will sit in your Marketplace and randomly rise and fall in value daily, but you will only collect profits if you manually do so each day. The idea is to search around for the best prices in Surplus Goods each day while making sure your Marketplace is chock full of them as often as possible. OK, we know, real trade doesn't work like this, but sometimes you just gotta' say, "It's just a game." Besides, don't complain about free--you'll scare it away.

What do you think of the new Marketplace feature in City of Wonder? Will you be taking advantage of it? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.