Like the larger game, the trading game started fresh at the beginning of each leg. Only the first three legs included the trading game; the fourth leg was a race to the finish.

In leg one, there were twenty-nine different goods that a team could acquire. In the second and third legs, the Onydium nodule appeared, as did the possibility of creating an astromoth. In leg one, each good had a name and a category (ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL, or MANUFACTURED). In leg two, each good additionally had zero or more attributes (SEX, RARE, DANGEROUS, UNETHICAL, DRUG, and FOOD). In leg three, each good came in eleven different qualities, zero to ten.

Most of the rules for determining the value of a set of goods are embedded in handbook entries. These entries were carefully chosen so that they would only be revealed by certain solution pages. Teams were not able to commit to a strategy at the beginning of a leg, but had to be able to adapt as new information became available.

At the beginning of each leg, teams received a few random goods to get them started. If they were successful in the pit stop activities before that leg, they could receive additional goods as a bonus. Upon leaving a location, a team received information about the goods available at the next location. Each location had twenty-two sets of goods to choose from; the first team got their choice and the last team got what was left.

Toward the beginning of a leg, teams received more goods, but chose on incomplete information (perhaps just the category or an attribute). At the end of a leg, teams received fewer goods, but had more information about what they were choosing. And, of course, they were encouraged to trade with other teams along the way.

Trading did in fact become a central part of the game, as we had hoped. Players could be seen making deals at every stop, after they had acquired new goods to trade or new information that informed their strategies. And of course it led to such inspired dialogue as: "I'm willing to trade drugs for sex." "Sorry, I don't have any sex."