Eamon Bloomfield's House rules for Marracash

Each player owns a shop in the Old Town, and must expand to make the most cash by the end. I suggest the following because I didn't think the game reached its full potential. Firstly, the shoppers never got near the centre rendering that part of the board unnecessary. All the action was round the entrances. Furthermore, the auctions were difficult because the upcoming player was in a good position to take advantage of a purchase and therefore bid high knowing he could not lose. He could only be stopped if another player was prepared to impoverish himself by bidding higher (and not being able make use of a purchase necessarily). So, a suggest new rule:

Players can bring on only 2 or 3 new shoppers (not 2, 3 or 4).

At the end of a player's turn he can take as many blank 'goods' counters as he wishes, which he distributes among his shops. Once in a shop they cannot be moved out. Shoppers will only enter a shop if there are goods there for them to buy (ie; if there are 4 shoppers outside and only 2 goods counters in the shop, just two of them will enter; the others will pass by) and when they enter the shop an equal number of goods are returned to the stock. Whilst those goods cost nothing to buy, a player is penalised for any he has left at the end of the game. He is penalised 50 Dirams for as many unsold goods as he owns shops. Any in excess of the number of shops are charged at 100 dirams against the winning total.