---
key: mechanic/roguelike--family-26
type: mechanic
id: roguelike--family-26
lang: en
title: Economy and shops
summary: >-
  The player trades currency for items or services. Limited funds create a
  choice between immediate power and later spending.
updatedAt: '2026-10-21'
status: active
url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/roguelike--family-26/'
jsonUrl: >-
  https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/roguelike--family-26.json
markdownUrl: >-
  https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/roguelike--family-26.md
aliases:
  - Shops and purchases
tags:
  - Roguelikes and roguelites
  - Mechanics catalog
sourceIds:
  - source-7f09c8a736762f4f
sources:
  - id: source-7f09c8a736762f4f
    title: Slay the Spire
    url: 'https://www.megacrit.com/press-kits/slay-the-spire/'
    verifiedAt: null
relations: []
placements:
  - catalogId: roguelike
    id: family-26
    title: Roguelikes and roguelites
    url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/roguelike/#family-26'
    categoryIds:
      - section-1
supersededBy: []
attributes:
  preview:
    updatedAt: '2026-10-21'
    title: Shops and purchases
    description: >-
      The player trades currency for items or services. Limited funds create a
      choice between immediate power and later spending.
    image:
      src: images/mechanics/slay-the-spire-shop.webp
      width: 1440
      height: 810
      game: Slay the Spire
      sourceUrl: 'https://www.megacrit.com/press-kits/slay-the-spire/'
      originalUrl: 'https://www.megacrit.com/images/ss4.jpg'
      credit: Mega Crit
      rights: © Mega Crit. All rights reserved.
      caption: A limited shopping budget
      alt: >-
        Slay the Spire: gold at the top and individually priced goods on the
        merchant’s counter.
      markers:
        - x: 30
          'y': 3
          label: Available currency
        - x: 60
          'y': 69
          label: The price of one item
    tips:
      - Show how much money a planned purchase would leave.
      - 'Give goods different uses, not only different power levels.'
    examples:
      - title: Slay the Spire
        url: 'https://www.megacrit.com/press-kits/slay-the-spire/'
endsAt: null
provenance: >-
  Original editorial design catalog consolidated from project discussions on
  2026-10-20. Complete discussion item lists and contextual limitations are
  preserved; linked primary sources support specific techniques, not the entire
  classification. English translation was prepared with machine assistance and
  editorial review.
license: CC-BY-4.0
codeLicense: MIT
attribution: gamemechanics.pro contributors
catalogKey: catalog/roguelike
---
# Economy and shops

id: roguelike--family-26
type: mechanic
key: mechanic/roguelike--family-26
lang: en
status: active
url: https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/roguelike--family-26/

The player trades currency for items or services. Limited funds create a choice between immediate power and later spending.

## At a glance

![Slay the Spire: gold at the top and individually priced goods on the merchant’s counter.](https://gamemechanics.pro/images/mechanics/slay-the-spire-shop.webp)

[Slay the Spire](https://www.megacrit.com/press-kits/slay-the-spire/) · © Mega Crit. All rights reserved.

1. Available currency
2. The price of one item

- Show how much money a planned purchase would leave.
- Give goods different uses, not only different power levels.

- [Slay the Spire](https://www.megacrit.com/press-kits/slay-the-spire/)

## How it works

Exchange, traders and prices allow you to turn resources into opportunities and choose the moment of purchase.

## Variants

### Variants and applications

<a id="family-26-variants"></a>

- Currency valid only within the run <a id="variant-roguelike-26-01"></a>
- Several currencies with different purposes <a id="variant-roguelike-26-02"></a>
- Buying and selling items <a id="variant-roguelike-26-03"></a>
- Random assortment <a id="variant-roguelike-26-04"></a>
- Paid assortment update <a id="variant-roguelike-26-05"></a>
- Increasing cost of successive upgrades <a id="variant-roguelike-26-06"></a>
- Fixing the item for the next visit <a id="variant-roguelike-26-07"></a>
- Limited stock of goods <a id="variant-roguelike-26-08"></a>
- Discounts and price changes <a id="variant-roguelike-26-09"></a>
- Exchange item for item <a id="variant-roguelike-26-10"></a>
- Interest on accumulated money <a id="variant-roguelike-26-11"></a>
- Income for fulfilled conditions <a id="variant-roguelike-26-12"></a>
- Credit, debt and obligatory payments <a id="variant-roguelike-26-13"></a>
- Gambling machines and bets <a id="variant-roguelike-26-14"></a>
- Purchasing services: treatment, identification, improvement <a id="variant-roguelike-26-15"></a>
- Theft from a merchant with consequences <a id="variant-roguelike-26-16"></a>
- Destruction of a store or conflict with its owner <a id="variant-roguelike-26-17"></a>
- Money as a source of combat enhancement <a id="variant-roguelike-26-18"></a>

## Context and limits

A wide author's map of classic turn-based roguelikes, modern roguelites and hybrids. Families describe options for organizing a run, and not mandatory features of the genre. Constant metaprogression is not found in all roguelikes. Related systems can be combined; the list is not a closed standard.

## Connected materials


## Sources and provenance

Original editorial design catalog consolidated from project discussions on 2026-10-20. Complete discussion item lists and contextual limitations are preserved; linked primary sources support specific techniques, not the entire classification. English translation was prepared with machine assistance and editorial review.

- [Slay the Spire](https://www.megacrit.com/press-kits/slay-the-spire/) (id: source-7f09c8a736762f4f)

CC-BY-4.0 · gamemechanics.pro contributors