---
key: practice/remove-the-market
type: practice
id: remove-the-market
lang: en
title: Remove the market
summary: Check what a mechanic contributes and whether it is worth keeping.
updatedAt: '2026-10-20'
status: active
url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/practice/remove-the-market/'
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markdownUrl: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/practice/remove-the-market.md'
aliases: []
tags:
  - Iteration
sourceIds:
  - source-3e6c21889ae768e0
  - source-6f794a271cd60b9c
sources:
  - id: source-3e6c21889ae768e0
    title: 'Challenges for Game Designers: author website'
    url: 'https://designgames.wordpress.com/'
    verifiedAt: null
  - id: source-6f794a271cd60b9c
    title: 'Challenges for Game Designers: table of contents'
    url: 'https://designgames.wordpress.com/toc/'
    verifiedAt: null
relations:
  - type: practices
    direction: incoming
    label: What this helps you learn
    key: lesson/progression-pacing
    title: 'Progression: capabilities and pacing'
    url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/lessons/progression-pacing/'
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  - type: practices
    direction: incoming
    label: What this helps you learn
    key: path/balance
    title: Balance and progression
    url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/learn/balance/'
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    markdownUrl: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/path/balance.md'
  - type: uses
    direction: outgoing
    label: Sources in the selection
    key: resource/challenges-for-game-designers
    title: Challenges for Game Designers
    url: >-
      https://gamemechanics.pro/en/resources/#resource-challenges-for-game-designers
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placements:
  - title: In the original collection
    url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/practice/#remove-the-market'
supersededBy: []
attributes:
  topic: iteration
  level: beginner
  minutes: 50
endsAt: null
provenance: >-
  Thematic inspiration: Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Brathwaite and
  Ian Schreiber. These scenarios, constraints and checks are independently
  written around broad game-design learning topics. This is not a translation or
  a sequential retelling of the book exercises.
license: CC-BY-4.0
codeLicense: MIT
attribution: gamemechanics.pro contributors
---
# Remove the market

id: remove-the-market
type: practice
key: practice/remove-the-market
lang: en
status: active
url: https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/practice/remove-the-market/

Check what a mechanic contributes and whether it is worth keeping.

## Goal

Check what a mechanic contributes and whether it is worth keeping.

## Scenario and materials

Take a small game of your own that has several mechanics. Choose a supporting system, such as resource trading. Make a version without it while preserving the game's goal. Check which decisions disappear and which rules become simpler.

An existing small prototype

## Constraints

- Use your own prototype or a game you have permission to modify.
- Remove one system and its associated exceptions.
- Do not replace it with another large mechanic.

## Steps

1. Write down what the chosen system should offer the player.
2. Prepare the reduced version and check that the game can end.
3. Compare explanation time and decisions in both versions. Decide what to restore, change or leave removed.

## Deliverable

Two rule sets and a justified decision about the mechanic's future.

## Check your work

- The reduced version contains no references to removed resources or actions.
- The goal remains reachable.
- Name the useful choice that was lost or explain why there was none.

## Reflect

Which complexity did the designer notice? Which did the player actually notice?

## Connected materials

- What this helps you learn: [Progression: capabilities and pacing](https://gamemechanics.pro/en/lessons/progression-pacing/) (key: lesson/progression-pacing)
- What this helps you learn: [Balance and progression](https://gamemechanics.pro/en/learn/balance/) (key: path/balance)
- Sources in the selection: [Challenges for Game Designers](https://gamemechanics.pro/en/resources/#resource-challenges-for-game-designers) (key: resource/challenges-for-game-designers)

## Sources and provenance

Thematic inspiration: Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber. These scenarios, constraints and checks are independently written around broad game-design learning topics. This is not a translation or a sequential retelling of the book exercises.

- [Challenges for Game Designers: author website](https://designgames.wordpress.com/) (id: source-3e6c21889ae768e0)
- [Challenges for Game Designers: table of contents](https://designgames.wordpress.com/toc/) (id: source-6f794a271cd60b9c)

CC-BY-4.0 · gamemechanics.pro contributors