4 families sell themselves mutually old treasures, antiques from their market tables for prizes, as high as possible.
The buyer is willing to pay just a little, so the haggling starts. From time to time anything will be stolen, but noone wants to have seen it. When you have luck you can trade with a partner. You foist a pretty worthless object on the other and get an expensive antique for it. Your partner hasn't known this though.
This and much more makes "Der Dieb von Maradad" a unusually diversified game. Winner is the player who owns the most money after a certein time (=2 hours).