This game is set in the Perry Rhodan universe, a hugely popular German space-opera book series published since 1961. The term "kosmisch" means "cosmic"; "Hanse" refers to the Hanseatic League, a Medieval trade network in Northern Europe. In the american translation of the book series the phrase "Die Kosmische Hanse" was translated as "The Cosmic House".

In this game the players take on the roles of traders who transport goods between planets. Occasionally one can carry also passengers, which brings additional yields. Players can invest in cargo space, transmitters or faster drives to improve their spaceships.

Heinrich Glumpler, the designer of the game, is a fan of Merchant of Venus, as you can see from this comment.

The artwork is by Swen Papenbrock, one of the illustrators of the Perry Rhodan book series.

This game is part of the Kosmos two-player series.

Microbadges:
Perry Rhodan: Die Kosmische Hanse Fan

Number of players
Although this game is part of the Kosmos two-player series the designer provides variants for one and three players at his website - see the "Web Links" in the game entry.