Macao has a neat mechanic where five dice are rolled, each with different colors.  Everyone gets to pick two of the dice and add cubes of that amount - that many turns into the future... and there's strict penalties if you ever have a turn where you don't have any cubes.  And as the game burns later, any number rolled greater than the number of turns is flipped to a '1'.  And the last turn, everything's a '1'.

Coupled with the victory track, delivery mechanism, tableaux cards, etc.... it is simply a remarkable game where almost any one of those mechanics stands well on its own.

I've been tinkering with the cube mechanic and applying a market variant to it.  Basically, twelve cubes in four colors.  Each color is worth $1 when it starts.  Any turn where you put cubes on the board, the value of that cube drops in half, rounding down, to a minimum of $1.  Each turn you must choose two colors in the Macao method and any turn where you hold back on putting out cubes, the value goes up $3.  Furthermore, if you run out of cubes, the value gradually drops and you cannot pick that color to rise in price which forces the other colors to drop more quickly.  And if you have a turn where no cubes are produced, all colors drop in half.  On the last turn, all prices get cut in half and if there are any cubes.

I thought of merging it with a card-driven board, maybe an auction, etc....  And it would be cool.  And I reserve the right to come back to it...  But...

It seems to stand well enough on its own as a time waste.  I wanted a more dynamic feel to the market for another game, so it will stay shelved for now.

Interesting nonetheless.