Traders, the intergalactic trade game, is a business simulation game with a twist in a science fiction setting. The game was published by LINEL in 1991. André Wüthrich and Markus Grimmer worked out the concept. André Wüthrich did most of the programming and art work for the initial Amiga version. Markus Grimmer published it under the label Linel.

Traders was inspired by M.U.L.E. and was released for Amiga, Atari ST, and DOS home computers. Up to four players control characters, aliens known as Plubbers. The goal is to make the most money in a commercial competition. Players grow fields, sell products, and raid other players. The Atari ST version was released by Merit Software for the British and American markets.

„Trading forms a major part of the game, but you would be wrong again if you thought this was all about exchanging cash. We're talking snail-trading here. Good old-fashioned barter, based on flowers, water, perfume, bugs, sapphires and... snails.

Traders is deep, and it takes a while to get used to, let alone become good at it. It's full of complex relationships between trading currencies and a host of nonsense that just adds to the confusion. In a nutshell, it's a game where the winner is the player with the most cash – but there's plenty more to it than that.“ (Amiga Format, Issue 39, October 1992, p.84)

„The game takes place on a planet that used to be Earth. The owner of this planet is a huge green snail called Fat Mike. He owns all the land that the four players use to make their money and grow their crops on. As a result, he's entitled to a backhander (coolly referred to as 'rent') every week. If you don't pay, Fat Mike will begin 'eviction processes‘.“ (ibid.)

„The barter system is the most difficult part. At the start of a bartering session, you have to decide whether you're going to sell or buy. Then, during the exchange phase, you raise or lower your price to match that of the seller or buyer. Sounds simple, but it's done with very strange graphics, and the whole thing takes seconds. Consequently, it's easy to overspend.“ (ibid.)

Strangely enough, Traders (1990) is and economic simulation and belongs to a genre that is usually very serious and has many realistic components. Not so Traders: Here the goal is to give as many snails as possible generously and voluntarily to the most powerful ruler over all stars, the owner of FAT-STAR, Fat Mike. The science fiction setting is populated with aliens. We can control a so-called ‘plubber’ and have to try to work our way into a good position via trade, all the while paying taxes to Fat Mike, the powerful mutated snail. Markus Grimmer, André Wüthrich and Michael Tschögl have developed a funny trading simulation for LINEL, which is reminiscent of MULE, but very independent. FAT-STAR, that is the earth in 2000 years, after all dinosaurs and vermin have died out, as the booklet explains on page 4. This future earth is populated by ‘plubbers’, aliens who have traveled here from an alien planet. Snails, on the other hand, are no longer plentiful; finding them is the players‘ task. The booklet is written very colloquially and tries to introduce the players to the story and gameplay with colloquial humor and lightly commenting sentences. It succeeds well. Nevertheless, the manual is comprehensive and includes descriptions of all game areas, sequences, menus as well as farming and trading on a total of 32 pages.