The Rat Market (Guide)
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| Rat Market: | |
 The Rat Market is: Closed, based on the timestamp: Mon, 07 Sep 2026 20:57:44 +0000
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Last updated on: 11:05, 31 Aug 2026 (UTC) | |
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Late MYN Content and Onwards |
The Rat Market is a periodic, dynamic piece of content released in September 1899 (2021). Its mechanisms make heavy use of World Qualities. According to the announcement post, one of the goals of the Rat Market is to introduce a regular source of variation, so that players are encouraged to experience more of the available content.
Every week, the Rat Market is only open for three days spanning the weekend. It opens at 11am UTC on Friday, and closes at 11 am UTC on Monday. Check your local time zone to see when it's accessible for you, and beware of Daylight Savings Time.
You access the Rat Market from a storylet in the Flit. Each week, entering the newly-opened Rat Market for the first time will cost 3 actions, but every subsequent entry that weekend will cost 0.
Mechanics[edit]
The most basic run-down of the Rat Market is as follows:
- Each week, the Rat Market will have a certain combination of demands, which indicates which items the market is currently buying. Items sold this way are paid out in the Rat-Market exclusive currency,
Rat-Shillings. - Each week the items in demand starts off being sold with a certain premium. This means selling items in demand by itself makes a profit. Since item-selling costs 0 actions, the only action cost to consider is the initial 3 action cost to gain entry to the Rat Market each week.
- However, to prevent abusing this theoretically infinite echo grind of stockpiling and selling items en masse, the Rat Market also has a saturation system. Simply put, this means that there is a static upper bound in how much monetary gain you can get out of the Ratket each week.
- Three days after you first enter the Rat Market, by which time the market is always closed, any leftover Rat-Shillings you haven't spent will be returned to you in exact price in the form of various currency - most of which is Rostygold. No money lost!
- On the other side, the Rat Market also sells a certain combination of items each week. Some of these rotate regularly and predictably, while others are more RNG-prone. Some are even sold at a discount, and some are even exclusive!
- There are also items that the Rat Market always buys and sells, which are the items that could be accessed via the Bazaar tab while you're within the Rat Market location. In particular, the so-called "Tier 2" resource items are sold in exact market value - with the above "Rat-Shillings Premium" mechanic, this makes Rat Market the single best source of many, many items, even considering the necessary conversion action costs.
The most important to know up-front is that you cannot save Rat-Shillings. 72 hours after you enter the Rat Market (and gain the 
A Rat for the Weekend quality), any Rat-Shillings you have left will be converted to an assortment of Currency items (primarily 
Rostygold, see A Rat no Longer) at a rate of 10 pence-equivalent per Rat-Shilling.
The second-most important thing to know about is The Rat Market (Bazaar), and the consistent things you can purchase from it. In some cases, this may be the purpose of your visit. In other cases, this may be an outlet of Rat-Shillings that would otherwise become Rostygold.
World Qualities[edit]
Selling Items[edit]
On any given week, only some items can be sold for Rat-Shillings. New sellable items are randomly chosen weekly and can be sold during the two following weekends.
The selection of sellable items is controlled by the "Ratly Demand" World Qualities. For example, when 
Inscrutable Demand is active, 
The Whiskery Bibliophile will appear in the Rat Market, allowing you to sell 
Uncanny Incunabula and 
Cartographer's Hoards.
The precise mechanisms governing the Ratly Demands are not known at this time, but they appear to follow the pattern described below:
Ratly Demand mechanisms
- Each Demand starts at 0, where it is inactive and the corresponding items cannot be sold. It will remain at this level for at least one week, possibly more.
- Each Monday, the World Quality may increase from 0 to 1 (apparently at random). The Demand is now active, and its items may be sold when the Rat Market opens later in the week. It remains at this level for one week.
- The following Monday, the Demand increases from 1 to 2, where it is still active and its items are sellable when the Rat Market opens. It remains at this level for one week.
- Next Monday, the Demand increases from 2 to 3. It is now inactive, and the corresponding items can no longer be sold. It remains at this level for one week.
- The following Monday, the Demand increases from 3 to 4, where it is still inactive. It remains at this level for one week.
- Next Monday, one of two things happens (apparently at random):
- The Demand may increase from 4 to 5 (inactive), remaining there for one week before resetting to 0.
- It is also possible that from 5, the Demand may further increase to 6 (inactive), remaining there for one week before resetting to 0. There may be further levels (7+) that have yet to be observed due to their low likelihood.
- Alternatively, the Demand may skip levels 5+ entirely, going directly from 4 to 0.
- The Demand may increase from 4 to 5 (inactive), remaining there for one week before resetting to 0.
| Movement | Number of observations | Maximum likelihood estimator | Wilson score 95% confidence interval |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 → 5 | 18 | 27% | (18%, 39%) |
| 4 → 0 | 48 | 73% | (61%, 82%) |
| 5 → 6 | 1 | 6% | (1%, 26%) |
| 5 → 0 | 17 | 94% | (74%, 99%) |
| 0 → 0 | 63 | 50% | (41%, 59%) |
| 0 → 1 | 63 | 50% | (41%, 59%) |
Buying Items[edit]
What you can buy with Rat-Shillings changes with a variety of different World Qualities:
- The
Rat-Wind and 
Rat-Moon change randomly every week to a new value. These mainly give access to powerful Bazaar equipment at a discount, though two of the Rat-Wind items are exclusive to the Rat Market. - The
Rat Season advances one season every week, and allows you to purchase particularly valuable or hard-to-get items. These items are not discounted, and the cheaper items are even heavily marked up, but they are more difficult to obtain elsewhere. - The
False-Season follows real-world seasons and serves to unlock a unique piece of buyable equipment, for a total of 4 different pieces of equipment.
Cryptic Clues[edit]
While the market is only available on weekends, the clues to next weekend's items are revealed earlier by the Gazette in Your Lodgings. The Rat-Moon and Rat-Wind hint at some items that can be gained that season, whereas the items the rats are looking to buy are stated explicitly.
For example:
East - "The unseen Rat-Wind is in the east; time is shorter this season! Look to your wrists!"
- This refers to the
Ratwork Watch
Soft - "However, the hidden Rat-Moon is soft, they say. Soft as skin and pink as a gentlerat's paw."
- This refers to the
Lenguals
Selling Items for Rat-Shillings[edit]
On any given week, only some items can be sold for Rat-Shillings. New saleable items are randomly chosen weekly on Mondays and can be sold during the two following weekends. The different stalls buy items of different types.
Each item you can sell has a 
Nominal Sale Value equal to its (theoretical) value in pennies. You will always receive at least this amount's worth of Rat-Shillings, but the first several items you sell each week will receive a substantial markup. This is controlled by your 
Rat Market Saturation, which increases after every sale by the sold item's nominal sale value.
- Items sold below 65,000 Saturation receive a 32% markup to their nominal sale value.
- Items sold at or above 65,000 Saturation but below 180,000 receive a 12% markup.
- Items sold at or above 180,000 Saturation receive no markup, and simply receive their nominal sale value's worth of Rat-Shillings.
For more info, see The Rat Market (Guide)/Calculators.
Critically, sale order does not affect the number of Rat-Shillings received, and there is no "correct" sale order. Items sold that would transcend a breakpoint will simply receive a markup proportionally between the two markup values. The player cannot sell more than 800,000 Saturation worth of items in one week.
Table of Current Ratly Demand[edit]
| Demand | Status[1] | Sellable Items ( Nominal Sale Value)
| ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,250[2]
|
6,250[3]
|
31,250[4]
| ||
 Inscrutable
|
Possible next week | Uncanny Incunabulum
|
Chimerical Archive
|
Cartographer's Hoard
|
 Intricate
|
Active (week 2/2) |  Unlawful Device
|
 Crackling Device
|
|
 Maudlin
|
Cooldown (2–3 weeks) |  Captivating Ballad
|
 Parabolan Parable
| |
 Saintly
|
Possible next week |  Ratty Reliquary
|
 False Hagiotoponym
|
|
 Soft
|
Possible next week |  Parabola-Linen Scrap
|
 Scrap of Ivory Organza
| |
 Tempestuous
|
Active (week 2/2) |  Storm-Threnody
|
 Night-Whisper
|
|
 Calculating
|
Active (week 1/2) |  Vital Intelligence
|
 Paired  Mates ( 5,000[5])
|
 Corresponding Sounder
|
 Ruinous
|
Possible next week |  Mortification of a Great Power
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||
 Eclipse
|
 Memory of Discordance
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 Discordant Soul
|
||
- ↑ See above for a detailed description of Ratly Demand mechanisms.
- ↑
Increases Saturation by 1,250.
Sells for:- 165 Shillings when 0 ≤ Saturation < 65,000
- 140 Shillings when 65,000 ≤ Saturation < 180,000
- 125 Shillings otherwise
- ↑
Increases Saturation by 6,250.
Sells for:- 825 Shillings when 0 ≤ Saturation < 65,000
- 700 Shillings when 65,000 ≤ Saturation < 180,000
- 625 Shillings otherwise
- ↑
Increases Saturation by 31,250.
Sells for:- 4,125 Shillings when 0 ≤ Saturation < 65,000
- 3,500 Shillings when 65,000 ≤ Saturation < 180,000
- 3,125 Shillings otherwise
- ↑
Must be sold in pairs of 1 Queen Mate and 1 Epaulette Mate.
Each pair increases Saturation by 5,000.
Each pair sells for:- 660 Shillings when 0 ≤ Saturation < 65,000
- 560 Shillings when 65,000 ≤ Saturation < 180,000
- 500 Shillings otherwise
In addition, 
Fourth-City Echoes can be sold every week for 125 Rat-Shillings each via the Bazaar tab. This item has no other repeatable uses at this moment, and can be farmed in L.B. Industries at a competitive rate. Because they are sold through the Bazaar tab, they do not contribute to Rat Market Saturation.
Buying Items with Rat-Shillings[edit]
Items can be purchased with Rat-Shillings from four shops in the Bazaar tab, or two storylets which do not cost actions. A single Rat-Shilling is assumed to have a value of ten pennies (
0.10). The actual exchange rate varies by good, but that's an easy value by which to compare.
In the Bazaar tab, cheap economic items can be purchased for a value equal to their Bazaar sell price, while more expensive items have a mark-up, going up to a 100% cost increase for items selling for 2.50 or more. Equipable items can be purchased from the Rat Market for slightly cheaper than they cost in the Echo Bazaar (which is always still greater than the value of selling them back to the Bazaar).
From the (Ratty) Bazaar[edit]
| Item | Sale Value | Shillings (mark-up) |
|---|---|---|
 Inkling of Identity
|
0.10
|
 1 (at value)
|
 Maniac's Prayer
|
0.10
|
1 (at value)
|
 Appalling Secret
|
0.15
|
2 (+33%)
|
 Compromising Document
|
0.50
|
7 (+40%)
|
 Correspondence Plaque
|
0.50
|
7 (+40%)
|
 Journal of Infamy
|
0.50
|
7 (+40%)
|
| Tale of Terror!!
|
0.50
|
7 (+40%)
|
 Touching Love Story
|
2.50
|
50 (+100%)
|
 Blackmail Material
|
12.50
|
250 (+100%)
|
| Item | Sale Value | Shillings (mark-up) |
|---|---|---|
 Royal-Blue Feather
|
0.50 /  1
|
8 (+60%)
|
 Solacefruit
|
0.50 / 1
|
8 (+60%)
|
 Hand-picked Peppercaps
|
1
|
10 (+100%)
|
 Nightsoil of the Bazaar
|
1
|
10 (+100%)
|
 Preserved Surface Blooms
|
2.50 / 3
|
25 (at value)
|
 Carved Ball of Stygian Ivory
|
2.50 / 5
|
45 (+80%)
|
 Crate of Incorruptible Biscuits
|
2.50 / 5
|
60 (+140%)
|
| Item | Sale Value | Shillings (mark-up) |
Buy price at the Bazaar |
|---|---|---|---|
 Amanita Sherry
|
0.10
|
1 (at value)
|
|
| Map Scrap
|
0.10
|
1 (at value)
|
|
 Phosphorescent Scarab
|
0.10
|
1 (at value)
|
|
 Flawed Diamond
|
0.12
|
2 (+67%)
|
|
 Palimpsest Scrap
|
0.50
|
7 (+40%)
|
|
 Rattus Faber Rifle
|
2.50
|
50 (+100%)
|
|
 Skyglass Knife
|
3.20
|
63
|
6.40
|
 Set of Kifers
|
32.40
|
640
|
64.80
|
 Ravenglass Knife
|
51.20
|
1000
|
102.40
|
 Set of Intricate Kifers
|
312.50
|
3999
|
400.00
|
 Ratwork Derringer
|
250.00
|
4000
|
400.00
|
| Item | Shillings
|
Buy price at the Bazaar |
|---|---|---|
 Well-Placed Pawn
|
2
|
|
 Pair of Scarlet Stockings of Dubious Origin
|
20
|
4.00
|
 Antique Constable's Badge
|
300
|
30
|
 Copper Cipher Ring
|
400
|
40
|
 Red-Feathered Pin
|
400
|
40
|
 Tiny Jewelled Reliquary
|
400
|
40
|
 Engraved Pewter Tankard
|
500
|
50
|
 Old Bone Skeleton Key
|
600
|
62.50
|
 Ornate Typewriter
|
600
|
60
|
Direction of the Rat-Wind[edit]
Current value: South
| Item | Rat-Wind
|
Currently available? | Buy price at the Bazaar | Shillings (discount) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ratwork Watch
|
East | ✗ | 460.00
|
3200 (-30%)
|
 Poison-tipped Umbrella
|
South | ✓ | 450.00
|
3200 (-29%)
|
 Ratwork Pocket Piece
|
West | ✗ | N/A | 3200
|
 Rat's-Head Cane
|
North | ✗ | N/A | 3200
|
Phase of the Rat-Moon[edit]
Current value: Runny
| Item | Rat-Moon
|
Currently available? | Buy price at the Bazaar | Shillings (discount) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Fecund Amber Tiara
|
Blue | ✗ | 400
|
2800 (-30%)
|
| Pair of Lenguals
|
Soft | ✗ | 400
|
2800 (-30%)
|
 Smock of Four Thousand Three Hundred and Eight Pockets
|
Hard | ✗ | 420
|
2800 (-33%)
|
 Pair of Vakeskin Boots
|
Runny | ✓ | 320
|
2800(-12.5%)
|
The Rat-Season[edit]
Rat-Season Abbreviations:
- FaF: Freeze-and-Fall
- LL: Lying-Longing
- CC: Candle-Canker
- WaW: Wink-and-Wane
- VV: Vial-Vane
- TaT: Take-and-Toil
- WW: Wine-Whisper
- RaR: Rise-and-Rake
- NK: Nitre-Knife
- KC: Kifer-Caitiff
- SS: Skitter-Scatter
- DD: Dimmest-Dark
Current season: Candle-Canker (CC)
| The Rat-Season:
| |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FaF | LL | CC | WaW | VV | TaT | WW | RaR | NK | KC | SS | DD |
| Nov 20 - Nov 23 | Nov 27 - Nov 30 | Sep 11 - Sep 14 | Sep 18 - Sep 21 | Sep 25 - Sep 28 | Oct 02 - Oct 05 | Oct 09 - Oct 12 | Oct 16 - Oct 19 | Oct 23 - Oct 26 | Oct 30 - Nov 02 | Nov 06 - Nov 09 | Nov 13 - Nov 16 |
|
 Eyeless Skull ( 625)
|
 Elemental Secret ( 3,125)
|
 Legenda Cosmogone ( 3,125)
|
Fecund Amber ( 3,125)
| |||||||
 Irrigo Mirrorcatch Box ( 3,500)
|
 Starstone Demark ( 3,125)
|
 Coruscating Soul ( 3,125)
|
 Reported Location of a One-Time Prince of Hell ( 15,625)
|
| |||||||
|
|
|
| ||||||||
The False-Season[edit]
Current value: Summer
| Item | False-Season
|
Begins on[1] | Currently available? | Shillings
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Venge-Rat Waders
|
Autumn | Sep 1 | ✗ | 10000
|
| St Eligius' Beard Hairs
|
Winter | Dec 1 | ✗ | 10000
|
 False-Star Catalogue
|
Spring | Mar 2, 2027 | ✗ | 10000
|
 Leviathan-Bone Knife
|
Summer | Jun 1, 2027 | ✓ | 10000
|
- ↑ The value updates on the first Tuesday of the corresponding month
Related to Ratly Demand[edit]
Typically, demand is what determines what items are sellable in the Rat Market. However, in one instance, a stall being present allows items to be purchased.
| Item | Stall | Currently Available? | Shillings
|
|---|---|---|---|
 Gant-filled Mirrorcatch Box
|
The Shrivelled Celebrant | ✓ | 3750
|
| Breath of the Void[1]
|
The Shrivelled Celebrant | ✓ | 15600
|
- ↑ Only purchasable if you have An Empty Promise, acquired from the Rat Market during an eclipse.
Unique Items[edit]
A handful of items in the Rat Market have no other sources.
| Item | Accessibility | Currently available? | Shillings
|
Slot | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rat's-Head Cane
|
Rat-Wind: North
|
✗ | 3200
|
Weapon |
|
| Ratwork Pocket Piece
|
Rat-Wind: West
|
✗ | 3200
|
Weapon | |
 Stainless Gloves
|
The Rat-Season: Kifer-Caitiff, Skitter-Scatter or Dimmest-Dark
|
✗ | 4000
|
Gloves | |
| Venge-Rat Waders
|
The False-Season: Autumn
|
✗ | 10000
|
Boots |
|
| St Eligius' Beard Hairs
|
The False-Season: Winter
|
✗ | 10000
|
Affiliation |
|
| False-Star Catalogue
|
The False-Season: Spring
|
✗ | 10000
|
Weapon | |
| Leviathan-Bone Knife
|
The False-Season: Summer
|
✓ | 10000
|
Weapon |
|
