For additional meanings of "Rules of Acquisition", please see Rules of Acquisition.

"He goes to the Rules of Acquisition. Unabridged and fully annotated, with all 47 commentaries, all 900 major and minor judgments, all 10,000 considered opinions. There's a rule for every conceivable situation."

The Rules of Acquisition were the sacred precepts upon which all Ferengi society was based. They were first written by Gint, the first Grand Nagus. In the mid-22nd century there were 173 rules, and by the 24th century there were 285. In theory, every Ferengi business transaction strictly followed all 285 rules. (ENT: "Acquisition"; DS9: "Rules of Acquisition", "The Maquis, Part I", "Body Parts"; VOY: "False Profits")

Gint's lifetime or when the Rules of Acquisition were first created was never mentioned on-screen. However, in " Little Green Men ", it is stated that it "took [ten thousand years] to establish the Ferengi Alliance", which might imply Gint lived circa 8000 BC, if he is considered the founder of the Alliance.

In 2370, the Ferengi government was debating an amendment to the Rules. (TNG: "Bloodlines")

In 2371, Grand Nagus Zek authored a short-lived revised edition of the Rules, after having his state of mind altered by the Bajoran Prophets. It contained rules very different in character from preceding versions, instead promoting honesty and charity. Upon recovering, Zek ordered the destruction of all copies of this work. (DS9: "Prophet Motive")

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Official rules

Unofficial rules

The following sayings were either not given a number, not explicitly stated to be a Rule, or were not part of the generally-accepted Rules by the Ferengi Commerce Authority.

Notes

Appendices

Background information

The Rules of Acquisition were invented by executive producer-writer Ira Steven Behr at the beginning of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (beginning with "The Nagus") (Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 1, p. 267)) and were mentioned throughout the Star Trek spinoffs.

In the first draft script of "Rejoined", the eighty-first or seventy-first Rule of Acquisition (Rom wasn't sure which) was said to be, "What's good for the boss is good for the worker."

Similarly, in the first draft script of "Body Parts", the 153rd rule was stated to be, "People will buy anything… especially junk."

The authors of the Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed., vol. 1, p. 267) identified "Exploitation begins at home.", from the episode "False Profits", as one of these rules.

Appearances

Apocrypha

Deep Space Nine writers Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe expanded upon the Rules and Ferengi culture in the non-canon books, The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition and Legends of the Ferengi. A number of additional rules have also appeared within Pocket Deep Space Nine titles.

The following rules are derived from non-canon sources: