Durian Smuggler

Durian Smuggler Rulebook

Table of Contents

Goal of the Game

Score points for Durian Luggage placed into a shared grid. Play cooperatively as Airport Security or competitively with hidden roles, where one of you is secretly the Smuggler.

To learn the game, we recommend starting with the cooperative mode.

Components

1 Sequence Card (one side for 1–2 players, one side for 3–4 players)
28 Luggage Cards, 6 different types and colors
4 Identity Cards: 3 Airport Security, 1 Durian Smuggler. The backside shows an overview of all luggage cards.

Luggage Card Anatomy

Card back (with border):

A: Number of luggage of this color in the deck (6).
B: 2 of this luggage contain Durian.
C: Arrow should point at the player who placed it.

Card front:

D: Empty luggage.
E: Luggage with Durian, if placed correctly, worth 6 points.

Cooperative Mode (3–4 players)

The Sequence Card has 2 sides. When playing with 3–4 players, use the 3–4 player side. Each colored area is called a sequence.

Set Up

Place the Sequence Card in the center so each player faces one Sequence. With 3 players, make sure no one faces the red Sequence.
Place 2 Airport Security cards and 2 face-down Identity cards between the players so everyone can see them.
Shuffle all Luggage Cards. Deal to each player:
- 3 players: 6 hand cards, discard 1 card face down.
- 4 players: 4 hand cards.
Form a face-down deck with the remaining cards.
Mark the active Sequence (starting with beige) with any small token (ring, coffee bean, stone, etc.).

Keep your hand cards secret. Other players only know what type of luggage you have, not the content.

Flow of the Game

The player facing the active Sequence (the one with the token) is the Active Player. All players follow that Sequence's instructions, then each plays one card face down into a shared 5×5 grid, with the overview card as the center.

Goal

Airport Security: Place Durian Luggage so it is not orthogonally adjacent to any other Durian Luggage. If it is adjacent, those Durian cards score combined negative points, divided by 2.

Game Flow

The player facing the beige Sequence starts. Each player is aligned with a different Sequence.

On your turn:

Follow the Sequence instructions.
Each player places 1 card face down into the shared grid, starting with the Active Player and continuing clockwise.
Move the token clockwise to the next Sequence.

Repeat until the 5×5 grid is full and each player has exactly 1 card left.

Sequences

Draw from the right (beige Sequence): All players draw a card from the player to their right.
Draw from the left (green Sequence): All players draw a card from the player to their left.
+1 (yellow and red Sequences): Every player gets 1 card from the deck, starting with the active player in clockwise order.

All players draw a card from the player to their left or right (depending on instructions). Draw simultaneously. You cannot draw the card another player just took. This step helps you gather information, so choose wisely which card you draw!

Note: the colour-to-symbol mapping above is read from the Sequence Card icons and the "Sequences" key on page 6 (pink box = "draw from the right", green box = "draw from the left"); the printed text does not restate it per colour.

Placing Luggage

After resolving the current Sequence, players place luggage cards into the grid. The Active Player goes first, then play continues clockwise.

Placement rules:

Must be orthogonally adjacent to an existing card.
Same-aligned cards cannot be orthogonally adjacent.*
Must fit within the 5×5 grid.

*In the final rounds, if no legal placements remain, a player may ignore the alignment rule.

The Sequence Card is the center of the 5×5 grid.

Alignment

Place your card with the arrow pointing toward you. This shows who placed each card and prevents you from placing next to your own cards.

After all players placed a card, move the marker to the next Sequence (with 3 players, skip the red Sequence). Continue playing Sequences and placing cards until the grid is full. All players will have 1 card remaining in their hand.

End of Game

When the grid is full and each player has 1 card left:

Reveal all Luggage Cards, keeping alignment intact.

Scoring

Each Durian card shows its badge value.

Durian with no orthogonally adjacent Durian: scores full badge value.
Durian orthogonally adjacent to other Durian: scores negative points (badge value ÷ 2).
Durian left in hand: scores negative points (full badge value).

Total your score and compare with the result list. Got fired? Better try again. You can do better!

Score	Result
54–44	Huge promotion (three chevrons)
43–33	Salary raise (two chevrons)
32–20	Keep your job (one chevron)
≤19	You are fired

Competitive Mode (3–4 players)

Play exactly like the cooperative mode, with these changes:

Set Up: Shuffle the 4 Identity Cards and deal 1 face down to each player. Keep identities secret. There are 3 Airport Security cards and 1 Smuggler card.

Competitive Scoring

Players score only for the Durian Luggage they placed (indicated by the arrow). At the end, flip all Luggage Cards along the arrow so alignment stays consistent.

Airport Security: Scores exactly like the cooperative mode, but only for their own cards (see the Scoring section above).
The Smuggler: Also scores only their own cards.
- Durian orthogonally adjacent to other Durian: gain points (badge value ÷ 2).
- Durian with no orthogonally adjacent Durian: lose full badge value (not halved!).
- Durian left in hand also scores negative points.

Record all players' scores, reshuffle the Identity Cards, and play as many rounds as you like. The player with the highest total score wins.

Two Players (cooperative)

Place the Sequence Card in the center. Sit adjacent to each other, one player facing Sequence 2 and one player facing Sequence 4.
Shuffle all Luggage Cards. Deal to each player 3 cards, and deal 3 cards on each side without a player, face down. These decks are called blind decks.
Form a face-down deck with the remaining cards.
Each player gets an Airport Security / overview card.

You still play into a shared 5×5 grid. In cooperative mode your goal is the same: keep Durian Luggage isolated. The main differences are the Blind Decks and how the Sequence Card works.

Place two face-down Blind Decks on the sides where players 2 and 4 would normally sit. Keep them aligned and separated so you can see each card's backside (type of luggage).

When a Sequence interacts with a Blind Deck, use the cards face down. These cards are revealed to a player only when they enter a player's hand.

When a Blind Deck plays a card into the grid, align it as if that imaginary player placed it.

Sequence Card (2 players)

In 2-player mode, each player controls two Sequences per round, the colour they are facing. Players only follow the Sequence; no one places luggage after resolving it. Resolve Sequences in order: 1, 2, 3, 4.

The Sequences are simple: each instruction either hands a card to the left (between a player and a Blind Deck) or plays a card face down into the grid.

Sequences 1 and 3 (icon: "1/3", give a card to the left): hand a card to the left.
Sequences 2 and 4 (icon: "2/4", place a card into the grid): place a card into the grid and keep it aligned.

After all four Sequences are resolved: each player draws 1 card. Each Blind Deck also receives 1 face-down card. Then rotate the Sequence Card 90° clockwise and start again with Sequence 1. Continue until the grid is filled and both players and blind decks have 1 card remaining. Durian in the players' hands will count as negative points (not in the Blind Decks).

On the 2-player side the card also shows a rotate symbol and a "+1" symbol: after Sequence 4, rotate and hand out cards.

Scoring: Same as cooperative mode (see the Scoring section above).

Two Players (competitive)

Play exactly like the 2-player mode, but one player is the Smuggler and the other is Airport Security. Each player scores only the Durian Cards they personally placed (never cards from the Blind Decks). After the game, switch roles and play again. Add both scores; whoever has the higher total wins.

Scoring: Same as in 3–4 players competitive mode.

Solo Mode

Play exactly like the 2-player mode, but you control all four Sequences. The opposing "player deck" is treated as a Blind Deck. Scoring: see the Scoring section above.

Icons

X points: Shield icon with a number.
Gain points / lose points: Shield icon with a + or − sign.
X hand cards: Hand icon with X cards.
X deck cards: Deck icon with X cards.
All draw X cards (+X): All players draw X cards.
Blind deck: Face-down deck marked with a question mark.
Durian luggage: Luggage containing Durian.
Luggage without Durian: Luggage with no Durian.
X players: Player figure with X.
Player the arrow pointing at: The player the arrow points at played this card.
Play 1 card into the grid: Upward arrow to the grid.
Draw 1 card (follow arrow): Hand drawing from the side the arrow indicates.
Hand 1 card to the left: Card passed to the left.
+1 all draw 1 card from the deck: All players draw 1 card from the deck.

Score thresholds shown on the icons page: 54–44 Huge promotion; 43–33 Salary raise; 32–20 Keep your job; ≤19 You are fired.

Scoring Example

The printed scoring example (page 11) is a diagram of a finished 5×5 grid with each Durian card's score marked and a worked total, ((8+6)÷2)+4 = 11, for one group of adjacent Durian, followed by the cooperative score. The individual figures appear only in the diagram and are not reproduced as text here.

Note on adjacency scoring: the Airport Security goal (page 5) says adjacent Durian cards score "combined negative points, divided by 2", while the scoring text (page 9) says each adjacent Durian scores "badge value ÷ 2". Both are transcribed as printed; the worked example's ((8+6)÷2) form follows the combined reading.