Durian Smuggler (Game 2)

Durian Smuggler is a small box card game from Indonesia. Well, from both Indonesia and Germany. The designer Simon Schmieder is from Germany but lives in Indonesia. The game has two modes, one best with three or four, and one best with two. These two modes are very different, and at the moment I have only played one of them, the one mainly for two players, but can also be played with three. 

All cards in the game are pieces of luggage. There are six types of cards, each a different colour. The card backs have different colours, so you always know which type a card is. Within each card type some of the cards contain durians. These are the ones which are worth points. The number of cards and the number of durians differ for each type. The point values also differ depending on durian rarity. 

A 4x4 grid of face-down cards is set up. You have a hand of six cards. On your turn, the first thing you do is to play a card face-down before you. You must then push one of the cards of the same colour in the grid, in the direction of its arrow. This can cause a whole row to be pushed, and one card will be pushed out of the grid. This is the card you will claim and put in your score pile. It might or might not contain a durian. Only cards with durians are worth points. There will be one hole left in the grid. You place the card just played into that hole, in any orientation you want. Orientation matters because of the arrow. 

The second thing you must do on your turn is to swap a hand card with one of the four central cards in the grid. 

If you start with durians in hand, it is helpful but these durians don't score points for you yet. You only claim cards to your score pile by pushing pieces of luggage out of the grid. The cards you have in hand give you information. You know durian distribution for every luggage type, so you can make educated guesses. If you have durians in hand, you need to first place the card into the grid, and then push it out. Your opponent is watching you do all this, and he might just intercept that durian before your next turn. Or maybe you are faking it, tricking him into taking a clean luggage. 

A cute luggage token to track the two actions on your turn.

At the end of the game you will have six pieces of luggage in your score pile. Only those containing durians score points (shield at bottom left). 

The early game is rather luck-dependent. You don't have a lot of basis yet for guessing which luggage pieces contain durians. However this is a pretty short game and I don't mind some luck. The game can be a little challenging to grasp at first. You need to think about the logistics of positioning the right card at the right place, with the arrow pointing in the right direction, and having a card of the right colour to do the pushing. You are watching which cards your opponent has, because that determines which cards he can push. 

This is a clever little game and I find it quite original. What's interesting to me is how different the other game is. I think this one I have played (called Durian Duel) is the secondary ruleset. I suspect the main game is best with four. So I'm going to wait for the right opportunity to play it at its best.