Soda Smugglers is a game by Reiner Knizia. It is arguably a cleaner version of Sheriff of Nottingham. Saying this sounds a little disrespectful to both games. However you can’t deny the similarity. The core idea is the same, just that the execution is a little different.

 

Every round, one player is the customs officer, and the others are travellers. As a traveller, it is legal to bring one bottle of soda. But that’s only going to get you 1 point, and that’s not a lot. You want to smuggle more bottles in order to score more points. Every round each traveller draws five cards. Cards in the game have 0 to 3 bottles of soda. Of your five cards, you will use only three. You reveal one face-up and offer it as a bribe to the officer. The other two are bags you intend to carry across the border.

The officer may accept one of the bribes. That means the officer scores points, and the player whose bribe is accepted gets to score both his bags. The officer may peek at specific bags. Eventually the officer can decide to stop a player suspected of smuggling. That player’s two suitcases are checked, and if he is indeed bringing in more than one bottle, the officer confiscates both the suitcases. However if his luggage is legal, the officer must pay him $2 instead.

That’s basically the game. Everyone gets to be the officer twice, and the game ends. Richest wins.

This is a game about greed. If you want to get ahead, you need to be greedy. There is much player interaction because you will be persuading the officer to take your bribe and let you pass, or you will be persuading him to arrest the other guy, or maybe you will be trying to trick the officer into falsely accusing you so that he must pay you a fee. There are several possible scenarios. You may offer a handsome bribe and tell the officer that you are fair and you want everyone to win. You may offer a low bribe and explain that times are bad and you are already offering as much as you can afford. It might be true, or you might actually have two full bags of soda. Sometimes even if you offer a good bribe the officer might just decide to arrest you anyway simply because you are leading, or because he has a grudge. In that case, maybe you want to bring just one bottle and set a trap for him. This is a game with some player psychology.

I would say Soda Smugglers is indeed more streamlined thanSheriff of Nottingham. However I didn’t find Sheriff of Nottingham complicated. I thought it worked perfectly fine. Soda Smugglers is even easier to teach. This will work well with casual gamers and non gamers.