allboardgames.com
Contraband box art
1950 Ranked #13,701

Contraband

Bluffing game has travelers declare luggage contents while a customs agent decides whether to inspect them. Honest searches penalize the agent, false declarations bring fines, and informants create extra suspicion.

Family Games Bluffing Card Game Theme: Smuggling

Players

3-6

Play time

Not listed

Age

7+

Complexity

1.35/5

Rating

5.91

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.3/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 3.9/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.8/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

One player takes on the role of Customs Agent (this rotates, though) while the others are all travelers who truthfully or falsely declare items in their luggage (four cards drawn from a deck of items including wine, cigars, cameras, necklaces, etc.) If the Customs Agent believes them, they simply pay a duty fee and then the next player repeats the process. If the Customs Agent does not believe the player, they may "search" the player's luggage (cards are revealed) with two results.

Read the full game description

One player takes on the role of Customs Agent (this rotates, though) while the others are all travelers who truthfully or falsely declare items in their luggage (four cards drawn from a deck of items including wine, cigars, cameras, necklaces, etc.) If the Customs Agent believes them, they simply pay a duty fee and then the next player repeats the process. If the Customs Agent does not believe the player, they may "search" the player's luggage (cards are revealed) with two results. If the player declared accurately, the Customs Agent must pay the player 200 for defamation of character. If the player declared incorrectly, he must pay the Customs Agent fines for all items in his luggage. Other players can also act as Informants and search luggage and there is also an attache case in the deck that can give someone diplomatic immunity and allow them to pass through Customs without being searched or paying duty fees. Of course one can bluff about having this in their hand, as well...

Browse all classifications

Type

1

Category

2

Family

1

Shopping

Where to buy

No verified retailer offers are available yet. The references below may still help you continue your search.

Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
No editions imported yet.

Player resources

Rulebooks, player aids, FAQs, and solo resources.

No files imported yet.

Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
3–6
Best with
4–6
Play time
20 min
Age
7+
Complexity
1.4/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
(Uncredited)

Publishers

4
Lagoon Games MB Jeux MB Spellen MB Spiele