Ready for take-off? Take it easy, not so fast, captain! The passengers haven't boarded the plane yet! Welcome to the country's busiest airport. You work at the airline's check-in desk and your job is to make sure that every passenger gets a seat.
This is quite a challenge because some passengers want to sit by the window and others prefer traveling in a group.
What's more, the plane is overbooked: there are more passengers than there are seats... Will you be the one who can make the most passengers happy?
Components
- Departure hall (game board)
- 4 service desks
- 4 double-sided aeroplanes
- 4 aircraft steps
- 81 passenger cards
- 15 event cards
- 24 dinner vouchers
- 150 passengers
- 1 control tower
- 1 baggage carousel
- 1 winner's badge
- 8 wooden cubes in 4 colors
- Instructions
- 4 checklists
Object of the Game
To score the most points for your airline by seating as many of the passengers in the smartest ways possible.
Setup
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Put the departure hall (the game board) in the middle of the table. Fit the 4 service desks onto the edges of the departure hall.
If you're playing with fewer than 4 players, turn over any unused service desks and fit them onto the departure hall to indicate that they are closed. Those colors will not be playing.
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Put all passengers and the winner's badge next to the departure hall. Only two players in the game or you prefer to play solo? Remove 10 passengers of each color.
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Give each player an aircraft cabin (player's board showing the cabin layout), one that matches the color of their nearest service desk. The player's board has two sides: one side with three seating areas for games with 1-3 players, one side with two seating areas for 4-player games.
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Each player puts their aircraft steps next to their own plane. This is where the passengers who are overbooked will wait.
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Each player also has a checklist. This explains which combinations score points at the end of the game, so keep it handy.
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Put the baggage carousel (score card) next to the departure hall.
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Piece the control tower together. Use it to indicate which player is going to start the game.
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Each player gets 6 dinner vouchers and puts them on their own service desk.
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Shuffle the deck of passenger cards and place the deck face down on the departure hall, at the designated spot in front of the baggage x-ray area.
Then turn the top 4 passenger cards over and lay them face-up on the four waiting areas in the departure hall. We recommend that beginners leave the extra difficult cards aside (the ones that are black on the reverse side) until they have played a few times.
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Option for frequent flyers: shuffle the event cards and put one or two cards on the table face-up, so all players can see them. The rules for advanced players appear at the end.
Passengers
Travelers all have their own preferences. As a service desk operator, keep this in mind when arranging the seating plan! Meet your passengers:
Red: Passengers who are in love and want to be seated as a couple.
White: Children who are not allowed to travel alone.
Blue: Rugby players traveling as a team. The larger the number of blue rugby players seated together, the better it is for team spirit.
Yellow: Friends traveling together. The larger the number of yellow friends seated together, the happier the group will be.
Green: Senior citizens traveling as a group. The larger the number of green seniors seated together, the more enjoyable their trip.
Game Play
Players take it in turns to select a passenger card and seat their passengers as shown on the card. The game ends when all passengers of one color have been seated.
The final round is completed so that every player has had an equal number of turns. Scores are counted to determine the winner.
Starting the Game
The player who was the last to step off a plane gets to go first. Place the control tower next to that player so that everyone knows who started the round.
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On your turn, choose a passenger card. You can choose the one nearest the gate for free, or you can skip cards. Place a dinner voucher on every skipped card.
If there are already dinner vouchers lying on your chosen card, you get to keep the vouchers. These dinner vouchers cannot be used to skip other cards during the same turn.
You can only use dinner vouchers already in your possession to skip cards.
For example: if you decide to take the fourth card, put a dinner voucher on the first three cards, as shown below.
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Next, take passenger tokens from the pile next to the departure hall. These must be of the same color as the colors of the suitcases displayed on your chosen passenger card, for example 1 white, 1 red and 2 blue passengers.
Arrange these passengers in the seats in your plane (see 'Seating Passengers' below).
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Place the used passenger card face-up on the table next to your plane. It's now the turn of the next player (to your left).
Seating Passengers
The suitcases on the passenger card indicate how the passengers must be seated in the plane.
Passenger cards can be rotated in any direction, but they must not be mirrored.
All passengers must get a seat as shown on the passenger card. If this results in an overlap with previously placed passengers, remove the previously placed passengers. Place these overbooked passengers on the aircraft steps next to your own plane.
 1-3 players: plane with 3 seating areas |
 4 players: plane with 2 seating areas |
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The passengers shown on the card must all fit into ONE seating area of the plane. This means that passengers are not allowed to sit in the aisles and that passengers must not cross the aisles to sit in a different section of the plane.
Remember: for 1-3 players there are 3 seating areas with an aisle in between, and for 4 players there are 2 seating areas with an aisle in between.
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There are also some passenger cards that show a seating preference.
Players can use these to decide whether they want their passengers to sit by the window, by the aisle or in the middle of a row.
For these cards, it is not necessary for all passengers to be seated in the same seating area.
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The empty boxes between the suitcases on the passenger cards are only there as an aid for seating the passengers and show how passengers have to sit relative to each other. These seats may be empty or occupied.
The 3 remaining passenger cards in the departure hall will shift one place towards the gate, where possible, together with any dinner vouchers.
Pick a new card from the deck and place it face-up on the empty spot immediately behind the baggage x-ray area. It is now the next player's turn.
Extra Difficult Cards
Players can choose to use the extra difficult cards, in addition to the normal passenger cards.
The passengers on these cards that are black on the reverse side are difficult to please, even for experienced players.
It may prove quite difficult to seat these passengers! Fancy a challenge? Then shuffle these 9 cards along with the normal passenger cards before the game begins.
Event Cards
The event cards are also designed for players who want something more challenging.
Shuffle all event cards and put 1 or 2 face-up on the table (depending on what the players have agreed in advance).
These cards give you several ways to score bonus points, on top of the existing rules.
Adorable Kids: +4 points for every surrounded child that is not sitting by the window, the aisle, or in the first or last row of the seating area.
Buddy Time: +5 points for every seating area in which 1 blue, 1 green and 1 yellow group of at least 3 passengers are sitting.
Corner Seats: +6 points if there is one passenger of a different color sitting in each far corner of the aeroplane.
Couples Retreat: +4 points for each seating area in which at least 3 red couples are sitting.
Emergency Exit Assistance: +10 points if the middle horizontal row is completely occupied across the full breadth of the aeroplane.
Family Vacation: +3 points for every red couple of which 1 person is seated adjacent to a child that is surrounded.
Full Flight: +4 points for each fully booked vertical row (so without empty seats) across the whole length of the aeroplane.
Kids Gone Wild: -2 points for each child that is not surrounded.
Lonely Christmas: -3 points for each red passenger that travels alone, that's a red passenger who is not seated adjacent to another red passenger.
Low Season Blues: +5 points for the player or players with the most adjacent empty seats.
Beautiful Sunset: +1 point per 2 fully booked window seats. (Count all fully booked window seats and divide by 2).
Missing Friends: +5 points for every blue, green or yellow group, consisting of 1, 2 or 3 group members of the same color.
School Holidays: +4 points for each seating area in which at least 3 surrounded children are sitting.
Three's Company: +3 points for each group (blue, green or yellow) that consists of exactly 3 passengers of the same color.
Like Sardines: +3 points per 9 occupied seats in a block of 3 x 3.
End of the Game
The game ends during the round when one or more passenger types runs out. Keep playing until all players have had an equal number of turns.
If you pick up a card in this last round with a passenger type that has run out, ignore this passenger.
It's also possible, for example, that the passenger card indicates that two green passengers should be seated, but there is only one left. In this case you can decide which passenger to seat and which to ignore.
Scoring Points
The plane has reached its destination. High time to decide who the winner is!
Use the baggage carousel and two wooden cubes (of the same color as your service desk) to tot up your score. Put the first cube on the number 0 and the second cube next to the baggage carousel.
Count the units up to 19 with the first cube, then use the second cube to tally scores in the 20s, 40s and so on.
In this game you only score points when the required passengers are seated side by side in the right way. Side by side seats can be seats that are directly adjacent in front of, behind or next to each other in a seating area (diagonal does not count).
Seats that are separated by an aisle are not side by side.
There are strict rules regarding children. Children score points when they are surrounded by adult passengers seated next to them within a seating area. Study these examples:
Here's how to score - use the checklist to help you:
+5 points for every couple of 2 passengers in love in adjacent seats (2 red passengers in front of, behind or next to each other).
Three's a crowd: 0 points for 3 or more passengers in love seated in adjacent seats!+3 points or every surrounded child.
+1 point for every passenger in the player's largest blue rugby team (blue passengers sitting in front of, behind or next to each other).
Double the points if your rugby team is larger than, or just as large as the largest blue rugby team of the other players.+1 point for every passenger in the player's largest yellow group of friends (yellow passengers sitting in front of, behind or next to each other). Double the points if your group is larger than, or just as large as the largest yellow group of friends of the other players.
+1 point for every passenger in the player's largest group of senior citizens (green passengers sitting in front of, behind or next to each other). Double the points if your group is larger than, or just as large as the largest green group of senior citizens of the other players.
+1 point per set of 2 remaining dinner vouchers. 2 vouchers score 1 point, 3 vouchers score 1 point, 4 vouchers score 2 points and so on.
-2 points for every overbooked passenger (on the aircraft steps).
-2 points for the player (or players) with the most overbooked passengers.
-1 point for every empty seat.
The player with the highest number of points is the best service desk operator and wins the coveted winner's badge!
Game Variants for Frequent Flyers
If you're a frequent flyer who has played the game a number of times, play a slightly more challenging game using the symbols in the corner of the passenger cards, or using the extra difficult cards and/or the event cards.
Players can choose to play with one or more of these game variants.
We recommend you don't try applying these game variants when you play the game for the first time.
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