Nasi Lemak: The Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
• Turn Overview
• Ingredients
• Moves
  • 1. Make Nasi Lemak
  • 2. Trade
  • 3. Play Action Card(s)
    • Wholesaler / Pemborong
    • Supplier / Pembekal
    • Mak Cik Nasi Lemak
    • Officer / Pegawai
    • Thief / Pencuri
    • Fly / Lalat
    • Fan / Kipas
    • Fly Swatter / Pemukul Lalat
• Ending the Game

Game Components

• 15 Nasi Lemak cards (golden back)
  • 8 Nasi Lemak cards showing one pack illustration
  • 7 Nasi Lemak cards showing two pack illustrations
• 50 Ingredient cards (banana leaf back)
  • 10 Rice / Nasi
  • 10 Egg / Telur
  • 10 Peanuts / Kacang
  • 10 Anchovies Sambal / Sambal Bilis
  • 10 Cucumber / Timun
• 25 Action cards (banana leaf back)
  • 3 Officer / Pegawai
  • 3 Thief / Pencuri
  • 3 Supplier / Pembekal
  • 3 Wholesaler / Pemborong
  • 3 Mak Cik Nasi Lemak
  • 3 Fan / Kipas
  • 5 Fly / Lalat
  • 2 Fly Swatter / Pemukul Lalat

The Nasi Lemak cards might have one or two illustrations of the Nasi Lemak packs, which represents the number of Nasi Lemak the player owns.

Game Setup

1. All 15 Nasi Lemak cards (golden back) are shuffled and placed at the centre with the back of the cards facing up in a single stack.

   This is the Nasi Lemak pile. All the other Ingredient and Action cards (banana leaf back) are shuffled together and dealt 7 cards at random to every player with the back facing up.

2. The remaining cards are placed at the centre as a separate stack. This will be the draw pile.

Turn Overview

The last person who ate Nasi Lemak goes first and the turn goes clockwise.

During a player's turn, they draw two cards from the draw pile and can make up to three moves as stated below (drawing two cards initially is not a move):

1. Make Nasi Lemak
2. Trade ingredients
3. Play action card(s)

Each player can make three moves in any order and/or combination. Players can play up to 2 or 3 action cards per turn and each action card is considered as a move. Once the draw pile depletes, the discard pile is reshuffled and becomes the draw pile.

Ingredients

To make a Nasi Lemak, players have to collect one card of each ingredient and discard them.

• Rice / Nasi
• Egg / Telur
• Peanuts / Kacang
• Anchovies Sambal / Sambal Bilis
• Cucumber / Timun

Moves

1. Make Nasi Lemak

Once a player has collected all the 5 necessary ingredients, they discard them and take the topmost card on the Nasi Lemak pile.

The Nasi Lemak cards might have one or two illustrations of the Nasi Lemak packs which represents the number of Nasi Lemak the player owns.

Example: three Nasi Lemak cards showing 1, 2 and 1 pack illustrations make 4 Nasi Lemak.

After making a Nasi Lemak, the card has to be placed face down in front of the player without revealing the number of Nasi Lemak on that card. If a player has more than one Nasi Lemak cards, they must be placed adjacent to each other and NOT stacked on top of each other.

Illustration: two Nasi Lemak cards overlapping on top of each other are marked with a cross (invalid); Nasi Lemak cards placed side by side are marked with a tick (valid).

2. Trade

Players can negotiate with each other to trade cards on hand during their turn and the cards that can be traded are as listed below:

• All ingredient cards
• Fly swatter
• Fan

Other ACTION cards CANNOT be traded.

The terms of trade are completely up to the players making the deal. The negotiation can only be initiated by the player who is making the move.

For example, during Player A's turn, Player B and C are not allowed to trade among each other.

Each successful trade is considered as a move. For example, if Player A makes a deal with Player C to trade their Cucumber card for a Peanut card and Player C accepts the deal, they exchange cards and it is considered a successful trade, thus Player A has made a move. But if Player C declines to make the trade, the move is invalid.

3. Play Action Card(s)

Action cards can be used as a move during players' turns and each action is considered as a separate move. The function of each of the action cards are as described below:

Wholesaler / Pemborong

Allows the player to reveal the top 3 cards from the draw pile and keep ONLY the ingredient cards among the 3.

The action cards must be discarded in the discard pile.

Supplier / Pembekal

Allows the player to announce an ingredient of their liking, and all the other players must give them all of the announced ingredient in their possession. The player cannot change the type of ingredient once it has been announced.

For example, if Player A announces Peanut, all other players must give them all the Peanut cards they have. If none of the other players have Peanut on hand, Player A CANNOT announce a new ingredient.

Mak Cik Nasi Lemak

Allows the player to make a Nasi Lemak with only 3 different ingredients instead of the usual 5. When a player plays this card, they discard 3 ingredients together with Mak Cik Nasi Lemak card and makes a Nasi Lemak.

Officer / Pegawai

Allows the player to examine all the cards on hand from any ONE other player and take 2 cards for themselves.

For example, if Player A plays this card and they choose Player C, Player C must reveal the cards on hand ONLY to Player A. Player A can then pick any 2 cards from Player C's hands.

Thief / Pencuri

Allows the player to steal one random card from the hands of ALL other players. When Player A plays this card, the other players present their cards with the back facing Player A for them to steal.

Note: The Officer and Thief are not allowed to examine and take Nasi Lemak cards.

Fly / Lalat

Can be placed on any one of the Nasi Lemak cards in front of any of the opponent. The Nasi Lemak card that has a Fly on it is considered invalid until the fly is removed.

Refer to illustration below: a Nasi Lemak card with a Fly on it is marked invalid; Nasi Lemak cards without a Fly are marked valid.

Fan / Kipas

Allows the player to fan/chase ONE Fly away to another player.

For example, If Player A has a Fly placed on any one of their Nasi Lemak cards, they can use the Fan during their turn to fan/chase the Fly away and place it on another player's Nasi Lemak card.

Fly Swatter / Pemukul Lalat

Allows the player to swat/kill ONE Fly on their Nasi Lemak card and send the Fly to the discard pile.

Ending the Game

The game ends when any player manages to make 5 Nasi Lemak cumulatively during their turn. As mentioned earlier, any Nasi Lemak card with a Fly on it is not counted.

An alternative way to end the game is to play the round until all of the cards in the Nasi Lemak pile depletes. In this case, the player with the most number of Nasi Lemak (without Fly) is the winner. In the case of a tie between two or more players, the player with the most number of Nasi Lemak cards between them wins.