How to play Airport Madness Manager

In a Nutshell

Players assign flights to gates to reduce the distance passengers need to get to their connecting flight.

Passengers arrive at the airport with a certain stress level, calm down, and rush to their gate before their flight departs.

Dice represent passengers, and the number shown is their stress level. The higher the stress, the faster they move, but the less happy they are.

The goal of the game is to get all passengers to their flight on time, as fast as possible.

(Step by Step with photos can be found at the bottom of the page)

Setup Instructions

1. Set the Airport Map in front of you.
2. Place the Gate Tokens on the side of the Airport Map.
3. For each Gate Token, randomly pick and roll 6 Passenger Dice. Sort them from highest to lowest and set them next to the token.
4. From each set of 6 dice, move the dice that match the Gate Token color to the Check-in Area on the map..
5. Place the Timekeeping Token on the first space called Red Flight Landed.

Detailed Rules

Planning Phase

• Take each Gate Token and place it on any available Gate Space on the Airport Map to reduce the distance passengers need to travel to catch their connecting flight.
• Place the associated Passenger Dice next to their Gate Token, outside the Airport Map. Passengers are inside their airplane waiting to deboard.

Arrival Phase

• Flights arrive at the airport, the timekeeper sheet shows which flight arrives at each step. 
• Each passenger leaves the airplane through the gate, moves the number of spaces marked on the die, then resets to 1.
  
• The timekeeping token moves to the next step after all passengers have moved and reset to 1.

Check-in Phase

• Passengers move from the check-in toward their flights, moving the number of spaces shown on their die, then reset to 1 after moving.
• Note that on the base game (KLIA2 Edition) since the stress level shows 1, passengers move again by one space and are set to 2.

Connecting Phase

• At each timekeeping step, after movement, increase the stress level by 1.
• For every step on the timekeeping sheet, players move each passenger the number of spaces shown and increase their stress level by 1 after moving.
  • Stress increases even if the passenger was unable to move.
• When a passenger reaches the gate indicator token of their color, they board the airplane and are removed from the board. Their stress level is kept for scoring.
• If a die is forgotten and later discovered with a lower stress level, the stress level is set to the current level without granting additional movement.

Departure Wave

• Gates close and flights depart.
• Flights depart at the end of the step indicated, meaning passengers get to finish moving first.
• Note that after the stress level 6, and passenger move, the stress level reduces to 3 as passenger become too tired to run.
• Flights can be delayed by one step if a passenger or more are not onboard ; players get 10 penalty points for this.
• Flight depart at most one step delayed; with or without all passengers. Players get 20 penalty points for each passenger left behind.
• At the end of the game, players count the sum of all stress levels as a penalty and track their performance — lower is better. (see the online helper to keep score)
  

Icons on the Map

• Check-in Desks: Where passengers arrive for check-in.
• Passport Control Counters: Pax must stop here, no matter how many space their stress level would have allowed. They stop and increase their stress level. They can only move on the next round.
• Boarding Gates: Passengers of the same color can enter their gate and are considered boarded. Other passengers are not allowed to walk across a gate tile.

F.A.Q.

• How many dice can be placed on each space?
  Only 1 die per space.
• Can passengers move through a space occupied by another passenger?
  No, a space must be empty for a passenger to move into it.
• How do passengers move based on the die roll?
  Passengers must move exactly the number of spaces shown. If unable to move in any direction, passenger remains in place but stress still increases.
• Can passengers pause their movement?
  No, movement must be completed in one go.
• Does the gate identification token count as a space?
  No, it cannot be walked over.
• What happens if passengers cannot leave the gate?
  They remain on the airplane, reducing their stress level to 1. The same applies to the check-in area.

Additional Rules

• Co-op: Players can chose colors to manage and only move the dice of the colors assigned to them. Players should play in turns, one die at a time
• Timer: Players can time each step to 2 minutes.
• Airport Buggy: Between each phase, you can call an airport buggy to move 1 passenger by up to 6 spaces and drop them there. Buggy ignores other passengers but cannot skip Passport Control.
• KLIA2 Edition: The red flight is a domestic flight and is always assigned to gate J which is the only domestic gate

Airport Insights

• Gate Management: Airlines typically lease gates at airports and are responsible for assigning them to their flights. This allows them to optimize connections for passengers and manage schedules efficiently. Gate assignments are constrained by terminal capacity (check-in, bags) and safety regulations.
• Passenger Handling: The staff responsible for assisting passengers in transit are usually airline employees or subcontracted ground handling agents. 
• Airport Management: Airports' management focus primarily on infrastructure, planning, and oversight. While they provide the space and regulate operations, most services—including baggage handling, retail, and others—are managed by subcontracted companies selected by the airport.

Online Helper

You can find an online timer and point counter here: boarding-manager

Step by Step

Set up

Mix all dice together.

Set the 4 colored gate tokens beside the board. 

For each gate, draw 6 dice randomly, then roll them.  Place the dice next to their gate token beside the board.

Remove the color that matches the gate token and place them at the check-in area. (for example remove all yellow dice associated with the yellow gate, etc ...)

Place each gate token on one Gate icon on the board. Place the dice associated with the date next to it outside the board. Each dice is a passenger coming from a flight and going to the flight that matches their color.

Chose the gates to minimize the distance between the most common connection.

Place the time marker on the first space called "Red Landed".

Following the time shown by the time marker, each flight arrives in sequence.

Gameplay

Move the passengers by the number of spaces shown by the die and turn them to 1 after:

All flights arive in sequence, move the dice by the number of space shown on them, then turn them to 1.

When check in starts, move all the dice from the check-in area onto the board, turn them to 1 then move all dice by 1 and turn them to 2. Note that passenger have to stop at the passport control tile, no matter how far they could have gone otherwise.

Move the time marker by 1 space and move all the Dice with the number shown as the stress level by the number of space equal to the stress level.

 

The goal is to get passengers onto their flights before the gate closes: