· Absurd Bureaucracy · Inspection
Interplanetary Customs: a free document inspection game
Process alien travellers at the Mars border. Their paperwork makes no sense. Neither do the rules.
What is Interplanetary Customs?
Desk 3 at the Mars border. Glorps need humidity permits, Octavi grow an arm per trip, and the rulebook's amendments contradict its rules. Tap the line of the travel papers that breaks today's rules, or admit the traveller.
Interplanetary Customs is a free satire game at desk 3 of the Mars border. Glorps need humidity permits, Octavi grow an extra arm per trip, and nobody from the moon Phobbo may enter, except, says Amendment 8, for tourism.
Tap the line of the travel papers that breaks today's rules, or admit the traveller. The trick is the amendments: when one contradicts a rule, the amendment wins.
At a glance
- Category
- Absurd Bureaucracy
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Play time
- 6 min
- Price
- Free, in your browser, sign-up optional
How to play
- Inspect
- Tap the line that breaks a rule, or admit the traveller: +100 per right call.
- Amendments
- An amendment overrides the rule it changes.
- Three levels
- Beginner, Intermediate or Expert, picked before you play: the content and the clock change, and each level keeps its own best score.
- Satire
- Absurd and warm: every country, office, planet and form is made up, and every run ends on a real admin skill.
Scoring
+100 per right call (the broken line, or admit when nothing is broken), +10 per traveller.
Win with at least 70% right calls.
What it trains
- Careful reading
- Comparing papers against a rule list.
- Rule precedence
- Knowing that a newer amendment overrides an older rule.
Strategy and tips
- Read the amendments first
- They change exactly one rule each. Note which one.
- Check the edge cases
- A passport that expired yesterday can still count if a grace period applies.
- Count arms
- Passport and seen arms must match, unless the traveller is Octavi and the amendment applies.
Why play Interplanetary Customs?
Leases, school rules and workplace policies get updated by later notices. Knowing that the newer, more specific text wins avoids a lot of arguments.
Frequently asked questions
Is Interplanetary Customs free?
Yes. It is free and runs in your browser, with no download. Signing up is optional.
Are the rules based on a real border?
No. Every country, office, planet and form in the game is made up. The admin habits it teaches are real.
Are there difficulty levels?
Yes: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert. The content and the clock change, and each level keeps its own best score.