The Scent of Jealousy

In the refined but ruthless world of perfumery, rival artisans compete for fame while trying to avoid disgrace and forced retirement. What begins as the pursuit of a perfect fragrance quickly turns into an ugly struggle of sabotage, envy, and calculated failure, where creating a pleasant scent may bring acclaim, but pushing another perfumer into ruin may be even more satisfying.

The Scent of Jealousy is a trick-taking game with burst elements, card passing, and set collection scoring. Players use perfume cards in four suits/colors, following trick-taking rules where the highest card of the led suit wins, while collected cards remain public. At the end of each round, players check whether their collected cards create a successful blend or cause a burst: winning too many cards or collecting too many different kinds of scent cards can trigger negative scoring. Since captured card sets may reduce points, players must decide when to win, when to lose, and when to force dangerous cards onto opponents through passing and trick play. The game ends when a player reaches enough fame or drops low enough into retirement, and the highest score becomes the “Excellent Perfumer.”