Panda Panda
Designed by: Kaya Miyano
Panda Panda is a short and silly thing of collecting a specific set to win a round: win two rounds, and you also win the game.
The cards are made up of letters: there are several As, a few less B’s, a smattering of Cs and so on up to a single G. Everyone is dealt five cards and a player aid each and each turn you simply pick up a card and discard a card. Your goal is to start a turn with a winning hand, in which case you shout Panda panda! and flip your player aid card over to show you’re halfway to winning – a new round begins.
When you pick up a card it can be from either the deck or any other player’s discard pile (but not your own). You always discard to your own pile. If anyone discards an A, all players must pass a card from their hand to their left. This can be a horrible moment if you were poised to win!
A winning hand can be various different things – see player aid in the pictures above – and note that it can contain as many as seven and as few as two cards! So there’s an unwitting balance being struck between discarding your way to a win and gifting the other players options for their hands as well.
Sam says
Rainbow is entertaining, but whilst not a total lottery it can sometimes feel pretty close to it, and because players aren’t directly interacting (beyond the enforced trading of cards that the A’s prompt) it can feel a little like the game is happening to you at times, even when you win. But really, this is a minor reservations because Panda Panda isn’t trying to be anything beyond an entertaining and diverting 15 minutes, so whilst it’s a bit ho-hum for my tastes, I’d add positively that it’s a pleasant ho-hum that happens at a nice breezy pace and wraps up quickly. I’ve played it a few times and wouldn’t object to another few.
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Take That!
The only occasional bit of sabotage is often inadvertent - the appearance of those A's, which are sometimes helpful anyway.
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Fidget Factor!
Barely there
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Brain Burn!
It's largely a game of luck: you can watch what others are doing, but have precious little control
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Again Again!
It's a harmless enough fifteen minutes
