Panda Spin Board Game

In Panda Spin, each player attempts to be the first to rid their hand ofcards, collecting bamboo in the process to keep their pandas well fed.

In more detail, Panda Spin is a climbing game played with a special deck of“double-headed” cards. All cards start with the orange animals toward thetop. Each player receives a random wind card — each of which has a uniqueplaying condition — and a hand of eleven cards, with the remaining cardsplaced in a deck.

During the game, players lay down cards to tricks as singles, in sets, inruns, or in formations (two consecutive pairs, two consecutive triples, etc.) Ifyou're the first player in a trick, lead what you wish other than a bomb, thatis, four or more cards of the same value. In turn, players must play a highermatching set of cards, e.g. a higher three-of-a-kind on a three-of-a-kind, orpass, after which they can no longer play in a trick. (A bomb cannot be lead,but can be played on any card combination.)

When you pass, if you've played cards and all of those cards have orangeanimals at the top, flip the cards so that the blue animals are at top. Eachtime you flip a card, you change its value depending on its suit: e.g., thewater 4 becomes a pair of Qs, the wood 6 becomes a A+bamboo (and each time youplay a card with bamboo, you take a bamboo token from the reserve), the earth8 becomes a Q+panda (with you stealing a bamboo from an opponent for each pandayou play), the fire 3 becomes a 10+fire, with the fire being a value of yourchoice when played.

If you pass and the cards you've played have at least one blue animal, youdiscard all of those played cards. The winner of the trick always discards allof their played cards, then they lead to the next trick. When you play a windcard — the south wind, for example, beats a run or formation with 3+different numbers in it — you draw two cards from the deck; subsequentplayers need only beat the card combination played prior to your wind. If youplay a wind, you always discard all cards you played to the trick.

When a player runs out of cards — that is, they “show out” — theyscore bamboo equal to how many cards are held by the player with the largesthand. When all but one player have shown out, the round ends, then you shuffleall the cards (including the winds) and deal everyone a new hand. A playerimmediately wins the game when they have at least twenty bamboo — but theymust score their 20th bamboo by showing out; playing wood and panda cards scoresyou no bamboo when you have nineteen bamboo.