Panda Royale: Review
Information:
Player Age: 8+
Player Count: 2 - 10 Players
BGG Weight: 1.18
Publisher: Last Night Games
Time to Play: 20 - 30 Minutes
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Introduction:
Panda Royale is a roll and write game that instead of focusing on player agency when using a dice the player agency comes in selecting dice. With over 100 dice in the game this is the most dice chucking roll and write game I can think of. Through ten rounds players are going to draft die into their engine in the attempt to score the most points each round. The hook to this is there's a lot of dice that all score differently and contain different die values.
Dice Anatomy:
Yellow Die:
Each player will start with a yellow d6. These die score by the sum of their values for each player each round. The benefit of them is the dice are drafted each round starting with the player with the largest yellow sum continuing to the player with the lowest yellow sum. For example the player with two dice rolling a sum of 10 will draft first.
There are also D8 yellow dice on the bag to increase a player's odds of drafting first.
Blue Die:
The blue dice appear in D6, D8 and D12. To score the blue dice it is the sum of the values. The trick with the blue die is there are several glitter blue dice with gold numbers in the bag. If the player has one of these dice the value for all blue dice is multiplied by two. This only applies once no matter how many glitter blue dice the player has.
Purple Die:
The purple die comes in D8 and D12. The sum of the dice are totaled and multiplied by two for scoring.
Red Die:
The red dice appear in D6 and D8. There are black and white numbers on these dice. The black is negative points and the white are positive points. The dice is split in half of white and black numbers with the lower values being negative values.
These dice are scored by totalling the positive and negative points together, then multiplying by the amount of red die rolled by the player. For example below is (8 - 1 - 2) * 3 dice = 15 points.
Clear Die:
The clear dice are only in D6 and score based on the sum of their value. Their ability is at the end of the round they can be swapped for another player's die, an involuntary trade.
Green Die:
The green die will score based on the sum of die values. However they are the highest value dice at a D20.
Pink Die:
The pink die is a pity die, there will be a set amount of pink die in each game. This is a D12 and scores based on the value that is rolled. Starting with the lowest scoring player for the round and continuing up each of these players will gain one pink die for the next round until the dice are depleted.
Setup:
- In the mini bag store all yellow D6 and pink dice.
- Give each player a yellow D6 and include pink dice in the game based on player count. 2 - 3 one dice, 4 - 6 two dice, 7 - 9 three dice and 10 players four pink dice.
- The leftover yellow and pink die from this small bag are placed back in the bag they won't be used in this game.
How to Play:
The gameplay flows very well. There are ten rounds to a game. Each round consists of rolling/ scoring, claim the pity die, trading dice, drafting a die. In the last round of the game only rolling/scoring is achieved.
At the start of each round players will roll their dice simultaneously then score on the sheet based on how each die scores.
All pink dice will be gathered. Then starting with the player that achieved the lowest score for the round. Players will receive one pity die (pink) until all pink dice are dealt. Beginning with the player left to the panda token each player with a clear die can trade any or none of their clear dice for other players, the only rule is players cannot take pink dice. The player that was traded (stolen from) will now receive the clear dice, but will not be able to use them to trade to the next round. The next player available will now trade going in clockwise order.
The dice being drafted will be drawn out of the bag until there are dice equal to the player count plus one. Starting with the player with the yellow sum and continuing not in clockwise order but in order of players yellow sum for the round. Players will select and keep one of these dice. The last dice will simply return back into the bag. The game will end once all ten rounds are played. Then each player will total the scores of each round and the highest score is the winner.
Final Thoughts:
- Already has two expansions that look to open up the player agency even further adding the next layer of decisions for players.
- Easy to remember scoring with luck mitigation spread across the amount of dice in the bag and the types of dice sizes that are contained.
- This is built in a way to allow players to mitigate luck, but it is a luck game which some players may not enjoy.
Panda Royale is a unique roll and write, instead of giving players agency on how they use a die to fill their sheet, instead pand Royale is focused on how players build their dice horde. The game starts off with purely yellow dice, as the game progresses players will be adding new dice to their engine doubling down on certain strategies. Such as always gaining first pick of dice by focusing on having the highest yellow value, focusing largely on a gambling mechanism by gaining the red dice, or hoping the luck gods like you by simply gaining a lot of high value dice like the green dice (even though that strategy still leads me to rolling low). This isn't a high strategy game, it is a luck focused filler, but that is where the fun of the game is at. This is a perfect game to wind down the night, when your brain is already burnt and swollen, Panda Royale contains just the right amount of choices and production quality to make for a fun roll and write that starts with low choices but feels satisfying when a player's dice horde begins to score well based on the strategy they have built towards to mitigate the luck.
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