Red Panda Surprise: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Card Shedding, Filler, Simultaneous Play
Player Age: 8+
Player Count: 1 - 7Game Designer: Dylan CoyleGame Artist: Dylan CoylePublisher: Charming Games CollectiveTime to Play: 5 - 20 Minutes
Year Published: 2026
Player Age: 8+
Player Count: 1 - 7
Year Published: 2026
Introduction:
Red Panda Surprise is a card shedding game, where players are combining the sums of two cards. Players with the highest combined value played, are discarding their cards. Everyone has mostly the same deck to shed. The catch is that whichever player plays the lowest sum gains a plus 10. When the standard set of cards only goes up to 11 this is a big sway of value.
Game Anatomy:
Number Cards:
Number Cards appear in seven sets featuring nine cards each. One for each player.
At lower player counts players will use two or three sets instead to create their deck. The sets include numbered cards from 0 to 11 appearing once each. The exception to this is there are no 4, 6 or 8 valued cards.
Swap Cards:
Every player will have one swap card in their deck. This card when played will swap this card for a random card from another player's hand. If the card swapped happens to be a swap card as well and annihilation occurs and both of these swap cards are discarded.
Secret Cards:
There are seven secret cards in the game. For each game a secret card is shuffled into a player's deck. These cards have various effects, from swapping with a card on the field or swapping with the discard pile; one card will double; another will half the number played with the card, or simply a value 13 card.
Tokens:
There are +10 tokens which will be added to the played cards of whichever player played the lowest total value.
There is also a big and small treasure chest. In a two and three player game there are two play areas each round. The small chest which works like normal and the big chest which the winner of this area will also discard one card from their hand as a bonus. Choosing which card can be a crucial decision point to best remove the middle valued cards.
Setup:
- Then shuffle one swap card and one random secret card into that deck.
- Each player draws a hand of five cards.
- Place the +10 tokens into the middle of the table.
How to Play:
Panda suprise is a quick playing cards shedding game. The goal is to run out of cards (like all games of this ilk). To do this they have to win rounds. Each round all players will play two cards from their hand face-down. The highest sum value will discard their played cards, everyone else will place their played cards to the bottom for their deck. The catch is that the lowest valued player will gain a +10 to that value which could sky rocket them into the lead or still result in their value falling flat. After each round every player draws back up to five cards. Keeping an eye out on each player's discarded cards is crucial to get into the player's head and determine their possible plays. When a player reaches three or less cards they will win.
Final Thoughts:
- Interesting head space, where either players will play the highest cards they can, or playing low cards but not too low that an additional 10 will do nothing.
- Secret and swap cards more interaction, but also adds more unpredictability.
Charming Games is starting to catch my attention more and more with their smart filler games. Doom Cat is my favourite followed by the newly reviewed Sick Days. But each of their releases has an intriguing twist to them. Red Panda Suprise kind of feels like a trick taking game mixed with simultaneous play and card shedding. Every player has the (mostly) the same deck shuffled together which gives players insight on the value range that can be played. Every player plays two cards, the highest value removes their two cards from the game everyone else places their cards back at the bottom of their deck, simple. However, the lowest value played will get an additional 10 value added to their sum. Creating an interesting flow where players are either trying to play a very high value of cards that can't be disputed or the lowest but still useful value, which will gain the benefit of the plus 10 but still be higher enough to win the round. There are secret cards and swap cards that make the numbers harder to keep track of and create higher interactions, but trying to understand what your opponents will play and outmaneuver that card play is where the game shines. This is a great filler that is perfect for the start of the end of the night.
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