Components
- 55 Regular Pandas
- 4 Big Panda
- 4 Bamboo cards
- Instructions
Object of the Game
Be the last Panda player to stay awake. Pandas who score 21 twice become Pooped Pandas and lose the game. That's right... points are bad!
Game Play
The role of dealer rotates clockwise, starting with the player wearing the most black and white. Deal 7 cards to each player. Place the remaining deck of cards off to one side.
A hand consists of a series of 7 'tricks', or as we prefer to call it, 'Panda Piles'! After each hand, one player will score positive points, which are bad.
In Panda Head, your primary objective is to NOT win the seventh (last) Pile as that will cause you to collect points.
Start the first Panda Pile! The player left of the dealer chooses one of his 7 cards and places it face up in the middle of the table.
Now, in clockwise order, each other player must choose one of the following actions:
Play a Panda equal to or higher than the highest Panda played so far on the Pile.
Play their lowest Panda.
Once everyone has played one Panda, the Pile is complete and the winner is the player who played the highest Panda. If there is a tie for highest Panda, the winner is the last to play the highest Panda. The cards are set aside and the winner starts the next Pile.
Scoring
The first six Piles have no effect on score. Only the LAST Pile scores points. Remember those? Those are bad.
The winner of the last trick is actually the loser and will score points equal to all the cards played on that pile. So remember to get rid of those high- numbered Pandas!
Poor Panda Rule
If there is a tie on the last Pile, the last player to play the highest Panda scores points as usual. However, every other player who played the same number gets negative points equal to that number. No player may go below zero.
After scoring, the next dealer shuffles the deck and deals 7 cards to each player. Play repeats as described above.
Special Cards
Big Panda - If you lead (start a Pile) with a Big Panda, discard it and use the top card from the deck instead.
If the top card is a Big Panda or a Bamboo, discard it and use the next one.
If you follow a card played with a Big Panda, it counts as one higher than the highest Panda played so far in the Pile.
Bamboo - You may play a Bamboo card along with a regular Panda. The Bamboo card is a 'power snack' that adds 2 to the number of the Panda played. After playing Bamboo, draw a replacement card from the deck immediately.
Note - You may not play a Bamboo card by itself unless your hand contains nothing but Bamboo cards. If you are forced to play one by itself, discard it and use only the top card from the deck instead.
End Game Scoring
When a player's score goes above 21 for the first time, that player becomes a Drowsy Panda.
Reduce their score to match the next highest score in the game. If a Drowsy Panda goes over 21, they become a Pooped Panda and is out of the game. When all but one Panda is pooped, we have a winner!
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