Rainbow

The Game

Rainbow is a clever card game from Japan by Mito Sazuki. What’s most special about it is that cards which you play in one round to compete for prizes in turn become the prizes in the following round. If you play powerful (i.e. high) cards to win lucrative prizes in the current round, beware they themselves will become lucrative prizes next round. Do you still have strong cards to compete for them next round? Are you offering too-good prizes to your opponents? 

Cards in the game are numbered 1 to 6. At the start of the game, most cards are dealt out to all players. The same number of cards as the player count are laid out at the centre of the table to become the prize pool. Every round, you play cards to fight for these prizes. The most powerful combo gets the highest prize, the second most powerful gets the next highest, and so on. There are only two types of combos, sets and runs. A set means multiple cards of the same value. A run means cards in sequence. You can play singles too. A single is both a set and a run, albeit with just one card. The start player of a round determines the combo type. If a single is played then it can still be any combo. The type is not committed yet. Once anyone plays a set or run with at least two cards, subsequent card plays must be of the same type (or singles). The strength of a combo is first determined by the number of cards and then by the card value. 

You must play a combo, even if it is weak. At least you must play a single. Once everyone has played, you start claiming prizes beginning with the player who played the strongest combo. After prizes have been claimed, cards played in the current turn are grouped by their values and in pairs if possible. You try to form pairs of 6’s, pairs of 5’s, pairs of 4’s and eventually you’ll have singles. These become the prizes for the next round. This means a prize can be worth up to 12 points (two 6’s). There will only be as many prizes as there are players. If you have too many prizes you simply discard them. The prizes you win don’t go to your hand. They go to your prize pile. 

The game goes on until at least 2 players have used up their cards. If you are first to run out of cards, you sit out until the game ends. The rest continue to play until the end condition is reached and they continue to score points till then. 

The Play

This is a game about winning the most points with the least effort. You don’t always need to “win” a round, as in playing the strongest combo. If the values of the prizes are about the same, it is probably better to conserve your resources. You need to do a little bit of planning. If you have many high cards, make sure you win some of them and they don’t all become your opponents’ prizes. The game end dynamic is also interesting. You need to think carefully when to use up your cards. Being first to go out and having to sit out for many rounds while others continue to play and score will be disastrous. When you are the player who can trigger game end, if you feel you are leading you’d want to end the game immediately and not let others have more scoring opportunities. 

One thing we tried to do in our game was to stay in play for as long as we could. That meant trying not to play big combos so that our cards lasted longer. We tried to make many small wins. We played the efficiency game. Sigh, these serious gamers are boring people. Where’s the drama? I realise small cards can be good too. If you use four 1’s to win a big prize, you are only making at most two sets of 2 points for the next round. The only drawback is playing four cards means depleting your hand faster. 

The Thoughts

Rainbow is a smart design. Certainly something a little different. It is short and quick, but not exactly a casual / silly type of game. There is some strategy to playing well. You need to respond to how your opponents play. Casual gamers can still handle this. Experienced gamers will find this an interesting challenge too. Despite the cute art, there is a certain seriousness to this game. This is essentially an abstract card game. At least I don’t get the unicorn theme at all. And I don’t mind that. 

Panda Panda

The Game

This is a design from Japanese designer Kaya Miyano, who is most known for Trio / Nana. He also designed Trick & Snipers. When I looked him up, I found that I have played an older game he designed with another designer - Zombie Tower 3D. I thought that was quite clever. The first edition of Panda Panda was released in Japan in 2023, and it was named Cat Poker. The international edition Panda Panda was released only shortly after the original, in 2024. 

Panda Panda is a simple and short card game. Every round, you race to be first to collect a winning combo. Whoever achieves that scores a point. You need to score two points to win the game. The cards in the game are labelled from A to G. A's are the most common. There are 10 A's in the game. The G is the rarest card. There is only one G in the deck. Here are the winning combos: 

To make a winning combo, you must have the exact number of cards, no more, no less. For example you want to make the C and E combo. That's a 2-card combo. You can't have more than 2 cards. If you do, you need to spend turns discarding the surplus cards. A turn is super simple. You either take a card or discard a card. When taking a card, you may draw from the common draw deck, or take the top card from the discard pile of any player. Yes, every player has his own discard pile. What this means is if someone wants a card you discard, chances are he will be able to get it, because that top card in your discard pile will not be covered by anyone else's card. It takes a full round before you can cover it with another discarded card. 

If you choose to discard a card on your turn, you simply place it face-up at the top of your discard pile. If you discard an A (the most common card), this triggers a special action. Everyone must pass a card to the left. This is an important mechanism. This can really mess up someone's plan. It is not easy to collect a winning combo, and an untimely (or timely!) A being discarded can really screw someone's plan. 

When you make a winning combo, whether by taking the last card you need, or discarding the last extra card you don't need, you don't score immediately. You still need to wait a full round until the start of your next turn. This is always a nerve-racking moment, because if anyone discards an A, you will be forced to break your combo. During the game if you see anyone getting cocky, you may want do discard an A to see whether you'd destroy his plans. One rule about A's - if the top card of a discard pile is an A, you can't take it. 

The Play

This is a quirky little game which I can't quite categorise. I guess you can call this a set collection game. It is brisk, and it'll work well as a filler for game night. The game is simple and doesn't require deep thinking, but if you do think about it, there are some tactics you can consider. When you pay attention to the cards others are discarding, you may be able to guess which combos they are making, or which ones they are not making. If anyone takes a card from another player's discard pile, that's a big hint too. Keeping some A's in hand is a good tactic. If you sense someone might be winning, discarding an A can severely delay him. It's always a pleasure to hear someone groan when you discard an A. 

One general strategy I use is to just keep drawing cards in the early game, and then depending on the cards I have, decide which combo to go for, and then start discarding. I'm not sure whether this is an optimal way to play. It seems sensible. When an A is discarded and everyone needs to pass a card, what you get from your neighbour might be a useful clue. 

I mention several tactics here, but you don't really need to think so much to enjoy this game. You can choose to focus on your own combo and just enjoy the race to make a winning combo. This is a light and casual game. 

The Thoughts

Playing Panda Panda was a refreshing experience. It is something a little different. It'll work well with non-gamers and casual gamers. This is the kind of game you can play while chatting. For gamers, this is something novel worth trying out.