Games
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
When Pan Am was released back in 2020, it was easy to dismiss it as “Direct to Target Junk.” At a glance, it appeared to be “Ticket To Fly” and was published by Funko Games, who were known as purveyors of fine pop culture plastic. However, the secret sauce was Prospero Hall, who were picking up the “Good boardgames based on licensed IP's” torch that Gale Force Nine was dropping right around the same time. (Note that I said licensed IP's, not GOOD licensed IP's because, really, Pan Am?)
The goal of the game is to own the most stock in Pan Am, which feels kind of capitalistic skeevy. You want Pan Am to buy out your routes, you want to purchase Pan Am stock, you want to be the king of the also-rans when Pan Am scoops everything up. It kind of reminds me of earlier this century when Banks would open up with the hopes that a corporate monopoly would buy them out after they established a customer base. It's different that playing for mythical Victory Points.
This isn't “Ticket to Fly” because it isn't really about set collection, it's about set manipulation. This is done via the one odd “rule” found in Pan Am: Landing Rights. I have no idea why this is such a difficult rule to instantly grasp but it simply is. It's the “Wait, what?” rule of Pan Am. To claim a route, you need to have Landing Rights to both cities. This can be achieved in one of four ways:
If you have placed an airport in one of the cities.
If you have the Destination card of one of the cities in front of you. Note: This card is not discarded when you claim the route
If you discard a Destination card matching the region of one of the cities.
If you discard two Destination cards of the same region that do not match the desired region.
The manipulation aspect comes in with that you want to use these city cards multiple times in order to maximize their potential. You want to first use it to claim a route with the city on the card (thus keeping it in your hand), then use it a second time and “spend” it to claim a second route.
Pan Am is a Economic game with worker placement and auction elements. The worker's you place are called Engineers. The engineer placement uses something similar to Cyclades in that you are “bidding” on actions and, once you are outbid, you remove your engineer and place it back into your pool but are free to place it anywhere or outbid an opposing player on your next turn. I adore this delayed worker placement mechanic.
Once you place your Engineers, it is as simple as following the A,B,C,D,E printed on the board. You acquire everything you won your bid on starting with Airports, Destination Cards, Planes, Routes and, finally, Directives. You want Airports to be in hub cities with multiple paths in and out. But you also want to place it far enough away from Miami to make sure you get a decent number of turns/connections out of it before Pan Am comes calling with a shite load of cash to buy your routes. Destinations are the cards you need for landing rights. Planes come in various sizes and with various prices-larger planes are required for longer routes. Don't like your choices on your turn? Feeling a bit cash strapped? Go to the Directives space, draw a bonus card and look forward to placing your Engineer before anyone else next round.
The single winning condition for Pan Am is to have the most Pan Am stock at the end of the game. This should be super simple to track. Simply pay attention to how many Stocks each player purchases throughout the game at the end of each round and you'll almost know exactly what you need to beat them. (The “Almost” being that some end game directive cards can reward you with an additional stock or two). But, inevitably, I'll be playing along and get so wrapped up in what actions I want to take on my next turn that I'll completely forget to track who has bought what. So, every game I'll be thinking “I've got this, I've done everything I wanted, I won.” and then proceed to come in last place. And I know I'm not alone on this because players will usually then “complain” about the luck involved in Directive cards, the randomness in the round cards, or how dice are used to decide which direction Pan Am expands. But, see above, The single winning condition is to have the most Pan Am stock at the end of the game.
Instant classic gets tossed around a fair amount in the review circles but Pan Am completely deserves this title. The game always lasts seven rounds and you set this up via the Event Deck at the beginning of the game. With a variety of different cards for the event deck (a total of 28 but you only ever use Seven), you never quite know what you are in for but you do know when it will all end. And it's that mythical beast of “Easy to teach* but deep enough to keep everyone entertained”(*Landing Rights Rule non-withstanding). The player color choices are reportedly color-blind friendly but definitely ugly. On an odd note, I do love the world map. It's a nice change from the America-centric map found in most games.
I'm convinced that Pan Am is satire on the same level as Starship Troopers. Did you make a highly profitable, well-oiled airline with great reach around the globe? Congratulations! But the winning condition is to have the most Pan Am stock. And if you have to cut corners at your airline, forgo upgrading an aging fleet of planes, and buy routes you know should get snatched up by Pan Am the next round in order to spend the cash for a couple more Pan Am stocks...I did mention capitalistic and skeevy, didn't I?
If you enjoyed this review, please consider tipping via My KOFI. All proceeds go to buying more games for review!
