Red Panda Surprise

Red Panda Surprise is a simple game where players want to player the highest sum of cards, but the lowest sum adds +10 and often wins the round. Winners discard their cards and everyone else puts their cards on the bottom of their deck. The first player to have three or fewer cards wins. There are also cards that let players swap for a card in someone else's hand. And there are unique secret cards advanced players can shuffle into their decks.

The game is quick and easy, you just play two of the 5 cards in your hand each round and then redraw from your own deck. While it might feel random who wins, paying attention to the cards played and the tactics other players gravitate towards helps seal a victory. Like, if others keep playing their lowest cards, your highest cards should beat them. If other keep playing their highest cards, your middle cards should win. The last twist is that players who exhaust their best cards early will struggle as others catch up and get rid of their middle cards before playing their best cards to end the game.

Red Panda Surprise is fast and adorable, but the cute art hides a cunning game.

Note: There are advanced rules for 1-3 players inspired by Pai Gow where you split your hand and play for asymmetric rewards.

description from the designer