Pan Am is a game published by Funko Games. The premise of this game is for players to take on the role of competing airline agencies hoping to expand their routes during the rise of Pan Am, "the world's first truly global airline". Over seven rounds players can gain planes, airports and destinations, to help them claim routes which in turn earns them money. Additionally, players can purchase Pan Am stock, and the player with the most stock at the end of the game is declared the winner.

This post is broken into the following 3 sections, feel free to jump directly to one:

  1. General summary - consisting of information about overall enjoyment, theme, replayability, and upgrades
  2. Complexity - consisting of information about the rulebook, setup, player turns, and overall learning curve
  3. Player turns - consisting of game type, game flow, rule you are likely to miss, and favorite aspect

General Summary

Number of players we had: 3
Our play time (not including setup): 1 hour 20 minutes
Table size needed: Large (5'-6')

Overall enjoyment

Overall we really enjoy playing this game. I have to be honest, we have a player in our group who loves to fly so this game spoke to him when we were at a ding and dent sale at our favorite local game store. He picked it up and I saw the look on his face and laughed and said sure, why not. I never actually expected to like this game, it was one of those themes that I happen to be far less interested in, but I keep in mind the interests of the other players in our group knowing theme can make all the difference in game investment.

Once we began playing Pan AM, I found it had far more complexity packed into its small and unassuming box than I expected, which left me surprised and excited. Pan Am is not difficult to learn, as the game play is straightforward, but there are lots of ways players can attempt to expand their empire and gain stock. This game has some direct competition, as players bid against one another for the ability to take certain actions, and only one player can be the winner. However, there are lots of different strategies to employ so you aren't necessarily in a bidding war each round.

Pan Am is played over seven rounds which are divided into four phases. Game play is fast as players bid on different actions on the board, resolve items like gaining new planes, destinations, or claiming routes, all before Pan Am has the potential to expand and players can purchase stock before the next event card is revealed and the price (likely) changes.

One of the things we really like about Pan Am is that every player places all their engineers one at a time, bidding on certain tasks on the board, and then once all engineers have been placed, players carry out the actions on the board in an order that is easily identified by the board. The way the board was built and the order of the actions give players the most chance to succeed. However, there is a catch as players place all their engineers before gaining the actions associated with their placement, so there is a little bit of a leap of faith.

For instance, if you place an engineer on an area to gather a new plane, and later bid higher than you intended on something else, you might not have enough funds to accomplish everything you intended. This requires players to pay attention to how much they are bidding, especially in the first few rounds, if they are going to be able to afford to do all the actions associated with their engineer placement.  

So, while the game makes it easier to succeed by allowing players to gain airports and destinations before claiming a route, they must be able to acquire the right combinations of those at the right time to successfully claim their intended route. Also, you must have a plane that meets the minimum size requirement for the route. All of this leads to a game with great tension.

If we had to pick one thing about this game we do not care for it would be that we wish we could access the larger planes earlier in the game! The largest planes are not available to bid on until the 6th of seven rounds. This means at least one player is unlikely to gain one. However, there are some directive cards that allow you to upgrade a plane so you can claim one of the larger planes without bidding on the largest plane.

Theme

The theme of this game is about travel and planes. The game board has a map with many of the common airplane routes. There are dozens of planes in four sizes and everything about the cards, player mats and other pieces fit right into the theme.

Just some of the planes players get to use to claim routes on the board.

Replayability

There are several things that make this game replayable, including:

  1. At the beginning of each round, as part of the unknown event card, the price of stock has the potential to change. Keep in mind your only opporunty to purchase stock is at the end of each round right before a new event card is revealed, but you never know when stock prices are going to go up or down (just like real life) so you have to be strategic. Additionally, you need money each round to bid on new planes, destinations, and airports so you don't want to spend all your money on stock as that would leave you without the money to expand the next round or increase your income.
  2. There are a total of 28 event cards, only seven of which are used each game. This means it will be really hard to duplicate the event cards in any two games.
  3. There are 50 destination cards and even if each one is acquired in a round, only four new cards are revealed each round.
  4. Players never know when Pan Am is going to expand and acquire a route they had previously claimed. While this earns them money, it is a one-time windfall, and players lose money they were earning at the end of each round based on the size of the route they lost.

Upgrades

I am not aware of any upgrades for this game.

Complexity

Rulebook

The rulebook is short and succinct, very well organized, and even gives an interesting history of Pan Am. The directions neatly go through how the game is played and includes images of game play and examples.

Setup

Setting up the game takes about 5-10 minutes. Players create the random event deck, shuffle cards, separate the types of planes, take their player mats and associated starting planes and engineers, gain destination cards and funds and are ready to begin.

Turns

The way turns are handled is one of my favorite things about this game because it is far more interactive than some games. In Pan Am, players first take turns placing their engineers on sections of the board to build an airport, gain a destination card, acquire a new plane, claim a route, or gain directive cards and have the first chance to place an engineer the next round. Once all engineers are placed, each of these actions is carried out by players with engineers in those places in the order they placed their engineer.

Each round begins with an event card that affects all players, then engineers are placed and resolved and lastly, each round ends with Pan Am expanding and players gaining revenue and having the option to purchase Pan Am stocks.

Overall learning curve

The overall learning curve of this game is low. Players are going through the different phases together, and because the actions players can take are in a set order around the board in the order of being placed, the game is very easy to follow and learn.

Player Turns

Play type

Pan Am is a worker placement game that incorporates player bidding and a set order of player actions based on the type of action and order of placement. This creates a natural tension and forces players to be strategic about each engineer placement.

Example of a game mid-play.

Game flow

The flow of this game is very fluid. After the new round event card, players take turns placing engineers, and then each type of task is resolved in order around the board. This means play alternates between players in a more randomized way so all players are engaged all the time. Rounds are broken into easy to follow phases for seven rounds that go quicker than you expect.

Rule you are likely to forget/miss

The one rule you are likely to forget or miss is to move your income tracker up or down as you play. Luckily, you can check the board for your airports as well as the length of the routes you have claimed with your planes and adjust your income if you need to at any time.

Favorite aspect

While I love that there are so many ways to gain routes and earn money to buy stock so players are not constantly in each other's way, it is not my favorite thing about this game. My favorite thing is that on the occasions when you are outbid, your engineer is returned to you and you get another chance to place them. This means even when you are outbid, while you might not walk away with your first choice of play, you don't completely miss out!

Now that I have played Pan Am, even if we did not have a plane fanatic in our group, this game would have remained on our shelves because it offers easy to learn game play, plenty of types of strategy, and unexpected twists.