Loveable bandits? Scourge of the trash bins? What is the life of the raccoon like? That is what Trash Pandas by Red Rook Games is all about. The game is for 2-4 players and revolves around the interplay between lucky dice rolls and clever card plays.
You play as a raccoon, who has the goal of collecting the most items out of the trash. The trash is represented by a set of cards, each with a unique and humorous illustration. In the trash you can find items such as ‘nanners’ (bananas), ‘feesh’ (fish), and ‘mmm pie’ (pizza). How you obtain these items is through a set of dice rolls.
Starting with the person who most recently took out the trash, each player gets to roll the special die. The die has six symbols (trash cans, trees, bandit mask, recycling, a thieving paw, and a tree trash combo). Each symbol also has a corresponding token. With each dice roll, you earn the corresponding token. If you roll the dice and land on a token you have already earned you bust. With every roll you must decide if you want to stay or risk another roll.
One flaw in the game is that there really isn’t a huge risk reward with this mechanic. Six successful rolls means you earn up to three bonus rolls, but with the odds of success diminishing with each roll the player often finds themselves doing three rolls and playing it safe.
Each player starts the game with a hand of trash cards. With the tokens you have earned, you can resolve these cards from your hand into a stash. Cards in your stash are the ones that count towards winning the game. Each token allows for a different play. For instance the trash can token allows you to draw two cards, while the trees token allows you to stash two tokens.
One token that was harder to play with was the bandit mask. Playing the bandit mask allows the player to draw the top card of the deck and add it to their hand. However if another player currently has the same card type in their own hand they may immediately stash that card. But if they do this the player who played the bandit mask may draw a number of cards equal to that which the opposing player has cards stashed. If that sounds a bit convoluted, it’s because it is.
To add to the strategy of the game, each trash card has an action that you can use while it’s in your hand. For instance, the ‘yum yum’ card (chocolate) forces your opponent to continue rolling the dice while the ‘nanners’ card allows you to ignore your last roll and stop before busting. Using these cards lands them in the discard, so a player must be judicious as they are costing themselves potential points every time they are used.
The endgame of Trash Pandas sees players go through their stashes and comparing who has the most of each type of trash. For instance, the player with the most ‘mmm pie’ cards earns 6 points, the player with the second-most earns 2 points. Each trash card has a different value in the endgame so your strategy of which cards you played and which you stashed comes to light. The player with the most points wins.
Trash Pandas is a fun game with some great humour, but at times it can be a bit more complex than it needs to be. It also doesn’t reward risk takers as slow and steady players often win the race. Trash Pandas has an undeniable charm, so it makes for quick fun. However it may not offer a lot of replay value for some people.
Trash Pandas is designed by Red Rook Games, and is now published by Gamewright. It is available through Gamewright, and all good game stores.
