I bought this game beat up from Amazon warehouse. Part of the box was broken, but I eventually fixed it with glue. Maybe the cover was uninspiring, maybe I ended up buying other games and forgot about this one, so it made its way to what board game enthusiasts call, "the shelf of shame". It really was a shame, because I finally dragged myself to open the game and learn it. And I really, really liked it! I only have about 200 games. This game is not in my top 20, but if I took out all the party games, then yes, this would be in my top 10. For me, I value time with family - which includes a teenager, a pair of older folk (70's and 80's), and my husband (not in his 80's), hence party games are played more often and make my sides hurt. This game is NOT a party game. This game likely will NOT make your sides hurt. But it does have airplanes. The three males in my family have some military fascination. My mom and I are in the medical field. But, my dad did used to own an airplane and I grew up with an airplane like some privileged, snotty entitled person. I hope I'm not, we couldn't afford the gas or the hangar fees, so it was college education or airplane. My parents chose college - for me. Apparently I was alive when Pan Am went out of business. It seems like some big fantasy airplane business that should still exist today. Our family friend's daughter was a Pan Am flight attendant in Lockerbie. Whenever we bring up Pan Am, we remember her. So I am personally invested in this game and totally biased. I think the rulebook is outstanding. There are so many games out there and 10% of them have a wonderfully done rulebook. This is one of them. I like to learn the game from the rulebook without aid from Youtube, sorry Watch It Played. This was well done and the rulebook even helps bring you into the setting and theme - that is fantastic! The components are good. They aren't AMAZING. Amazing would be metal planes that are painted and accurately detailed. And the Control Tower would have glass windows. And the stocks would be real vintage stocks. No. This game is also affordable. So plastic airplanes in color tones matching the game that try to convey the era. No ugly primary colors here! The Engineers look like fancy pawns. They are a little disappointing, but they do have gears and Engineers like to tinker. The Pan Am tokens are cardboard and AMAZING would have been bakelite, shiny, clicky pieces. The die is custom because it has the routes and it is adequate. The cards are NOT linen finish, but the card stock is thick enough. The coins are weird - they're green. I'm missing the reference if there is one. The blue trays have a nice color. They work for what they do. There are only two in the game. I would have preferred that each player had their own box for their pieces, but as I commented in the photo, there is logic behind it. Because we gave each player a tray for their planes, it was a little too easy to "accidentally" stick their hand in the tray and grab a plane they hadn't paid for yet. There is also a rule that if you auction for a plane but there aren't any left of that type in your color, you still have to pay the bid. The game play itself is relatively easy and there is a player aid on the player mat. This kind of makes the game "procedural". But like a pilot, you have a checklist you have to do. The game starts with revealing the event for the round (there are 7 rounds). The event is tied to something historical that happened - that's cool! - which affects stocks - like in real life! Then players in order assign their engineers one engineer at a time. The actions are labeled A - E and a player can be outbid by another for airports, destinations, and planes, in which case they take back their engineer and place them again on their turn. After actions A - E, players claim routes in the order they placed their engineer. They claim routes by placing an airplane on a route that is less than or equal to the distance the plane can travel which is demarcated by size and bars on the wings. See picture! Then Pan Am goes and buys up routes. This might SEEM like a bad thing, but it isn't. If your route is bought, you get your plane back, which means you can claim another route later. However, you won't gain income, so it might not be in your interest to claim a route near Miami. You will get money back, but if you had left your airplane in a route = 2, you would gain income 2 per round, so by the 7th round, you would have gained $14 from that route. It's part of the game and your strategy - do you want to be bought out early and gain income now, or not - it depends on what destination cards you have and if you had the planes to claim routes. The game isn't all strategy - there is gambling involved. The stock can go up or down. You can sell your stock also for money and maybe even profit, but the goal of the game is to have the most stock in Pan Am. I really enjoyed this game and that is not at all influenced by the fact that I haven't lost yet. I'm sure it was all luck. Or at least basic high school economics. And maybe some college econ too. The CONS of the game: it is 7 rounds. It does seem to be long - because you can't buy the jet until round 6. And I don't care if I win or lose, I want that jet. This means, normally, only up to 2 players will be able to bring out their jet. The game can go long especially for new players and for 4 players. Sometimes players have a hard time making decisions - called "analysis paralysis". I like the bidding and the buying of planes, being bought out by Pan Am and making profit, and buying stock when it's low. The game is strongly thematic. The way the game looks is nostalgic for someone who has no nostalgia. After playing this game we started watching the Pan Am TV show that was cancelled and I got a book written by a Pan Am flight attendant. The game encourages players to go and learn something new and that's something valuable for me as a board gamer. My dad who is in his 80s did not mind this game but did think it was a little long. He also had no idea what was going on, but he recognized the locations and he just focused on routes to places he wanted to go to. And he ended up making money from Pan Am, but he did get stuck in a pointless bidding war and that's what did him in. He did need assistance in playing, but he may be interested in playing this game again. The game is not easy. But it isn't very hard either. Set up is fast compared to lots of other board games, but not as fast as Black Jack or Poker sure. The rules are helpful and clear. What you do each turn is not difficult and it is repetitive. It definitely becomes easier the more times you play. If you need help you can always go to Youtube to watch a video on how to set up and play. If you are internet savvy, you can go to Board Game Geek's website and check out the forums. If this theme appeals to you like it did for me, then I would definitely recommend this game. Another airplane game to check out is Wayfinders. That game has nice clicky plastic pieces and colorful artwork. It is a little bit easier, but is more abstract and there are a few minor details that have to be remembered in scoring, versus this game you just compare the number of stocks per person. If I had to pick only one game to keep, I would definitely choose Pan Am over Wayfinders. Hope you like my review and check out Pan Am!
