Micro May has been heating up my printer lately.

Climbing a rope that holds two halves of the earth together in Rope Walkers. Trying to make my shopping mall the best in town in Midtown Mall. Selling spying tools to ninjas in Shinobi Spy & Supply.

And I'm loving every second of it!

But while bouncing between all these Micro May projects, another event started bidding for my attention.

Pocketopia. BackerKit’s celebration of compact tabletop games.

And among all the projects floating around there, one game in particular kept staring back at me with a suspiciously adorable face.

Cueing in… Red Panda Surprise.

If you have played Dylan Coyle’s games before, you probably already know the pattern by now.

They look adorable. Almost disarmingly so.

Then somewhere in the middle of the game, the decisions start getting sharper than you expected.

Otter had that.
Doom Cat absolutely had that.

And now, Red Panda Surprise joins the pile!

It’s a very quick card game about trying to outscore everyone else while also trying not to overcommit.

Every player secretly chooses 2 cards at the same time. Highest total wins the round and discards their played cards. Simple.

But then the game throws in a tiny twist that changes the entire flow of the table. The player with the LOWEST total gains a Surprise token worth +10 points. And suddenly every round becomes much more interesting.

Do I go high?
Do I intentionally stay low?
Do I bait others into overshooting?
Do I save stronger cards for later?

And then come the swap cards…

Which, in our sessions, created some of the funniest moments in the game!

Red Panda Surprise could have very easily become a linear highest wins kind of experience.

But the addition of surprise tokens, swap cards, secret cards, multipliers, and alternate modes give the game much more personality and variety than I initially expected. Especially once players begin picking up on each other’s moves.

I played it with a group of 4, ages ranging from 29 to 37, and the table had an absolute blast.

The artwork made the game instantly welcoming, but the fun came from the little mind games that followed. In no time, a tiny card game about adorable red pandas had everyone watching each other’s patterns, totals, and hilarious reactions.

It looks light, and it is easy to get into. But don’t mistake that for the game being “just for kids” or something overly simplistic. The folks I played with certainly didn’t treat it that way once the rounds started getting competitive.

It keeps creating these small moments where you are not just playing cards. You are reading the table.

If your ideal game night involves table reactions, quick rounds, light strategy, bluffing, friendly sabotage, and games that create conversation almost instantly, then yes. Very easily.

Especially if you enjoy games that feel approachable on the surface, but slowly reveal little tactical layers the more you play.

Red Panda Surprise is set to launch on BackerKit in less than 24 hours at the time of writing.

And for my fellow PNP goblins out there, worry not. It should also be heading to Itch.io very soon.

I’ll definitely let you folks know once it lands there.

- Tas.

The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, thanks to generous supporters.

Start an annual gift today to help create a brighter future for the birds you love. As our thanks, we’ll send you our quarterly, award-winning magazine.

Donate Now