Review: Panorama

I am a big fan of camping I have been doing it most of my life and love spending the time outdoors. Part of what I love about the outdoors is the views. I am by no means a photographer but the game Panorama designed by Alex Wynnter and published by Sparkworks, can make you feel like one while you play.

Panorama is a game for 1-6 players who are 8+ and have about 30 minutes (more time with more players). This game happens over two parts the first part is dusk and the second dawn. Both have the same rules of play and only differ by the cards that are played. The two decks have different cards and different point accumulation.

The players in this game will build panoramas by playing cards next to one another. The panoramas are built between players (Exception for the 2 player and solo version). This will mean that the players will share scoring of the panorama that is built between them. The cards feature hills and mountains in the background that are 3 levels and you mus match the level of the card you are placing next too. For example if you have a tall mountain you cannot put it next to the short card.

...you will find all kinds of things like cute animals, campfires and trees.

In the foreground of the cards you will find all kinds of things like cute animals, campfires and trees. At the very bottom of the card is how that particular card will score. In a lot of instances the card will score based on the cards next to it or they wont score points but be the card you need next to another card for it to score points. There are some good player aid cards and some longer explanations in the rule book about all the symbols at the bottom of the cards.

The game gets interesting when you start playing. Every player chooses a card from their hand and places it face down on the table once everyone has chosen a card then starting with the first player (last one to see an animal) the players reveal their card then play it either on the panorama to left or right of them. If the card they have cannot be placed according to the height rules then the card is placed into a panorama face down. Players can play any card next to a face down card but the face down card offers no points or bonuses.

After each player has played their card then every player passes their hand to the player on the left. This adds some strategy in what you are playing and passing along knowing that the panorama's points are shared in end game scoring. Now that you have all the basics now is a good time to mention the award tiles. When playing 3-6 players at the beginning of the game 4 random award tiles are placed in the center of the table. These will score at the end of the game based on what panoramas meet the conditions. Some of these were easy to accomplish and some were significantly harder to score.

This part of the game we found a bit much

The end of the game is where you might spend a lot of time. I recommend grabbing some paper and an pencil to score the end of this game. There are going to be 4 panoramas to score for each player and any award tokens to get their total. This part of the game we found a bit much when we played. The game was fairly simple to play and scoring was the hardest part.

This is a very pretty game. I comes in a beautiful box and I was excited to get it on the table. The cards look great and knowing what cards you could play next to is intuitive. Scoring and tracking the awards can get in the way of some of the fun.

Players: 1-6

Year Published: 2021

Recommended Ages: 8+

Time to Play: 20

I was provided a review copy of this game.