Panik is a simple card game that sounds like Ghostbusters in all but name – so that appeals to me straight-away.  Each player starts with a team of 9 ghost hunters and 4 random manor cards.  Players look at their manor cards, choose one to place face-up, and place the other 3 face-down (with one of their tandem ghost hunter cards next to one of the face-down manors).

Players then take turns placing one of their ghost hunters next to any mansion (whether it’s face-up or face-down).  Each manor can have a maximum of 4 ghost hunters next to it.  When a player places a ghost hunter next to one of their own manors, they can also expel any one ghost hunter already placed there (its owner chooses which other manor it is placed next to instead).

Some hunters have special powers like revealing any face-down manor card, or moving a hunter to their location.  Some hunters’ power is that they can not be expelled.

When all hunter cards have been played, any face-down manor cards are revealed and points are awarded.  Hunters next to manors with ghosts score points equal to the ghost’s value (1 to 5).  A few manors award points based on how many hunters are next to them.  Hunters in front of booby-trapped manors score nothing for the hunters’ owners but score 3 points each for the manor’s owner.

Panik sounds like a light and quick, filler game with some potential for mind-games and bluffing.  Cute theme too.

You can read the rules and see the details of the game on Ilopeli’s web site: bga.me/panik

James.