Pan Am

The setup for Pan Am involves placing the main game board in the center of the table, flanked by hangar trays for planes and various marker tokens. Event cards are sorted by round and placed on the designated board space, while destination and directive decks are shuffled and placed appropriately. Each player receives a player mat, a fleet of planes including trimotors and clippers, income trackers, and a set of engineers determined by player count. Additionally, players start with a specific hand of destination and directive cards and initial cash to begin the game.

The primary objective in Pan Am is to accumulate the highest amount of Pan Am stock by the end of the game's seven rounds. Players act as rival airline operators competing for lucrative global routes, landing rights, and airport expansions, all while trying to outmaneuver opponents and benefit from Pan Am's expanding network.

A game round is split into four distinct phases: the Event Phase, where round rules and stock prices are adjusted; the Engineer Phase, where players place engineers to bid for airports, destinations, new planes, routes, or directives; the Resolution Phase, where players resolve their engineer placements in alphabetical order (Airports, Destinations, Planes, Routes, Directives); and the Pan Am Phase, where Pan Am expands its routes via dice rolls and pays out bonuses.

Players score and earn income primarily by successfully claiming routes, acquiring airport rights, and fulfilling destination cards. Maintaining and expanding route networks increases income levels, which provides the cash needed for future bids and stock purchases.

The game concludes after seven rounds are completed. All players tally their acquired Pan Am stock. In the event of a tie, the player with the most remaining cash wins; further ties result in a shared victory.