Learn Panamax

Welcome to Panamax

You run a shipping company at the Panama Canal. Take cargo contracts from China, Europe and both US coasts, load the cargo onto ships and push them through the locks into the other ocean.

The twist: the company is not you. After three rounds the winner is the player with the most personal money — dividends, bonuses, shares sold at the end. Company money left over counts for nothing.

2–4 players (solo with the fan-made PanaBot variant), about 90–120 minutes. Start with the setup checklist.

The board and your Clipboard

• The canal runs between the Atlantic and the Pacific: locks and the Culebra Cut hold at most 4 ship slots, the two lakes and the oceans any number.
• The Action table holds the white dice you draft; the Market table shows each company’s share price and dividend; the Rail table sets turn order and gives flags.
• Your Clipboard is your company: its money, unbuilt ships, flags and passengers. Everything off the Clipboard is yours.

Every numbered area is explained in Teach the Game.

A turn: take one die

Each turn you take one white die — always the lowest in its column:

• Blue side (1–3): Movement. Lock moves = the column number; waterway moves = the empty spaces left in the column. Use them all, on any ships.
• Grey side (4–6): Contract / Load Cargo. Take the contract beside the column if you like, then load 1, 2 or 3 dice depending on the row you uncovered.
• Executive dice (top row) do their side’s action at full strength, or a Market action: buy a share, or raise your stock by $2.

You may also build ships ($5 / $7 from company money) and play Captain or Stevedore cards earned on earlier turns. Details: Taking Actions.

Cargo, ships and flags

• A contract’s dice come from your Warehouse, then the Dice Pool, set to its values. National dice load only in that nation’s Loading zone; the generic back (all 3s) loads anywhere.
• One die per ship per turn. A ship sails once its dice reach its minimum.
• When a ship leaves the canal, each company earns $1 per pip of its dice aboard, and the ship’s owner takes a bonus card or cash.
• Finishing a national contract earns its flag: flags fill your Clipboard and trigger free actions. Moving a Military ship pays you $1 per flag of its nation, up to $3.

Details: Contracts and Loading and Moving Through the Canal.

Round end and winning

At the end of each round:

1. The Rail table sets the new turn order and gives flags.
2. Companies pay cargo fees for every die still waiting ($5 in the Warehouse, $4 on a contract, the zone fee in the canal). Short? You pay, or take a $10 Bailout that costs $15 at the end.
3. Companies pay dividends on every share players hold — all of them, or none and the stock drops $2.
4. The top-stock company that paid earns its player the Managing Director Award.

After round 3: your money + best 2 Financial Advisor cards + awards + all your shares at their final price − bailouts. See Round End and Final Scoring.