Abilities

Abilities are special actions and bonuses that players can use to their advantage. Using Special Abilities, those beyond the Base Abilities that all players have, your Chanic Panic experience will be greatly expanded.

Playing with Abilities

Choosing Base Abilities

You are likely familiar with Base Abilities: Trader, Ally, Panic. These abilities are available for all players to use. At the beginning of the game, it should be decided which base abilities are going to be used. Trader is strongly recommended for all games as it helps cycling and basic hand control. Ally is recommended for games with Teams. Panic is left up to personal preference. Using it will lead to longer games.

Distributing Special Abilities

After deciding which base abilities to use, it must be decided how many Special abilities each player will have. Unlike base abilities, special are unique within a game. If new to special abilities, it may be a good idea to have one special ability per player. In general 2 per player provides a good balance between excitement and manageability. Of course, you are free to experiment with more.

To distribute special abilities, it is recommended to deal out one or two more abilities to each player than decided. Then players can choose which abilities to keep. For example, if there will be 2 special abilities per player, deal 3 abilities to each player. Each player then chooses 2 to keep and 1 to discard.

After all players have chosen their abilities, they are placed face-up on the table. Players should go around reading their abilities so that everyone knows how they work. If there is any confusion, consult the Ability Reference.

The Ability Reference

See the Ability Reference for more detailed mechanics on the effects of abilities and some of the edge cases which arise, as well as some commentary on their effectiveness.