Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
PASSO one in a series of small box abstract games from Steffan Spiele. We here at Meeple Mountain have an appreciation for these games, as they combine good quality components with simple rules and a clever twist. Let’s see if PASSO keeps up this tradition.
Setup
Players will choose to play either red or black and take the 5 wooden disks in their color.
Then take the 25 tiles and create a 5×5 square grid, leaving a gap between the tiles.
Each player will then place their 5 discs along the back row closest to them.
And that’s it.
Playing the Game
On a turn, you’ll move one of your discs, either orthogonally or diagonally. Moves can either be made forward into the board, horizontally, or backwards towards yourself. When you do so, you can land either on an empty tile or on a tile with no more than two other pieces (yours or your opponent’s) on it.
When you move from a tile that becomes unoccupied after your move, you’ll remove it from the game. However, if you move a disc from the top of a stack of discs, that tile remains in the game.
If a tile becomes isolated from the main cluster of tiles, whether it has pieces on it or not, that tile (and any pieces on it) is removed from the game.
The goal of the game is to either be the last player to be able to move a disc OR be the first player to move a disc past your opponent’s back line—that is, to move past your opponent’s furthest disc. Your back line is defined as the row closest to you, whether it has five board tiles or just one. Move a piece past that line (even if there are no tiles there)
Thoughts and Advanced Rules
After my first few games of PASSO I felt like I had seen all the game had to offer. My opponent and I were evenly matched and we split games.
That’s when I learned about the advanced rules—or, rather, the six rule-breaking discs you can add to the game.
The advanced rules call for each player secretly choosing three of the six discs to play with during the game. You’ll play one of these discs only once at the start of your turn—after which, you’ll return the disc to the box. These allow you to break the rules in several game-changing ways: jumping over a missing tile, moving a disc twice in one turn, moving the stack of discs you’re on top of with you, moving to the top of a stack of three discs, etc.
My initial impression was these six discs were an attempt to make a fairly dull game more interesting. After playing with them, my opinion hasn’t changed.
I recognize that I’m an abstract purist: open information, simple rules with deep in-game implications, each side sharing the same goal. Chess, Hive, any game in the Project GIPF , Pente, etc., all stand on their own as great one-on-one games where winning and losing comes down to how well each player plays their game.
But, wait, some of you might say! What about the GIPF Potentials? Don’t those additional pieces change the game? Yes, but they’re open information pieces that change the game evenly for both players.
On the other hand, consider the god cards in Santorini. I know there are people (some I’ve even played with) who love them. Personally, I don’t like playing with them. Santorini is a great abstract game on its own. It has no need for rule-breaking extras to make the game “more enjoyable.”
For me, PASSO all but requires you to play with the extra power discs to make the game interesting—interesting in that your well-calculated plans may be completely undone by your opponent breaking the rules and immediately winning the game.
If that’s your thing, definitely give PASSO a look. You’ll love the gotcha moments the discs will create. As for me, I’ll be setting up Santorini, wondering aloud where those god cards have gone to. (I’m sure I put them somewhere safe…)
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