Pax Pamir: Second Edition
156 questions players ask about Pax Pamir: Second Edition. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-01.
Setup and Components
- In what order is the market filled during setup and refills?
- Who takes the first turn of the game?
- Does Wakhan take the first turn in a Wakhan game?
- How many court cards go into each of the six draw piles when playing with Wakhan?
- Are the Dominance Check cards placed at the very bottom of their piles when building the draw deck?
- May players look at the court and event cards left out at setup?
- Can I play with two players and no Wakhan?
- Is a player's hand of cards hidden or open?
- Is the number of rupee coins limited?
- Can two players be loyal to the same coalition?
Key Terms and Concepts
- Does the region on a card limit where its actions can be used?
- What counts toward my influence, and why does everyone start with one?
- What exactly is lost when I change loyalty?
- Can I change loyalty more than once in a turn?
- Does buying a card change my loyalty?
- Can any betrayed card become a prize?
- How do tribes get onto the map?
- Can I rearrange my court, and does order matter?
- How does the tax shelter protect my rupees?
- How big can my court and my hand be?
Ruling Regions and Overthrow
- What do I need to rule a region?
- If two players tie for ruling pieces, does anyone rule the region?
- Do roads count as ruling pieces?
- Can enemy armies stop me ruling a region even if no one else has a tribe there?
- Do I keep the ruler token if my only tribe in the region is removed?
- When two players share a coalition, who rules a contested region?
- Does the Overthrow Rule affect cards other than political ones?
- If I lose one political card in a region but keep another, do I lose my tribes there?
- Does voluntarily moving my last tribe out of a region trigger Overthrow?
Turn Structure and Bonus Actions
- Can I take bonus actions before, between or after my two actions?
- If the favored suit changes during my turn, can I use bonus actions from both the old and new suit?
- Is there a limit on bonus actions per turn?
- Can I use a card's action on the same turn I play it?
- Can the same card be used for two actions in a turn, e.g. betray twice?
- What can my two actions per turn be?
- Do all actions on a favored-suit card count as bonus actions?
- May I take no action at all?
- Does buying an event or a Dominance Check end my turn?
Cleanup, Market and Limits
- If I discard a political card in cleanup, do I need to discard further to the new court limit?
- If a leveraged card is discarded for the court limit, can the leverage payment come from other cards I'm discarding?
- Can I choose a card with enemy spies on it when discarding for the court limit?
- Can I play extra court cards to exceed the limit on purpose and discard a spied-on card?
- Can I discard court or hand cards at will?
- When is an event in the leftmost market column discarded?
- Are Patriot (court) cards in the leftmost market column discarded?
- What happens to rupees sitting on an event card that is discarded from the market?
- What happens to the market when the draw deck runs out?
Purchase, Play and Bribes
- How much does a market card cost?
- What does Military being the favored suit do to purchases?
- Where do I put a purchase rupee when the card in my row to the left is missing?
- Do I receive the rupees on an event I buy, and does it affect everyone?
- Does a purchased event count against my hand or court?
- What happens if I can't or won't pay a required bribe when playing a card?
- Can the ruler refuse my card, or must I pay the full bribe?
- How large is a play bribe, and when is it owed?
- What if the card I play has a spy icon and no court card matches its region?
- Must I resolve every impact icon on a played card, and in what order?
Card-Based Actions
- How much can a Tax action take, and from whom?
- Can I tax the market when I rule no region?
- Can I tax back rupees I just placed on a market card this turn?
- What if the player I tax has no rupees?
- Can one Gift action buy more than one gift, and in what order do prices go?
- How many blocks can a Build place, what does it cost, and can they go to different regions?
- Do I need to rule a region to build there?
- How many units does a Move action move, and may I use fewer moves than the rank?
- Does each army I move need its own road?
- Can a Move action move other players' spies, or tribes?
Battle, Betray and Hostage
- When is a court card held hostage?
- How much do I pay to use a card held hostage?
- Is a hostage-holder's promise or waiver binding?
- Do I pay a bribe to use a card in my court just because another player rules its region?
- What does a Betray cost, and what do I need on the card?
- After a Betray, must I take the card as a prize?
- Can a Battle hit more than one region, and what can it remove?
- Do my armies protect my tribes from Battle?
- Which pieces can I never remove in a Battle?
- Can I battle with only tribes, or with no army in the region?
Dominance Checks and Scoring
- What makes a coalition dominant in a Dominance Check?
- Which blocks are removed after a Dominance Check?
- How is an unsuccessful Dominance Check scored?
- Who scores on a successful Dominance Check?
- How are points split when players tie in a Dominance Check?
- Is the final Dominance Check doubled, and when does doubling happen relative to tie-splitting?
- What happens when a second Dominance Check appears while one is already in the market?
- When does a Dominance Check resolve?
- Does the game end when a player is four points ahead after a Dominance Check?
- How many Dominance Checks happen in a game?
Wakhan: Radicalize and Dominance Checks
- Will Wakhan buy a Dominance Check whenever she can afford it?
- Which card does Wakhan buy with a plain Radicalize when a Dominance Check is in the market?
- Does Wakhan follow a Radicalize's specific instruction when a Dominance Check is in the market?
- Does Wakhan consider cards she can't afford when radicalizing?
- Can zero count as 'most' when Wakhan chooses a card?
- Does 'cheapest' for Wakhan take rupees on the card into account?
- Can Wakhan radicalize an event, such as a zero-column event, instead of the Otherwise option?
- What if Wakhan has a Radicalize but no card she can buy?
- What happens if Wakhan buys a card but can't pay the bribe to play it?
Wakhan: Actions and Targets
- How many actions does Wakhan take, and when does she take free ones?
- Can Wakhan take an AI-card action she has no court card for?
- Does Wakhan take actions that can't do anything?
- Whom does Wakhan tax?
- How does Wakhan's Move work?
- What does Wakhan battle?
- Can I battle or attack Wakhan's tribes?
- Whom does Wakhan betray and does she take the prize?
- Where does Wakhan build armies and roads?
- Where does Wakhan place spies from a played card?
Wakhan: Loyalty, Ruling and Cleanup
- What is Wakhan's pragmatic loyalty and when does it change?
- How does Wakhan rule a region?
- How much influence does Wakhan have at a Dominance Check?
- Does Wakhan ever lose gifts, prizes or patriots?
- What happens when Wakhan must discard a leveraged card and can't pay?
- Which court card does Wakhan discard in cleanup?
- Do I have to use Wakhan in a two-player game?
- How do I take control of a region from Wakhan?
- Why are the arrows reversed on some Wakhan AI cards?