Oh no, a bandit is on the loose! As the high-security prisoner makes their daring escape by way of digging tunnels, you must lead them around a growing underground maze while sealing off the exits.

This tale of cops and robbers has been designed by Martin Nedergaard Andersen, who has licensed more than 200 games in 20 countries worldwide, and published by Helvetiq in 2016 as their first foray into making the perfect games for kids as well as adults. 

Bandido was followed up by Bandida in 2020, and this sequel works as an expansion to the original game along with being its own standalone affair.

At only £9.99 each, Bandido and Bandida are the perfect fillers for the family's games shelves.

What’s in the box?

Each pocket sized game boasts 70 full-colour cards, which are sturdy and nice to the touch. The illustrations by Lucas Guidetti Perez and Odile Sageat are a perfectly pleasant accompaniment to the fun theme. 

In Bandido, there are 69 cards which make up the ‘escape tunnels’ and one Super Card that works as the bandit’s starting point. 

As a sequel, Bandida adds some more variations to its pack of 70 cards, including 10 Objects Cards, two Alarm Cards and one Ladder Card.

The boxes with their colourful designs stand out on the shelf while being small enough to take with you on a family holiday or to play a quick game at a friend’s house.

How to set up the Bandido and Bandida games

With Bandido, the set up couldn’t be simpler. You place the Super Card in the middle of your play space – make sure there’s plenty of room around it as while Bandido's box may be compact, laying out the game takes up a big chunk of surface space. The Super Card is two sided, so put face up the difficulty level you want (the more exits, the greater the difficulty). Shuffle the other cards and deal three to each player.

In Bandida, you likewise place the Super Card in the middle of the table, shuffle the rest of the cards and give three to each player. However, if an Alarm Card is drawn, shuffle it into the deck and deal a new card.

How to play Bandido

The youngest player always starts first (the games are 6+).

On your turn, you connect one of the ‘tunnel’ cards in your hand to one or more of the cards already on the table to continue the escape routes. The cards must fit perfectly, the ‘earth’ can’t block off any exits. To make this challenging as a cooperative game, you’re not allowed to show your cards directly to other players, although you can discuss your strategy. This can lead to some very confusing conversations as you try to explain a squiggly corner with three exits to someone (Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes anyone?). And don’t forget the frustration when someone completely derails the perfect digging route you had planned out. 

At the end of your turn, you must draw a card so you have three in hand. All the 69 available cards must be placed on the table and all the exits sealed off for you to win. Balancing the need to keep some exits open so the game can continue and not leaving too many pathways for escape means this simple gameplay can become quite challenging (in truth, in the first few playthroughs, the prisoner slipped through our fingers… or through our tunnels).

How to play Bandida

Bandida offers three game play modes. The first is exactly like Bandido (you must remove the Ladder Card from the deck before starting this mode). 

In the second mode, it's Opposite Day so we are helping Bandida escape. In this mode, you have to place the Ladder Card on the table and seal off all others exits to lead the daring escapee to the ladder and freedom.

The final mode, called ‘Lover’s Escape’, dares you to combine the Bandido and Bandida games. You shuffle the Bandido Super Card into the Bandida deck. You must place a Ladder Card on the table, connect Bandido and Bandida through the tunnels, then close all other exits, leading them only to the ladder.

Along with expanded play modes, Bandida’s Object Cards trigger mandatory actions when played. 

Backpack: Draw 1 extra card at the end of your turn
Dynamite: Play another 2 cards right away and draw 2
Broken Tool: Play all your cards then draw back 3
Map: Remove 3 cards on the table without breaking the tunnels
Water Bottle: Players can’t talk during this turn 

Alarm Cards have to be played straight away after drawing them. Of the two, one Alarm Card makes players discard one card from their hand and continue their game with this number of cards while the other Alarm discards the first five cards in the draw pile.

Single player vs cooperative game

Needless to say that at just 15 minutes per game, you’ll immediately want another go if your first set of tunnels came to a dead end (or too many ends). The game is made fun and replayable thanks to the variation of the tunnel cards making each ‘underground maze’ you build unique.

Playing as a duo, the cooperative aspect is made challenging by not being able to see the other player’s cards and even with discussion abound about where to go next, the random nature of the tunnel cards makes long-term strategy tricky. 

Either as a cooperative game or as a single player, Bandido and Bandida are the perfect bites of quick fun with a lovely design and high replayability. 

Get Bandido and Bandida at £9.99 each and just £2.50 for First Class shipping.