A new tabletop game called PDX, themed around managing an airline at Portland's airport, is currently funding on Kickstarter. Designed for 1 to 4 players aged 10 and up, it involves scheduling flights and building amenities in sessions lasting about 15 minutes per player. Pledges start at $64 for the retail edition.
The game PDX, created by Sean Wittmeyer and published by Waterworks Games, features illustrations by Skinny Ships, the design studio of Jennifer DeRosa and Richard Perez. It draws inspiration from Portland's renovated airport, incorporating elements like the iconic carpet pattern and infographic-style artwork that captures the terminal's vibe. Skinny Ships, based in Portland, previously contributed to a Port of Portland publication on the new terminal.
In PDX, players act as airline managers competing to become Portland's favorite carrier. The core mechanic is worker placement, with each player using a worker meeple and suitcases for actions across a central terminal board and personal concourse boards. Turns consist of four phases: landing planes to collect service tokens and bonuses from destination tiles; reclaiming suitcases for extra actions; moving the worker to build gates, reserve destinations, lease planes, or launch ad campaigns; and scheduling flights on available gates.
Anytime actions allow assigning destinations to gates by paying service tokens, rearranging routes without active planes, or canceling flights for a token cost. Gates vary in size—small for short-haul, medium for short and medium, large for all—with limits on stacked tickets. The game ends when three destination tile stacks deplete, scoring based on assigned tickets, ad campaigns, and matching icons between private offices and destinations.
Variants include a solo mode against an automated opponent named Tyler, controlled by dice, and two mini-expansions: Company Shares for private objectives and Specialist tiles for bonus abilities like discounted leasing or token trading. A review based on a prototype notes the game's accessible rules, strategic depth from suitcase actions and route flexibility, and thematic charm, though small text on aids may challenge readability. The Kickstarter offers retail wooden components in deluxe editions, with funding ongoing as of the February 24, 2026, preview.
