Ready to save the world? I hope so!
This is definitely the newest game I’ve discussed. Hitting the board game scene last year, Pandemic has already won 6 awards including Games 100’s Best Family Game. That said, what do I think of it? I love it! There are two main reasons: it’s cooperative and it’s really well designed!
So what is this seemingly great game with the ominous title? Well, the short quote is: “Four diseases have broken out in the world and it is up to a team of specialists in various fields to find cures for these diseases before mankind is wiped out.” Hummm… kind of deep stuff for a board game isn’t it? Well, yes, but that just makes it all the more engaging!
The board of Pandemic reminds me of Risk’s board, only more recent. Populated cities are highlighted with routes to and from each other. As each turn passes, the four deadly diseases spread from city to city using a really cool card mechanic. There are two decks of cards in Pandemic, the Player Cards and the Infection Cards. Infection Cards are used to, well, infect the cities. When you draw a city’s card, you put one infection cube on that city. If a city ever reaches 4 cubes, it causes an outbreak which causes the disease to spread one cube’s worth into all the surrounding cities. Hold on though, I’m getting ahead of myself…
Pandemic is a cooperative game. What does that mean? Well, it means the players are working together vs. the game, in this case, the diseases. The spread of disease is built ingeniously into the drawing of cards and it is up to the players, each of which has a special ability, to stop it and save the world! The five roles are: Dispatcher, Operations Expert, Scientist, Medic, and Researcher. I won’t get into the abilities or strategies here, but suffice it to say, the game is very different depending on the roles being played. During game play you are constantly discussing strategy with your teammates. Things like: “Ok, I’ll move here and heal this city.” “Perfect, that will let April fly me to you so I can cure blue on my turn!” “Done!”
Each turn has three parts. You use your action points, you draw your new Player Cards, and you play the role of the Infector. Action points are what allow you to move your pawn between cities, heal people, trade cards, and cure diseases. This is when the magic happens, when you put all your minds together to come up with an efficient plan of disease eradication!
Player Cards serve three purposes. First, they allow you to move directly between cities and create research stations, but you have to discard them to do this. This is balanced by their second function. You see, to cure a disease, you need have five cards of the same color and be at a research station; and that is the goal of the game, to cure all four diseases. The final purpose of Player Cards? Well, Epidemics lie within the Player Card deck.
You see, during the last phase of each turn your draw a number of Infector Cards, and infect those cities listed on the cards. Normally this isn’t a big deal, because, well, there a lot of city cards and each city only gets infected by one cube of one virus. Epidemics change all this. When a player draws an Epidemic card from the Player Cards, it causes a new city to explode with three cubes, but it also causes you to shuffle and put back on the top of the deck all the Infection Cards already used. That makes sure that cities already infected will become more infected, leading to outbreaks. Did I mention that when 8 outbreaks have occurred, you lose? In fact, the difficulty of the game is directly linked to how many Epidemic cards you shuffle into the deck at the beginning. In an “Introductory” game you use 4 Epidemic cards, a “Normal” game uses 5. And, in a “Heroic” game, you use all 6 Epidemic cards.
Wow, this is getting long and complicated, and I’m not going to lie to you, when you first open the box you will be overwhelmed by all the pieces and cards within. But don’t despair! The instructions are VERY good and easy to understand. There are even cheat-sheet cards that each player can keep with them as they play. I have played this game many times with new players, and while some have seemed daunted at the beginning, they all have loved it by the end are always eager to play again! The cooperative nature allows new players and seasoned players to work together and you are always interested in what’s going on, even when it isn’t your turn.
Ok, let’s recap. Disease is sweeping the Earth, it’s up to you and your friends to travel the globe helping inflicted cities and finding cures. It’s hard to describe the incredible feelings this game conjures up. You really, really feel invested in it. One particularly exciting game I played came down to one draw. We knew a city card that would lead to a cascading 3-tiered Outbreak was one of 6 cards we had just placed on the deck, and we had to draw 3 of them.
If we didn’t draw the deadly city, on the next turn our Scientist would cure the final disease and we would win. If we did draw it…well, let’s just say the results would be catastrophic! Everyone hushed as the Dispatcher flipped over the cards… good… good….WE WIN!!!! It was awesome!
Till next time, have fun out there!
Game Info
Name: Pandemic
Ages: 10+
Players: 2-4
Playing time: ~45 minutes
Price: $28-$35
Designer: Matt Leacock
Publisher: Z-Man Games
First Published: 2008
Expansions : Pandemic : On the Brink
Links: http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/pandemic.htm
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