Z-Man Games | Pandemic – The Intense Cooperative Strategy Game

Bought this game after watching it played on Wil Wheaton's Tabletop and have been very pleased to add this to my stack, prior to this game I had not owned a truly co-operative game and to be honest I am not sure I will find another to beat it.First off the quality of the board and pieces is top notch, the look and feel is lovely and having played it a fair few times now no sign of wear and tear has appeared on any of the pieces or cards.The game mechanics are simple to understand and each player has access to a card that gives a quick run down of the basic turns rules/actions on a general level as well as any character specific rules on their cards. This neatly means once you've played it a couple of times you don't need to refer back to the manual. Which is nice.The game has one way to win, which is curing every disease, but many ways to lose which means even when you're a seasoned player and think you've worked out a solid strategy how to win you can be blindsided and lose. The difficulty level of the game can be altered as well using the number of Epidemic cards which is a nice touch so that you can gradually increase the challenge. Also the different player roles make each game different as skills you may have relied on previous games are now unavailable - the random selection process ensures people are forced out of their comfort zone which adds to the variety of the games.All in all this is a brilliant game to bring people together, especially in a regular group of gamers who spend their time working out ways to screw each other in a desperate attempt to win, you won't be disappointed to spend an hour playing this.

Pandemic was the first game to introduce me to cooperative boardgaming. It became an instant favourite and still holds up very well. This should be a staple in every boardgame collection! In Pandemic, you must save the world by working together as a team to control viral outbreaks and cure diseases.How is it played?Pandemic is a turn based cooperative game where you can take up to 4 actions per turn. These actions involve moving around the world to different cities, removing virus cubes from infected cities, building research centres and curing diseases. After each turn, you draw cards to help you cure diseases (some of which may actually cause an epidemic which will spread a disease). And then you draw further cards to advance the viral outbreak. This finely tuned balance is what keeps the virus spreading so you have to work together to stop the spread as well as cure the disease.How do you win?You win if:- you cure all diseases (you don't have to eradicate them by wiping them off the map, but kudos if you do)You lose if:- You can't draw any more player cards- You run out of virus cubes and can't spread a disease further (it's out of control at this point)- You have too many outbreaksThe key is to work together as a team and use each of your unique abilities at the most opportune times. It's a fantastic game that combines strategy, teamwork and luck! It's quite daunting the first time you play it, but after a few playthroughs, the mechanics become clearer and it can be enjoyed by players of all ages. If you have more than 4 players, it works quite well with one person acting as a host for the game and offering their insight to things you may have missed.It also has a lot of expansions which increase the replayability of the game, but in my opinion the core game is enough to start with for a while. This really is a great game!

Pandemic is a co-operative game that sees players work together to seek to cure and then eradicate a number of diseases that are outbreaking across the globe. Each player plays a different role and each character has different skills depending upon which card they draw at the onset of the game. The aim of the game is to travel the world by moving your character from city to city by various means in order to manage the spread of disease before things get out of hand.Mechanically speaking, the game is quite straight forward with initial infections being determined by drawing cards at the onset of the game and then further infections taking place at the end of each player's turn when random city cards are drawn. Players must work together to remove disease cubes whilst collecting cards relating to each of the four specific diseases in order to find a cure. The difficulty can be set by adding greater numbers of 'epidemic' cards into the deck, which means that there are more outbreaks and things are a bit faster-paced and more challenging.This is a great introduction to co-operative gaming. My wife has warmed to board games since we played this and it stops us having to try and outdo each other in competitive play (she is too nice as she sees how frustrated I get when she is unaturally lucky and wins everything we play). Seriously though, whilst competitive gaming is good fun with friends, sometimes it is far better to have co-operative gaming within the family unit.In terms of quality, the board and box are sturdy and the components are genuinely nice to handle and play with. The cards do get a bit worn given time and a decision will need to be taken as to whether protective sheaths are worthwhile. I would say yes but the game does get some serious playing time at our house. When things get stale and the strategies for each character type have been mastered, make sure you progress onto Pandemic on the Brink.All in all a strong 5 stars and a glowing recommendation from me. Enjoy...

Pandemic is a great introduction to the world of board games for all those people who expect you to bring out Monopoly or Cluedo when you suggest playing one. Pandemic is cooperative game for 2-4 players about travelling around the world and fighting four diseases and takes around an hour to play. This theme is portrayed strongly through all the elements in the box, from the different roles you can take, the disease cubes spreading if left unchecked to the epidemics that occur regularly throughout the game. The cooperative nature of the game leads to a sense of togetherness as you play, as well as promoting friendly conversation around the table, and will be a new experience for a lot of players.The rules of the game are tight, simple enough to learn and convey a sense of being able to affect the state of the game without wholly relying on random elements. A single turn consists of a player taking four actions which include moving, treating a disease, building a lab and curing a disease. After this the player will draw two cards, most of which are useful but a few (4-6 as determined at the start of the game) are epidemics which cause the disease to intensify through making them more likely to spread. Finally 2-4 more cards will be drawn from a second deck to determine which cities either became or increased their levels of infection this turn. After this play passes to the next player and they follow the same turn structure.The game is won when all four diseases are cured which you do by spending an action at a lab and discarding five cards of that diseases colour. Curing a disease does not, however, remove it from the game, if there are still cubes of that disease's colour on the board it can still spread. To stop a disease from affecting the board again you must remove all its disease cubes from the board and then that disease becomes eradicated. This is not required to win the game, but in certain circumstances can make your like much easier. Losing the game can happen in a number of ways. One way to lose is the card pool you draw from each turn works as a kind of timer, if ever someone can't draw at the end of a turn you lose. Another way is every time you are told to place a disease cube on a city with three disease cubes of that colour already there you cause an outbreak which puts disease cubes of that colour on each connected city. This, in turn, can cause a chain reaction effect making you repeat the action (although never back to a city that is part of the chain) and for every outbreak you move the outbreak marker along a track, if it reaches the last space you lose. Another way of losing is if you run out of disease cubes of a certain colour and have to place one, the disease is classed as having infected too many people and the game ends.So that's the basic overview of the game and if it sounds entertaining to you in any way you should try the game out. Having said that there are a few downsides to the game. Firstly, as I said, if you are a beginner in the world of board games it is a great starting point, but if you are more of a veteran it is harder to recommend the game. The content, for me, feels a bit too light, and after a game or two you'll likely have come up with a strategy that works unless you get unlucky with card draws or your role cards (this is more of an issue in the two player version). After about half a dozen games I also felt like I'd seen pretty much all the game had to offer and it was consigned back to my bookcase to be used only when there was someone new to introduce into board gaming. Of course, this in itself should make it a buy for even the most grizzled veteran, a game that successfully introduces new people to more complex board games without them looking for the exit. To some extent the problems would be fixed by adding a few more surprises to the decks, which is what the On the Brink expansion does, except I can't really recommend that expansion on the basis there is so little physical content in it for the same price as the base set.So, in summary, if you are new to the world of board games and this sounds good, get it. If you are used to board games, but have friends/family/significant others who you'd like to try board games, this is a really good choice (although there are other games that fill this slot). If you are a board gamer without any of that though it is a harder shout, you would really need the expansion to get more than half a dozen games out of it and then you are talking £40-50 which could, in my opinion, be spent on better games including its big brother, Pandemic Legacy.

This is the re-printed, restyled and updated version of Pandemic - a game where everyone has to cooperate to win (or lose) togetherFrom the 2008 Edition (and near identical 2012 reprint) there a few changes to components and artwork, plus 2 new player characters, but other than that game play is pretty much the same as before. The 2008 Edition has a more old fashioned feel (that some people like) but this is bit more modern and a little bit more interesting visually (imo). Owners of the original don't have much reason to update (in my view)Basically you have to work together to save the world. Every game plays differently and every game is challenging, you wont beat it first time. Play is fairly low on luck so you have to be thinking and planning from the start. I really don't know what else to say, it is about THE best co-op game out there.Component quality is reasonable but not outstanding. A lot of plastic components (all 96 disease markers, look funky though) but decent quality board and cards - pretty much what to expect from a modern Z-Man made game. I don't like the colouring of the player markers (there are 3 that are a different shade of "greenish" and the orange Medic card has a red player marker) and the unpainted Research Stations (why aren't they painted I wonder?). The Blue colour infection cards are more like purple too, which is slightly annoying if you are sensitive to such things. For those concerned about rumours of faulty boards (the first print run had missing link between Sao Paulo & Lagos) we got our copy from Amazon in early March 2013 and had no issues. If you do have a faulty board email Z-Man and they should send out a new oneIf you have only ever played "traditional" board games like Cluedo you really should try Pandemic, though if you are just starting out in the modern co-op genre then Forbidden Island is a little less challenging (and more family friendly, F.I. plays well with younger players from 6 or 7)

First off, I'm not a fan of board games. The time they take, the lack of what I feel is a story where I am not distracted by having to do mental arithmetic or covet a physical prop such as a card or special item, the irritating tendency of them to pitch people against each other and the inevitable persistence of the hierarchy of skill that follows (sooner or later, it becomes clear if you're playing the same people over and over, who is likely to win the most matches, followed by a clear chain of everyone else)... I'm not a fan! I'm not keen on PvP anything really... So when my husband begged me to play this, I wasn't too sure.But I have to say as this was my first board game in 20+ yrs, I was very impressed. Despite being a multidisciplinary PhD student with what I consider to be pretty awesome problem-solving capabilities, I'm really abysmal at learning how to play games. They always seem too complicated! I can't cope! I get confused and bored very quickly... not to mention that nobody likes feeling like they're the dumbest person in the room whilst everyone else is losing patience with their ineptitudes... LoL... But that's how I felt about board games before I met this one.First off, what's this? I'm not playing against the people I'm playing with? I am supposed to co-operate? Alright maybe I like to make it sound like I'm a loner, but truth is I'm happiest when everyone is my equal and I am allowed to help and ask for help as part of a team. Second of all, the rules weren't that complicated, so even *I* was able to follow them and learn them without losing my patience or getting bored (although it helps to have an experienced board gamer to help you take those first baby steps).Even better, once I started playing, I was able to use the kinds of problem-solving I *am* actually good at (the kind that made me good at doing research), which meant that much to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed playing it too! We'd have beaten the game first time if my husband hadn't managed to put *all* of the 'helpful' cards in cannon at the very bottom of the card deck. We beat it twice more. Granted this was on the easiest setting, and we chose the roles we wanted to learn how to use first, but I was still pretty shocked that my usual ineptitude didn't screw us over.If you have an understanding, background or passing interest in pathology I think you'll find this game interesting. It might annoy you in some ways at first because you may note a couple of differences to real life *but*, it's actually pretty good when you take a step back and think about it. If you have no grasp of those things or interest in them, I think you'll still enjoy the game plenty. It's challenging, it offers everyone a chance to develop problem-solving skills that I consider exceptionally useful and if you're someone like me who really doesn't like beating other people but prefers working along side them, you might just love this game to pieces.Nothing unites like a common enemy after all. ;)

I recently got back into board gaming after many years not playing them and was looking for something different that could be played co-operatively rather than competitively.Pandemic was mentioned many times as a great example so I decided to give it a try.This is an excellent game. I've been learning the game and playing it 2 player with my wife and we are finding it very enjoyable.The core of the game is playing as two people with different roles trying to travel around the world treating disease outbreaks ( of four different diseases) and trying to find cures whilst the outbreaks of these diseases escalate and epidemics emerge. The game has a mechanic to provide the spread and escalation of infection and outbreak, it's very well done. My mind boggles at the game designer coming up with this.It's a clever game yet not too complex and we found it accessible and were grasping it quickly.Soon we'll be adding our friend as a third player and really look forward to it.It's a great game to get your working together, communicating and forming strategy to try to prevent a worldwide unbeatable pandemic.This is an excellent game. Very impressed.

I can't rate this game highly enough, well thought through in all aspects.Luck - adding dice to a game speeds it up, but brings too much luck into it, this game has no dice, it does have cards which add randomness, but because of the way revealed cards are periodically returned to the top of the deck, this actually reduces the luck plus adds to the tactics by knowing such-and-such danger card is now back in the top 6? cards, and plan accordingly.Co-operative - I love the co-operative element in that you either all win, or all lose, so you need to work together, no sulking from the first loser of a game. Either way, it gets you all talking and interacting and suggesting and contradicting, which has to be a good thing as you feel like you've really participated.Pacing - the pacing (especially if you are just learning the game) is excellent, the first couple of rounds you are moping up the virus and accumulating cards thinking 'this is easy' we'll have won in no time, but the game steadily gets harder and harder with the pace set just right in that the final victory/defeat is probably decided by just one last turn either way. It even has a means of adjusting the difficulty according to the players.Replayability - this is very good, there are several characters with different skills to use, some good some useless for some of the game then essential at certain times. This gives variations in how you play it. Plus the initial distribution of the four infections varies (maybe only three of them are on the board to start?)There are many expansions to this game but you hardly need them as this has all the fun and skill you need for a roughly 45min game.

Pandemic - in my opinion - is the best board game ever published. It takes just the right amount of time to play (30-60 minutes), is cooperative so everyone playing is a team trying to beat the game which makes the social dynamic more engaging than a competitive game, the mechanics are basic and easy to learn, and the game is different each time you play. I have yet to find another game that borders on so close to perfect as this one. It doesn't even need the expansions (except for On the Brink - you have to get that just for the petri dishes for your disease cubes) which to me complicate an already precisely balanced game. I cannot praise this game enough, and everyone I've played it with has gone out and bought their own copies.

My wife and I play this every now and then, it was a good intro for us to board games. I would definitely recommend!!

Erg toepasselijk thuisquarantaine vermaak! We spelen meestal op een avond een paar rondjes achter elkaar, want het klaarzetten en opruimen is wel wat werk met al die kleine onderdelen. Zeer geschikt voor mensen die niet tegen hun verlies kunnen.

Great game, kids love it

Okay, to start out, I love love LOVE Pandemic! I admit it, I'm a bit competitive. I hate losing games. I'm generally fine with competitive games where the best strategist (or luckiest) wins, but I really dislike games (like Settlers of Catan) where some players can gang up on others. You pretty much don't have a chance when every other player is specifically playing against YOU. Pandemic is fantastic because you cooperative with the other players and you all win or lose together. I just absolutely love sitting at the table talking about all our options and strategizing together.My son introduced me to Pandemic several months ago, and I was hooked. We've spent several afternoons/evenings playing again--and again--and again. On many occasions when I am home alone, I play all by myself (playing two roles), and we've also played four players on several occasions.With two players and four epidemics, we win every time. With five epidemics, we win about 70% of the time. We've tried six epidemics a couple times, but have not been able to beat that game yet. Still trying! Ugh! As you increase the number of players, the game gets more difficult. With four players we've only played with four epidemics, and we win probably a little over half the time. I honestly think it would be impossible with four players and six epidemics, but someone has probably proven me wrong.We've even discovered another way to lose the game, which is not listed in the rule book! It says you can lose by having too many outbreaks, running out of disease cubes, or running out of player cards. We've lost in all those lovely ways. However, a couple of times, we've had only a few outbreaks, had plenty of cubes of each color left, and plenty of player cards. Three diseases cured, with only one to go. One of those times, we'd even gotten through all the epidemics, so there were none left in the infection deck! We've got it made, right? Uh, no. Turns out we discarded too many of the same color city cards, and there were only four left total, including in our hands and in the player deck. Neither of us was the Scientist, so that was an automatic loss. This is a danger when you get dealt a nice hand at the beginning, say two or even three of the same color. You decide to collect those, so when you discard, you are discarding the other colors. If you happen to keep drawing you "discard" color and it takes too long to collect the color(s) you want, you've now discarded too many of the other color and you don't have enough left at the end to cure the disease. Beware.We have also managed to lose the game on the very first turn. We were very unlucky drawing the infection cards when setting up the game: three on Karachi and Delhi, and two on Kolkata. Our first player did not have any way to get to that location to do even a little treating, and the first card drawn from the player deck was an epidemic. After resolving the epidemic, the first card drawn was Delhi, which caused a double outbreak (Delhi/Karachi) and put the third cube on Kolkata. The second card drawn was Kolkata, which was a triple outbreak (Kolkata/Delhi/Karachi) and lost us the game as there weren't enough disease cubes. Yep, lost on the very first player card drawn and there was not a single thing we could do about it.One slight change we sometimes make in the game is to draw 10 cards at the beginning instead of 9. The first nine infect the cities, and the tenth is where we place our player pawns and the first research station. It adds a level of difficulty to the game to not always start in Atlanta. We were noticing before that we always seemed to get in trouble with black and red, and we believe it was because all our players started so close to blue and yellow so those cities were easy to get to and treat. Now that we can start anywhere on the board, blue and yellow have become equal opportunity killers.There are a few things it is easy to get wrong. When the infection rate moves up, it's easy to forget to start drawing three cards (or four) since you're so accustomed to the lower number. It's also easy to forget to discard, not noticing that you have more than 7 cards in your hand. One scenario we've encountered a few times involves having 8 cards for literally a second. You meet another player on top of a research station, and share knowledge by pulling that city card from her. You now have 8 cards in your hand, but 5 of one color. Your very next action is going to be curing a disease, which will leave you with only 3 cards. But, before you cure that disease, you have 8 cards, so we think you have to discard one even though literally on your next action you will be discarding 5 cards. This is a little frustrating, but the rules specifically say that if you EVER (my emphasis) have more than 7 cards in your hand, you must discard (or play an event card).We were also a little confused by the role of the Researcher the first time we played. To be clear, when the Researcher shares knowledge, she and the other player must be on the same city, and the card can only go FROM the Researcher TO the other player (on either player's turn, as an action). She cannot take a card from the other player (and they cannot give one to her), unless it matches the city they are sitting on.It is also extremely easy to forget to infect cities after resolving an epidemic. You've spent a bunch of time resolving, then strategizing based on where the board stands now, and you completely forget that you still have to infect before going to the next player.Lastly, you are not supposed to choose your roles. We played with one person who had played before, and he said they always choose which roles they want. I suppose you can play that way if you want, but the game would be far less interesting because people would probably tend to choose the same roles every time. The instructions say to shuffle the role cards and deal them to each player -- that means they're supposed to be random. It's far more interesting and challenging when the roles change every time. A good part of the strategy is figuring out how to maximize the advantages that each role gives you in any given game.Pandemic is basically figuring out exactly how much effort you have to spend in each game sharing knowledge in order to cure diseases versus preventing outbreaks, all while maximizing the strategic use of whatever role you are playing. Spend too much time on one, and the other will get you. Sometimes you just have to say "oh well" and let an outbreak happen, even when you could have prevented it. It may just be more important to get to that one city in order to share knowledge than to get to the city where the outbreak is about to happen in order to prevent it. However we do try hard to prevent double outbreaks because things can get very bad very quickly when that happens.Okay I've rambled enough. If you're on the edge, buy this game! It's awesome. Every game is different and it never gets boring. It is equally fun with two or more players, although the more players, the more challenging it is. You can control the difficulty level by player with fewer or more epidemic cards. A+