Pandemic

[Oogie_Da_Bruce]

I was surprised to see there was no Pandemic Thread.

So, I've heard good things about this game and got to watch part of a game at the last SoCal Gamesday (Simi Game Knights). I liked what I saw and picked up a copy over the weekend, brought it home, and got my wife to play a game with me.

All things considered... I am VERY happy with my purchase (you can find it online in the low to mid $20's (plus shipping).

The contents are simple, but it is the gameplay that rocks. 2-5 players True co-op. The "enemy" are viruses that are driven by an "infection deck".

As the viruses spread across the globe, you and your teamates run around the world treating diseases in ravaged cities all the while trying to find a cure (by drawing, playing, or trading cards with other players). Each player has a special ability (role) that can help the team in a specific way (Dispatures help move, Scientist find cures easier, Medics can cleanse an entire city, etc).

The intensity of the game ramps up each time an Epidemic card is played and the infection deck discard is shuffled and then put on TOP of the infection deck. The already infected cities will begin to get MORE infected as their cards are drawn AGAIN. When a cities infection is too great, it spills to ALL nearby cities and things start so suck pretty bad. Epidemics happen 4 to 6 times a game.

The game ends when you find all four cures, the viruses take over, or you run out of cards. The game plays in 45 minutes to an hour.

In a presentation given by the game designer, he said, " I wanted to make a game that was fun, that my wife would play with me, took less than an hour, and where there were these chain reactions."

He suceeded. I played the game with my wife, we both had fun, it took about an hour, and the chain infections wiped us out (we thought we were all cool wiping out 3 virues, only having the last one crush us). Once the game was over, we talked about what we did and she was even throwing out new tactics for the next time we played!!!

I asked her, "So I take it you had fun?"

She answered, "Yeah, I did. It was nice being able to focus on the game itself and not worrying about how you were going to try and screw me over."

Love you too, babe.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30549 (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30549)

[SlikkRikk]

Glad to hear you picked this one up Oog. My in-law siblings enjoyed this so much I sold it to them! It's a great deal for 20 bucks.

[Lord Pyre]

I've really wanted to play this one. The co-op gameplay just sounds like a blast. And I haven't seen any bad reviews!

[boom]

You'll be bringing it on the 26th, I hope?

[Oogie_Da_Bruce]

Glad to hear you picked this one up Oog. My in-law siblings enjoyed this so much I sold it to them! It's a great deal for 20 bucks.

SOLD??? How could you sell Pandemic??? ;)

I've really wanted to play this one. The co-op gameplay just sounds like a blast. And I haven't seen any bad reviews!

It really fills a nice niche. Quick, fun and everyone is rooting for eachother to win. Nice change from the backstabbing.

You'll be bringing it on the 26th, I hope?

Of course. 5-10 mins to teach, wraps up in about an hour. It'll fit in nicely.

[SlikkRikk]

Glad to hear you picked this one up Oog. My in-law siblings enjoyed this so much I sold it to them! It's a great deal for 20 bucks.

SOLD??? How could you sell Pandemic??? ;)


Because I went to Vegas and 'donated' it!

[Oogie_Da_Bruce]

I also found out there was going to be an expansion, Pandemic: On the Brink coming out this year:

http://dreamwithboardgames.blogspot.com/2009/03/interview-with-matt-leacock.html

I'm in the process of reviewing the art for On The Brink (the Pandemic Expansion) that I designed with Tom Lehmann. I'm also working on a cooperative card game and usually have about a half-dozen ideas for other projects.
I designed the upcoming expansion with Tom Lehmann. It will include a batch of new roles, petri dishes for holding components, rules for 5-player games, new special action cards, and three new ways to play the game.
The roles and 5-player rules can simply be added to the base set. Players looking for more variety can add a 5th disease "The Mutation." For more challenge, players can add "The Virulent Strain" which makes one of the 4 diseases particularly nasty. Lastly, players can add "The Bio-Terrorist" which pits one player against the others.
I'm expecting the game to come out in mid-2009. You can check the Z-man site for official release information.

[SlikkRikk]

I'm actually really excited about the expansion for the fact that you can have the Bio-Terrorist. I like co-op games but am finding that I like co-op games with a traitor or enemy involved to be much more fun.

[Oogie_Da_Bruce]

I'm actually really excited about the expansion for the fact that you can have the Bio-Terrorist. I like co-op games but am finding that I like co-op games with a traitor or enemy involved to be much more fun.

Frakin' Toaster!!! New house rule when playing BSG: Rikk starts in the brig.

Actually, I'm looking forward to seeing what the new expansion will add. Bio-Terrorism sounds pretty nasty.

[LilNewbie]

Just call him SlikkRikkster or SlikkRoaster!!

Frakin' Toaster!! :D

Newb.

[SlikkRikk]

Hey! Cylons have feelings too ... ;)

[nyphot]

Hey! Cylons have feelings too ... ;)

Frakkin' toasters manipulating our emotions and hijacking our threads...

:)

I've only played Pandemic once plus we didn't get the rules fully right... we thought we had to eliminate all of the diseases rather than simply find all of the cures... so after we found all the cures and realized (looking at the deck) that we wouldn't have the time left to eliminate all of the diseases... we re-checked the rules and found that we'd already won.

Kind of anti-climactic.

But we're planning to play again soon, using more epidemics and knowing the actual rules. :)

[SlikkRikk]

Yeah, that happened to me once too. :D

The initial disease level I find to be quite easy unless you just have horrible luck. But after that, the next levels all seem to be hard. I'm not sure anyone could beat the game on the highest setting.

[RobertDD]

I heard this game was actually held up in customs when they imported it into the USA. Appearantly, the slogan "four deadly deceases in a cardboard box" prompted further investigation.

[Gryfalia]

I think War on Terror had the problem at Customs, don't know about Pandemic.

Love Pandemic tho, tons of fun, tho I suck at it...

[Oogie_Da_Bruce]

I heard this game was actually held up in customs when they imported it into the USA. Appearantly, the slogan "four deadly deceases in a cardboard box" prompted further investigation.

This was both shocking and funny at the same time. :shock::lol:

Good thing customs was on the ball. I would be more worried if it got through with that slogan.

Funny stuff though.

[WukieSlap]

Has anyone picked up the expansion yet? I'm very interested and its the first expansion another person has considered buying and bringing to my game night .I have made all previous purchases ={

[Drumline3469]

Has anyone picked up the expansion yet? I'm very interested and its the first expansion another person has considered buying and bringing to my game night .I have made all previous purchases ={

I have the expansion. He haven't played with the Bio Terrorist or with the Virulent Strain, but we have played with the Mutated Virus and that was pretty darn fun. Also, the roles and petri dishes alone are worth picking the expansion up for.

[nyys]

This game is number one of the Christmas List this year, looks like a lot of fun (and its cheap).

[jbbnbsmith]

I second the Christmas list notion. I've been watching this one for a while, but with the expansion and the petri dishes I'm sold.

[nyys]

Well it looks like I'll only need to ask for the expansion this holiday season.

I couldn't help myself as I was ordering gifts yesterday (can't divulge what in case the recipient(s) are on the board) and it was either pay $11 to ship the package or spend another $10 to get free shipping and get something for myself.

:whistle:

Can't wait. :woot:

[jbbnbsmith]

Well it looks like I'll only need to ask for the expansion this holiday season.

I couldn't help myself as I was ordering gifts yesterday (can't divulge what in case the recipient(s) are on the board) and it was either pay $11 to ship the package or spend another $10 to get free shipping and get something for myself.

:whistle:

Can't wait. :woot:
Sounds like you and I take a very similar appraoch to Christmas shopping!

[nyys]

Got it today... reading the instructions now. I'm tempted to play a Basic Game against myself.

[Drumline3469]

Got it today... reading the instructions now. I'm tempted to play a Basic Game against myself.

I did that a LOT when I first got it. Just testing how different roles interact and such.

[nyphot]

If you installed BrettspielWelt, you can set up two accounts and play "against" yourself on one computer. The nice thing about playing there is that you ensure you're playing the game correctly. :)

[Finrod]

I've had Pandemic for some time. It's a pretty regular fun game when we get a chance. I'm hoping to get the expansion for Christmas, also.

[Astronaut Jones]

I wanted to try this game. I like the idea of the co-op thing. How long does the average game take?

[Drumline3469]

I wanted to try this game. I like the idea of the co-op thing. How long does the average game take?

30 minutes or less, if you all know how to play already. 45 with explanation.

[nyys]

I'm not sure what's worse. Wanting the game but not having it, or having the game and not able to play. :(

[nyys]

Have it, played it, love it. :)

After a few games on my own, I got a game in with Monkeyclops today (the introductory). We won... barely.

We were one outbreak chain-reaction from both running out of blue cubes and setting off a host of outbreaks that probably wouldn't have stopped otherwise.

Time to play a 'real' game.

[bunjee]

The expansion is well worth the money. The extra roles and rule variants give more play for a game that is already fun to replay again and again.

[nyys]

Yep, it's on the Christmas list. If Santa doesn't deliver, then the post holiday spending spree will.

[Oogie_Da_Bruce]

Reposted from BGG:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/468468

It was the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday as some would call it. Didn't have to work and had a fridge full of leftovers; it looked like it was going to be a nice relaxing day till...

We got the call.

There were reports of wide spread Pandemics across the globe and once again the world needed our help. My wife and I grabbed our gear and headed out like we've done many times before. We're veterans, we've seen it all. We knew just how to handle this threat. But this time... it was different.

We were both fresh off some new training. I am a Contaminent Specialist equiped to diffuse the hottest areas. She is a Field Operative always studying the local strains. I knew I could be a big help right away. I wasn't afraid to get right into it and do the dirty work... but how useful could that bookworm be?

At CDC Headquarters, Atlanta:

We assessed the situation. Asia was the hotspot. 3 cities ripe with disease ready to burst, we knew we had to focus there. I rushed out quickly sweeping through the most infected cities. Angel, my wife, followed with her test tube while I was knee deep in it. Great... Once again I do the heavy lifting. Thing were moving along nicely till the governments got involved.

Epidemic Virulent Strain: Government Interference

Don't they know we have serious work to do? Where trying to save the world here and all they can think about is themselves. Save thousands or Save millions? They're always slowing us down.

Now I had to stop and treat every city with a sniffle instead of getting to my real objectives. This didn't slow down Angel. She already did enough analysis to know the strain. Our biggest threat would soon be defeated. [b]Perhaps I was to rash in judging her role.

Virulent Strain: Asia Neutralized.

Things were looking good. Some of the other viruses had gained ground, but the worst of them had been cured. However, it was still proving troublesome. Each time we though we were going to totally obliterate the virus, it kept growing, new cities all over Asia were showing symtoms, but eventually we did it. We could move on.

And move on we did. We shifted our focus and began to make up for lost time. We wern't used to dealing with a virulent strain, but that was behind us now... Or was it?

Virulent Strain: Hidden Pocket

What's the matter with People??? The governments plead with us, "Help us! Help us!" and we do. We find a cure and distribute it readily, but some people... some people don't come. I don't know if they don't trust us or they're just dumb. But the bottom line is they don't come in. And now this virulent strain is out there again and we have to deal with it.

To Hell with Them!!!

Angel has been doing a supurb job. We've cured 3 of the 4 major viruses out there and there are only a handful of mutations out there. We were close to solving the global problem. Asia can fester in their own mess.

I built a network of research stations to get us around the world quickly. It was a race against time. Who would win the ever expanding viruses or us?

Us, of course!!! (but just barely)

Angel and I sat back with a sense of contentment and acomplishment. What we thought would be another day at the office turned into a wild ride of unexpected events. We eagerly await the next time we get that call.

[LilNewbie]

Great report, ODB!

Newb.

[nyys]

Nice... can't wait to get my hands on the expansion.

[jbbnbsmith]

Got this and the expansion for Christmas. After playing a few games solitaire (but with multiple roles - very fun, by the way) I finally got a 5 player game in last night. Since it was a new game to everyone else, we played with only 4 epidemic cards.

Things were going pretty well for most of the game. We were doing a good job dealing with epidemics and containing outbreaks. Once we had two diseases cured i thought that perhaps I should have used a fifth epidemic card. But then suddenly I noticed that the player deck had only 8 cards left! I had been so focused on outbreaks and the number of cubes that I forgot about the time factor represented by the player deck. Panic ensued! At first it seemed there was no possible way we could win. We managed to cure the black disease, but now there was only time for three more player turns, and the cure for the blue disease was a long way away.

Then we got some great last minute cards. we were able to reduce the infection rate down to 1 card per turn. We also pulled the airlift card. This card, along with me as the Dispatcher moving other players around, allowed us to position pawns in close enough proximity to pass enough blue cards to have at least a glimmer of hope. But it still looked bleak. But as I drew the last two player cards, one of them allowed a player to choose a new role. My sister would have the last turn, and she chose the epidemiologist. She was able to obtain two more blue cards and cure the disease on her last action. It was truly a "just in the nick of time" ending.

What was really funny was how the game transitioned so suddenly from a fairly laid-back, casual gaming experience to a tense life and death situation. It was one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.

[nbxfan]

Could somebody please explain the need to evenly distribute the cards into piles if you are going to be combining them into one pile anyway. Perhaps I missed something. I thought maybe this eliminated some cards to make it tougher as there would be less cards to go thru but, it says distribute as evenly as possible before combining. Thanks.

[rym]

The reason is so that (hopefully) the Epidemic cards are distributed more evenly throughout the game. This way, you know that at least once every 11 or 12 cards, there will be an Epidemic. Otherwise, if you just randomly shuffle all the cards together, you could feasibly end up with 3 or even 4 Epidemics back to back.

It helps you strategize more, too, I think. When you know you have a few cards before the next Epidemic card shows up, you can (hopefully) plan a decisive strategy to prepare for it a little better.

By distributing the Epidemics into the equal piles, then the chances of them occuring back to back are lessened (although it has happened twice in 6 games for me :p).

Hope that helps.

[nbxfan]

Thanks, I naturally wasn't reading that correctly...diagrams and pictures even eluded me.

[rym]

In all fairness, it didn't make much sense to me, either, until the first time we played, and then we 'saw' the strategic value in having the game designed and setup this way.

So you're not alone. :lol:

[nyys]

Yeah, I've had the feared back to back epidemic hit in my second time playing... we were doomed from there.

[Darkmage7a]

Oddly enough it's actually not so bad when it happens back to back the first 2-3 turns. Because after that you usually have a long time to recover from it before another epidemic happens.

When you get back to back epidemics and there is already a scattering of issues on the board, that's when your know it's all over. Unless you have medic and a dispatcher exactly where you need them, even then it's still really hard. Really fun game though. I like the cooperative nature.

I just picked up the expansion pack but haven't had a chance to play it yet.

[nyys]

Listened to an interview on the Litte Metal Dog (http://littlemetaldog.wordpress.com/) show podcast (episode #3) with Matt Leacock (about Forbidden Island). When asked about other projects he made quick mention of a 2nd Pandemic expansion (no details)... :woot:

--

Great podcast in general by the way. In episode #2 there is an interview with none other than our own truth about Summoner Wars.

[SuperflyTNT]

Here's the best review of Pandemic, ever: :wink:

http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2010/04/pandemic-plague-induced-fall-of-man-has.html

[lafleurhero]

This is a very popular game with people that come over to play. People like the idea of working together to beat the game and the fact it plays so fast helps too.


Could somebody please explain the need to evenly distribute the cards into piles if you are going to be combining them into one pile anyway. Perhaps I missed something. I thought maybe this eliminated some cards to make it tougher as there would be less cards to go thru but, it says distribute as evenly as possible before combining. Thanks.

I wondered this and have never found a reason either. I do not play this way. I've heard other peoples responses that it spreads things more evenly and stops back to back epidemics. I don't find that to be true. I don't think having a predictable deck is a good thing. Also there is just as much chance of back to back epidemics either way. The way I play I shuffle in all the epidemic cards. Since people draw 2 cards at a time if they draw 2 epidemics then only one takes effect and the other is spared. It's made games much more interesting, not so predicable. It's a bit harder but I don't think that is bad, when your playing a game like this it should be harder. We are able to win about 1 in 3 games the way we play.

[Onacara]

The reason you do it that way is so that there is one Epidemic for every so many cards. Now you can still end up with back to back Epidemics if the Epidemic card ends as the last card in 1 quarter of the deck and the 1st card in the next quarter..but it prevents the possibility of all of them coming up in the beginning of the game or the possiblity of none of them coming up at all.

[LilMoochie]

My family has really enjoyed this game. We've had it (and expansion) in a box for a while and finally broke it out for a break from Catan. My kids get really into it and it's great to have everyone working together for once. This game is hard, though. VERY hard. Like you-can't-waste-a-single-turn-hard.

I think it's actually harder with more people (we played with 4) because the city cards end up spread out farther across the world and it's harder to get the cures developed. Using the dispatcher helps this a little because he/she can get players linked up trading research in various cities. Some of the expansion Roles are pretty good but you still need to strike a good balance between the disease preventers and the disease researchers. Our games without a dispatcher or medic/containment specialist invariably ended in defeat. We tried the bioterrorist mode once but I defeated them so soundly that we went back to work on fundamentals for a while. Bioterrorist mode takes serious -supercareful-honor-system-accounting, though. You track your movements on a piece of paper and I had to keep checking and doublechecking myself to make sure the moves were legal.

Spacing out the epidemic cards actually makes the game harder because the real liability in an epidemic card is the reshuffling of the infection discard pile and having to draw through the same cities again. It doesn't really matter if there's 3 disease cubes in a city you haven't had trouble with before but it's a huge resource draw curing (and eradicating) yellow so that Kinshasa, Lagos, and Khartoum stop outbreaking each other. Almost all of our losses were on time (no more player cards)- not outbreaks, though.