Stats:
No. of players: 2-5
Amount of time to play: 45 minutes
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time:  10 min

Description of Pandemic Rules:

Pandemic is a co-operative game in which you are trying to save the world from four diseases that are spreading quickly. Some people believe Pandemic is an excellent gateway game since it is pretty easy to learn and plays quickly.

Set-up takes a bit of time but once you have done it a few times it moves quickly. On your turn you have four actions. The basic actions you have to choose from are drive (or ferry), charter a flight, take a direct flight or shuttle flight. The special actions you may choose from are build a research station, share knowledge, treat a disease or cure a disease

A drive (or ferry) action consists of moving your pawn one space on the board following the red lines. You may also take a direct flight which requires you to discard the card of the city you are moving to. To charter a flight you must discard the card of the city you are in. A shuttle flight consists of moving from one research station to any other research station.

To build a research station you must discard the card of the city you are currently in. Share knowledge allows you to pass or receive the card from a player matching the city you are both in. When you treat a disease you remove one cube from your current city. Lastly if you have five cards of the same color and are at a research station you can cure a disease.

After you take your four actions you draw two cards from the draw pile an then you must infect. To infect you draw cards from the infection deck. You place one cube matching the color on the card into the city on the card. If a city has more than three cubes of one color there is an outbreak. An outbreak causes you to put one cube of the same disease into each connected city. If it already has three cubes in it, it also has an outbreak. After eight outbreaks the game is over.

Another twist is that when you draw an Epidemic Card from the draw pile you take a card from the bottom of the infection pile. This city gets three cubes instantly and then you add it to the infection discard pile which is shuffled and placed back on top of the infection draw pile. This means all the cities that just got infected will be infected again.

To help the players, at the start of the game each player gets a different role that gives them some help with the above actions. The Scientist only needs 4 cards to cure diseases. The Researcher can pass any card to another player no matter which city they are both currently in. The Operations Expert allows you to build a research station wherever he currently is. The Medic treats all cubes in a city using one action. And the Dispatcher may move other players’ pawns. There are also Special Event cards in the player draw pile that help the players and can be played at any time.

The game ends when any of the following conditions are met: there are no cubes of a disease left when you go to place one on the board, there are no cards in the player draw pile when you go to take one, you have eight outbreaks or you cure all four diseases. Only by curing all four diseases can the players beat the game.

A Quick Review of Pandemic:

I like Pandemic and although it is hard to type out the flow of the game, playing it is a tense experience, filled with fun. It is not an easy game. I have probably won the game somewhere between 40-50% of the time. All that said it is still enjoyable and since everyone is on the same team competitive spirits can remain calm. The theme is great and the mechanics of the game work wonderfully with the theme.

My biggest gripe against Pandemic is that I feel it can be played almost solitaire. There are two main goals contain diseases and cure diseases. With that narrow a scope any experienced player can figure out the best thing to do in most situations. This also can be problematic if you have someone in your group with a dominating personality. He or she can just instruct the other players as to what is best.

All that being said I still enjoy the game al ot and definitely recommend to most any gaming group.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6

Want a second opinion? Check out this review of Pandemic at Board Game Reviews by Josh.