Z-Man Games | Pandemic Legacy Season 1 Blue Edition | Board Game | Ages 13+ | For 2 to 4 Players | 60 Minutes Playing Time
Designed by Matt Leacock and Rob Daviau
Create your unique Pandemic Legacy experience by
- Making research stations permanent.
- Changing the state of cities.
- Altering the genetic code of the diseases.
- Upgrading your characters
- (Both Red and Blue versions are the same in content).
Pandemic Legacy
Season 1
The world is on the brink of disaster. In Pandemic Legacy, your disease-fighting team must keep four deadly diseases at bay for a whole year. Each month will bring surprises and your actions in each game will have repercussions on the next. Will you let cities fall to the diseases? Will your team be enough to keep the viruses at bay for a whole year? Craft your own unique Pandemic experience with Pandemic Legacy.
- An epic twist on the now classic Pandemic mechanisms.
- Ever-changing elements means that every game will be unique to your group.
- Shape the world, the characters and even the diseases.
What to expect
During the campaign, new rules and components will be introduced. These will sometimes require you to permanently alter the components of the game; this includes writing on cards, ripping up cards and placing permanent stickers on components. Your characters can gain skills or detrimental effects. A character can even be lost entirely, at which point it’s no longer available for play.
| Dimensions: | 7.49 x 27 x 37.01 cm; 2.08 Kilograms |
| Model: | ZM7170 |
| Colour: | Blue |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Age: | 12 – 111 years |
| Assembly: | No |
| Colour: | Blue |
| Quantity: | 1 |
If you like pandemic and can be a little obsessive, you’ll love this! The set evolves through a series of scenarios which are engaging, exciting and result in you having to keep on top of deciding what the right strategy is for each game. It’s also great for getting family back together at regular intervals – since you certainly can’t play it all in one sitting.
I would have liked that they departrd more from the original game (losing through a revolt/outbreak feels so pandemicish that you may feel you have already been there a hundred of times…).
Would have liked even more differences between barbarian tribes (especially with the Huns).
And there were no vestals by the 400s during most of the great invasions period, but I guess they *had* to put some female characters who ‘felt’ Roman.
So a great game, but I feel that a lot of pandemics fans may prefer the original one for thematic reasons, whereas history buffs may feel a bit frustrated by some mechanisms that were OK in the original game and feel a bit pasted on this one.
Over four separate days and around 18 hours of game play we had a huge amount of fun. Any reservations we had about having to mark the board permanently or make changes to cards were alleviated almost immediately by how exciting it was to see the game evolve as we played it. Objectives and goals changed as we played out an interesting story with shocking twists and turns. There was one shock in particular which genuinely affected me as much as the biggest movie twists I’ve ever seen – the kind that you don’t see coming at all and leave you reeling for days afterwards.
When it was all over we all felt sad and perhaps my only criticism of this game is that, at the end, all you can really do is throw away the beautiful board and game components (some you could keep as spares for the original game). I haven’t been able to bring myself to do that yet and maybe I’ll think of some interesting way to preserve it.
On a practical level, the rules are quite involved – some would say complicated – and, of course, they change as the game goes on (stickers are revealed with new rules which must be stuck into the rule book in designated spaces), but for the most part they’re well explained and the rewards make it worth the effort. It’s a lot easier to get to grips with if you’ve played the original Pandemic game before, and some of the early game play will be familiar to you if you’ve played some of the original game’s expansions. Not only in terms of the hours of game play and huge fun that this game delivers but also in terms of the quality and quantity of things that the box contains which are added to the game as it progresses, Legacy Season 1 is unquestionably full value for money even at 55. We’ve now got Season 2 and will be starting that next week!
The game is great, as all Pandemic games are. It arrived on time as expected and all seems brand new neatly packaged and unopened. However, as you can see from the images there is a dead fly stuck under the film of the board and some of the cubes aren’t exactly cube shaped. I appreciate if you just sell the game then perhaps this is a problem with your supplier. But it was certainly a surprise to find a squished fly and this is definatley a quality control issue you might need to pass on. (Sorry to leave this in the style of a review but I couldn’t find any direct contact details to you as the seller)
We played this with our 8 year old and 10 year old daughters and once we got the hang of it, we all had so much fun, collectively being disappointed when we initially lost and wanting to go again to win! On the first read of the rules, we were daunted but it is actually quite an easy game to play with minimal setup.
In most board games you are competing against each other, so it was refreshing to play a game where you have to all collaborate if you want to stand a chance of winning. This was a major selling point to me and I am pleased to say that the game certainly requires teamwork and it was very pleasing playing as a group together rather than trying to outdo each other. The atmosphere playing this game was very positive and we were all soon immersed in trying to stop the spread of infection and cure the diseases, discussing various strategies and approaches with the different roles each player had and the cards they were dealt.
Having only played traditional board games, this was the first game of this type we have played. I was unsure how my youngest daughter would take to it and wasn’t sure if my wife would like it but they both loved it. There is plenty of replay value in the game, particularly as there are 3 difficulty levels (increasing difficulty with adding more epidemic cards to the deck).
Overall, I can highly recommend this game.
We tried this game after seeing all the reviews and I’m glad we did, we even ended up buying an expansion set for the game. It’s a great concept and fun to play as a co-op rather than in competition of each other. I have played this as a 2 player with my husband and we love it. Can’t wait to play it with more people but it definitely has repeat playability value.
I was sceptical about the Legacy Games. Why would you buy a game with a limited life span of around 12 games?. Each game changing the rules and board for the next game creating a story. Well I was wrong. This game in the Pandemic universe is amazing and leads into Season 2 and I’m informed it will be a trilogy with a season 3. Will humanity survive? Forget nukes. Viruses are the real silent enemy
This game is gripping, challenging yet simple (a child can play this with a bunch of adults and have fun), the theme is perfect and it fits perfectly the mood of desperate collaboration to stop a challenging pandemic. I also got the on-the-brink expansion (absolutely recommended for the 5th disease, 5th player, new role cards and events, petri dishes for the cubes plus the virulent strain epidemic cards that spice things up, never played with the bio-terrorist). and recommend you to sleeve the cards to prevent them getting worn or marked… otherwise you’ll start recognising them from the back and ruin all the fun. Pandemic is in the top 10 of all times and there is a reason why! It is great!:-)
This game was something else. I played it at the Annual Whiskey and Beer Convention with a group of close friends. The rules we initially easy to pick up and the game flowed. However as time went by some of the symptoms in the game started taking on a life of their own; it was as if Jumanji was a disease. Rapid onset urination arose within 30 minutes of undoing the packaging with all 6 players somehow needing to go at the same time. Slurred words and short term memory loss developed within the hour. Two members of the group lost total consciousness and one of these lost their left eyebrow. Myself seemed relatively immune until the morning when I acquired a throbbing head and upset stomach. I think we will stick to Catan or Carcasonne for the next meeting.
Have played several games now and love that even with only the two of us how with the 7 different role cards we can switch it up and play different strategies. The number of epidemic cards can also be reduced for easier play and as it’s a co-op game you can even play multiple roles if you wish. I’d only reccomend sticking to the 4 max roles/players however.
The game it’s self is really easy to pick up and after one play through of double checking details we knew everything that was required. Perfect for 30-60 mins of play without too much setting up (or space required) or overthinking after a day of work. I know that this is a game I can get out at christmas and my family would take to rather then just being confused. There’s enough in it still however for multiple play throughs as well as several expansions to increase it’s life, which I’m looking forward to purchasing in the future.
If I had a complaint it would be that the actions you can do are quite limited and it would be nice to see a few more card types. I imagine the expansions will address some of this however.
I had heard positive things about this game – however after playing this twice I can heartily say that this is one of the best games I have ever played. Simply put – it has a quick setup time, plays superbly and is amazingly fun to play as a team with friends. The rules are simple enough my 9 year olds can play- but deep enough in tactics to challenge all ages. I have got back into board and tabletop games in the last couple of years – and can easily see myself buying more Pandemic expansions and versions – superb!
This is essentially Pandemic with added bells and whistles. If you like Pandemic, you’ll like this. If you’re into Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos then you’ll like it even more. It plays very similarly to classic Pandemic, but the inclusion of sanity effects, shoggoths and the characteristics of the Old Ones make for an even more tactical and challenging game. The art captures the Lovecraftian vibes very nicely too. Highly recommended.
Pandemic is a superb co-op game and its great to see this expansion back in print. There is enough information in the product description with whats new in the box, so I wont bore you with that. Needless to say, the virulent strain and mutation challenges offer up a really nice addition to the core game. More ways to win and therefore more ways to lose. In true Pandemic style though, you still have great fun even when receiving a heavy defeat. You should note that 3 players are required for the bio-terrorist challenge.
Not all challenges can be played simultaneously and not all in this expansion can be played with other expansions, but overall this is great fun that adds another layer of difficulty to seasoned Pandemic players looking for a bit extra.
I bought this as a birthday present for my fianc. It is so refreshing to play a cooperative game, with the players (2-4) working together as a team to ‘beat’ the game. The scenario is that deadly diseases have popped up across the world and you are working to find cures, while keeping the diseases at bay in the meantime. Each player has a special skill, such as being a researcher or emergency planner which can assist the team. The game can change in the turn of a card and at the point you think you have nearly eradicated a disease an epidemic can break out, which keeps it exciting to the end.
It is possible to play the game at different levels of difficulty while you build up experience. However, even experienced players will continue to enjoy it, as the game can throw up all sorts of challenges and there is certainly no guarantee you will beat the game, just because you have played before.
There are also various game extensions which can be purchased, but we are thoroughly enjoying the game in its most basic format.
I really like Pandemic and this expansion gives you a little bit more to play with without going overboard. The virulent strain makes each game a bit more unpredictable than usual without changing much of the dynamics of the original game. I really like the Bioterrorist as it gives a nice twist to the original game and I like the one against all for a change. The mutation is also quite good without being overly complicated. If you liked the original then this expansion will just give you a bit of a change without affecting any of the things that made you love the base game!
This game was very enjoyable to us, a family of four with two teenagers. We’re casual board game enthusiasts and really enjoyed the challenges, twists and turns PLS:1 brought us. We agreed to finish only one game month each session and at times this was more than enough: The game creates tension that left all of us drained after a number of especially intense sessions. The cooperative element is particularly enjoyable, and at times it was the 13 and 14 year olds who surprised their parents with insightful strategies. Well done and thank you, Z-Man Games! We loved it!
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 outbreaks
The 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!
This is a really enjoyable game to play. I haven’t played the original Pandemic so can’t compare but my wife and I really enjoyed the Co-op nature of it. It’s not too complex to learn and plays well with 2 people. We are looking forward to playing with more players and exploring the different dimensions to it. We’ve played 3 games so far and haven’t won any yet!
It’s a boardgame that you trash as you go. Love it! People might not think you get your moneys worth, but because it maintains the same storyline, you got so much more involved in the plot. It’s like that 24 TV series but you’re playing it, saving the world. Bit complex to set up, so not for younger children, and I recommend that you don’t leave it too long inbetween games (might forget where everything goes etc). I love this and I do really think it’s worth the money.
I own pandemic legacy season 1 and loved the base pandemic game. I also really like the lovecraftian mythos. This game is a really great combination of the two. While I found pandemic to be pretty fun, reign of cthulhu adds an extra level of difficulty which makes the game that much more fun. We had to play through 3 times on beginner before managing to win. Absolutely love the challenge.
What a brilliant board game! It took us a few times to get the hang of it as there is a lot of details you can miss. We won the first four games but it got gradually harder as we learned the rules, now it’s very challenging! I particularly like it because it’s not one my husband can beat me at!
You play as a team so you either all win or all loose and the game changes every time. Game length varies from 15 minutes to an hour.
There is an app version of the game, it’d have been nice to get the app for free having bought the board game.
Only 4 stars as a few cards seem to have suffered some damage on the backs during production…Which I suppose I can live with…
Game is good BUT Amazon srl and 3rd party supplier have sent me counterfeit copies in both Blue and Red version, respectively. Manufacturer has confirmed counterfeit. Description, with photos of true and counterfeit version from Amazon UK, at Reddit (and others) – Google “Pandemic Legacy – Fake copy vs. Genuine : boardgames – Reddit”).So I have now obtained it from an independant games supplier who opened the box and confirmed that it is a true Manufacturer’s copy, before posting it out.
This game is amazing. Its not just a reskin of pandemic, the additional mechanics added really help keep the lovecraft theme strong. The miniatures are amazing and component quality is great. The game actually runs a little quicker than regular pandemic which is nice as it keeps the feeling of needing to deal with situations nerve wracking as it should be. It is more challenging than pandemic as things can go downhill fast and thats what makes playing this so addictive and enjoyable.
We hadn’t played this before or the normal pandemic game so it was a bit of a gamble.
Just played our first game of normal pandemic using the legacy board and it’s really fun.
We played 2 characters Each and left out the generalist.
It’s a real rollercoaster of a game that will have you trying to traverse the board quickly. We managed to win the game without an outbreak happening.
Going to play one more standard game and then start the legacy at the end of January.
Wholeheartedly recommended.
The mechanics of game play differ slightly from pandemic , so while it will be familiar to such players it does offer a different experience.
A very enjoyable game especially with 3-4 players , good replayability with the selection of Old ones available and the manner in which they are used in the game creates a different flow and effect each time.
Was dispatched and arrived very well packaged and very quickly.
We opened this on Boxing Day and ended up playing about 6 games back-to-back (with different people joining in for different rounds). We started on the easy level and beat the game 4 times (easy and standard level). But were beaten twice by the game on the advanced level (6 epidemic cards in the deck).
Loved the different characters (and their different skills), the co-operative nature of the game and how quickly you’re in the thick of an epidemic! We’d definitely consider buying other games in this series and are already looking at Pandemic Legacy.
Was this game too much for our 10-year-old? Probably, given the “pain in the bum” mood he was in but his younger brother came to watch us and joined in for a game. He understood the rules, the basic tactics and liked the fact it was a co-operative game (so we could help him out and explain what we were doing). So, if your kids are into board games, don’t be put off. Catch them in the right mood and they’ll love this.
Congratulations to the designers of this outstanding, co-operative, non zero-sum (between players) board game. Players work together to prevent, treat and cure outbreaks of infectious disease in cities scattered throughout the globe. Players are assigned specialist roles/talents and work together against the clock and the deck to find cures for four types of disease. The perfect antidote to potentially-fractious competitive family gaming at Christmas: either everyone wins and all take the credit, or everyone loses with no individual taking the blame.
The goal is to deliver the 4 cures to the 4 viruses that are spreading over the world.
The ‘board’ wins if there are no more virus pieces to place on the board; or if there are more than 8 outbreaks; or if there are no more playing cards in the deck. There is a lot of strategy and discussion involved among the team during each person’s turn.
This is an excellent game to develop communication and listening skills. There are different levels of difficulty depending on the skill and age range of the team. I have played it many times with different groups and ages of people and each game is different and enjoyable.
Once very experienced a typical game might take about 45 mins. Inexperienced players might take 1-1.5hrs, depending on how quickly decisions are made as to what is the best option to do. I would highly recommend this game.
The quality of the game is excellent, it is very well made and tokens are made from plastic. It is better than previous version which was from cardboard.
Main plus for this game is that it doesn’t have a lot of cards or tokens. It has 2 decks of cards, 6 research stations, pawns and disease cubes. That’s it! So, it is very easy to prepare the game (just few minutes) and there is very small chance to lose the tokens like it is with bigger games which consist of sooo many small details, that it is mind blowing to put it all back together.
So, I definitely recommend this game and I think that this game should be in everyone’s collection if they are interested in gaming even just a little bit. It will be fun to play with friends and family. And from my own experience, I don’t know anybody who didn’t like the game.
We’ve played Pandemic a few times and enjoyed it. Cthulhu-inspired games (such as Cthulhu Munchin) have long been popular with us as well. So after an Dork Tower cartoon said their was joining of Cthulhu and Pandemic, we had to give it a try. And we really love it! There’s many, many bits in the style of Pandemic, but the game is much faster and more frenetic. Movement seems more fluid than the original – for example, in the last game, on one turn 3 of us all ended on the same location (purposefully) – that would have taken a lot more effort with the original.
TL;DR: If you like Pandemic, buy this and enjoy!
Wow, what an awesome game! Having not played a co-operative strategy game before and also being very new to the concept of board gaming as a hobby I decided to research the top board games for 2017. Pandemic Legacy was near the top of the list so I took a gamble and purchased this game and I’m so glad that I did! This game has brought my friends and I away from the constant checking of phones to the constant discussion of what move to perform next. We have played 4 months so far and managed to get something wrong each time….hopefully we’ll get it right by month 12.
I highly recommend this game if you want to get your friends engaging and communicating with each other over an intriguing board game for an afternoon as opposed to the usual social media propaganda!
This game is amazing. I was so invested in the story and the characters, that when something happened later in the game I was genuinely distraught, as were my fellow gamers. I absolutely cannot wait for Season 2.
If you have any qualms about buying this, just do it. I know it’s got a definite end point after which you can’t play, but there is more than enough gameplay to keep you satisfied for a long time. Couldn’t recommend it more!
This is a brilliant game. Best if you have played the normal pandemic (though you can play a few games with the normal rules before you start the legacy version), this game is perfect as a legacy game. For those of you that have not played a legacy game before, legacy games change (in this case permanently) as you play through them, in this case from one game to the next. You will only be able to play this through once (you play about 12-20 games, 60-90 minutes a go in one play through), the board is changed permanently as are some of the cards, you might even rip up parts of the game in some cases.
When I first played standard Pandemic it was the first cooperative game I’d played and as a very competitive person I was highly sceptical of the idea, the standard game convinced me cooperative gameplay was enjoyable but the Legacy version proved to be a fantastic cooperative! With 2 dedicated friends we’ve debated every potential move, argued, celebrated, commiserated and been an uber group against this sneaky little game.
It’s true that no game is the same, there’s always new challenges, if you enjoy playing strategy games and challenging your gaming group this is for you. I hope you enjoy it as much as we are!
By my title don’t assume assume the game is easy to beat. It is however easy to play and can be learnt and taught quickly.
Over time the simplicity may cause it to become a bit repetitive but you will get your money’s worth until then and there are expansions afterwards.
If you are interested I would say go for it. Good cooperative game which slightly older children would get to grips with.
Analogue gaming, can’t beat it for social interaction in a digital world.
Took a game or two to really understanding the gameplay mechanics but it honestly isn’t that difficult to pick up if you take your time and read the instructions. I’ve played it with my boyfriend (just the 2 of us) and the game is enjoyable and fun with the minimum required players. Never played a co-operative board game before this and I would honestly really recommend it. The games don’t last that long and my only criticism is it does start to get a bit boring after a couple of playthroughs in short succession.
Also maybe providing a link to a video explaining the rules within the box would be good, as it’s always a challenge explaining the rules to new players as there are so many of them.
Basically you, and your friends, are trying to cure the planet of 4 deadly diseases. It’s intended for a maximum of 4 players giving 1 pawn per person although you can actually solo the game but play as 4 characters, either way works really, the game does offer you to play with less pawns, but where’s the fun in that?
The introduction setup for the game makes this a good chance for a first play victory however after this, when you use the full deck, things can get harder, although it’s by no means easy to win!
Teamwork is critical and how you play even more so.
This is a great game that actually isn’t too complicated and will give you hours of entertainment, I strongly recommend it to anyone, best part about it is you all win or you all lose, noone is left out.
One of the winning difficulties is that you can never actually eradicate a disease, which you can do in usual Pandemic . So, even when a ‘cure’ has been found, new incidences of that disease still keep on occurring. You have to be very careful not to leave an area isolated from the railtracks you lay, otherwise they become inaccessible. We are very keen Pandemic players, and have enjoyed many games of this version.
The other half and I are pretty nerdy and this game is perfect for us.
I love the fact it is so hard to win, especially if you have all the epidemic cards in play and you both have less than perfect roles!!
If you are a fan of plague inc. you will absolutely love this – it’s absolutely brilliant.
Play lasts for about an hour with 2 people playing.
I recommend watching the video “getting started” guide from the makers before playing for the first time. Not only does it explain things much easier than the booklet – being able to visually see the board set up taking place is much quicker!!
When I bought this to play with my son (10 yo) I thought I’d have a quick play through, on my own, to make sure I know the rules. I really enjoyed it! Even as a 1 player (with two roles) I had fun.
This is our current go to board game, beating Cantan, battle wizards, exploding kittens, etc.
The best way to playing is using all 6 epidemic cards to make winning the game a rarity.
Read the rules – properly. My wife and I picked up Pandemic and thought we’d read all of the rules, only to have the game beat us cruelly every single time. It wasn’t until we returned to the rulebook some weeks later that we realised that we’d been playing in an un-Godly difficulty not even mentioned in the book.
The rules are fairly long, but this is a game that is as rewarding as they come. The scenario (saving the world from a virus) is fresh and gameplay is frantic. Players quick find themselves working together against the game, rather than playing the game against each other.
We absolutely love Pandemic – it’s a wonderful board game and one that every board game lover should have in their collection.
If you are expecting a game like the original pandemic or pandemic:Iberia, then you will not find that here, however when played you WILL come across several mechanisms that are similar: the 2 decks, the removal of blocks, etc
This game plays faster than normal pandemic and it more brutal. We love it.
Such an amazing game – I got it for my teenage brother, as I already have a copy of my own but don’t live at home any more. It’s great for all ages – the neighbour’s child plays it with us and she’s in primary school. I play it (20s) with my partner all the time. The cooperative nature of the game is great – so unique. I didn’t think I could love Pandemic more than I already did, but this expansion brings all sorts of new dimensions to it!
Easy to get started, this is an excellent cooperative game for 2-4 players. The mechanics of the game are simple, but the game is difficult to beat and you can tailor the difficulty by adding more Epidemic cards into the player deck. There is a lot of replay value as no two games are the same, each player is assigned random roles which have different abilities to each other, players have to work together to discover and cure the diseases. It’s not the most complex of games to play and master, but if you’re looking for a game that is a lot of fun and doesn’t take up all afternoon (1 hour approx), then I would recommend this to all.
A fully packed box. No unnecessary air in here. 1 game down up to 23 more to go. Lots of exciting looking stickers and top secret files. The secrets are well packaged so as long as you are careful there won’t be any spoilers. Don’t be put off by the idea of vandalising / defacing the board, I have a feeling it is really going to add something special to replaying it each time. Really looking forward to getting the group round the table again for the next game.
This is Pandemic with a twist. The ‘Legacy’ part means that the game evolves as you play it. You play characters, working as a team, fighting four contagious diseases over the course of twelve in-game months. Each play session can alter the game board with stickers or cause you to rip up cards etc. This alters the course of the game and can add surprising twists that will be individual to your copy of the game.
It’s a great way to make a game unique and more interesting by increasing the stakes and tailoring it to your play style.
It does mean you will only get to play it once as a Legacy game (that does mean somewhere between 12 and 24 individual games) although you can use the board as a standard Pandemic board afterwards.
It’s a really good game!
The board and piece quality are great, and I was thrilled to discover that the game provides enough bags to fit all the pieces in (something I’ve found that a lot of games don’t). The rules are incredibly simple to follow, and the set up time is quite quick for this sort of game. Game length for 4 people was about an hour, but we did discuss our moves a lot so you could probably play a lot quicker.
As a word of advice: Try to spread your people across the board, and make sure to stay well ahead of outbreaks. It’s easy to ignore them when you’re about to get a cure, but that’s when you get an epidemic and everything goes down hill very fast. Good luck!
Really enjoyed this game, we bought it as we have started getting into playing board games and are looking for good games to play as a couple. This works well with 2 people and my other half loves the fact that it is co-operative rather than competitive. It is easy to pick up, but not that easy to win, the different roles available and the ability to increase the difficulty should allow a lot of replayability even once you are experienced at it.
I love pandemic, and was apprehensive about buying a co-op games that was only a one time through play. It was a lot of money for what it is. Well, I am not disappointed. A group of us got together and bought this game and it is amazing. This game is so adaptable for the decisions you make. It’s a game that we are playing as often as we can, and usually two games when we meet.
Even the first game we played blew our mind, then it just got worse. There are things to open when certain criteria are hit. It has parts to open and destroy and it’s great.
I recommend it. Roll on Season 2!
The original Pandemic has a higher barrier of entry and plays for longer. This you can just set it out and go. I also love the dice – something just feels so good about rolling them for the randomness rather than just drawing from a shuffled pile of cards. It does bring more of a random element, but I think that’s a good thing.
All components are good quality – I heard that in a later printing of this game though that the character cards aren’t cut out the same and the expansion is cut out like normal cards, so if you get the expansion you might need to randomly select a colour pawn rather than shuffle and deal those cards.
Trying to save the world from several epidemics at once? Count me in. This is an easy-to-learn game and very good fun, and works well with one to four people. Because it’s cooperative, too, you can play with four characters in game and take shared responsibility for the extras, if you want to do that, or just play with as many as you have people.
Domineering people should be careful to let others make their own choices rather than try and run a game all by yourself! This works well with a nicely balanced group and good conversation.
If you love this game, you should also try Pandemic Legacy for a ‘campaign’ version, where the very game changes around you
Having recently decided to play more board games I picked Pandemic as my first. For the price point you will get hours of enjoyment from this game. You can play it by yourself, with two people or even more if you have that many friends.
The game is set on the planet Earth and there have been four outbreaks of diseases and it is your role to find ways to eliminate them. Communication in this game is key but for a more challenging run through you can also ban certain types of communication or prevent each other from looking at their cards.
Be aware that this is a cooperative game. This alone was a revelation for me.
Oh, WOW.
If you have not played pandemic yet, go get some practice, maybe try on the brink expansion first, then come back. IT WILL HELP.
If you enjoy pandemic, this is the next step. forget those mad dash to cures ignoring the rest of the world for the win. This is a series of games that adds to what you already know and the game you love.
See it as an investment to entertainment. You will only get to play a limited of 12-24 games as you change the board, but we have found it was worth it. We may even try to take features and additions into our normal games to spice things up.
I’m not saying anymore due to spoilers, each normal game will take about an hour as you have extra jobs before and after the game that all adds to the enjoyment, dare I say excitement of virus outbreaks across the globe.
I’m not sure whether I would buy it again, but I would recommend it if you enjoy pandemic and want an ongoing challenge with friends.
We have had this game for awhile now and really love it, we’ve even purchased the ipad version for travelling and played it loads. Once you get the hang of it it is so fun, more fun with at least 3 players if not more but we also play a lot with 2 players. We really like the variation of characters you can be and how quickly things can go from good to disaster. So much fun! Looking forward to getting some expansions!
PS – if you can’t truly bring yourself to permantly alter the game there are plenty of guides online on how to keep the game in pristine condition without needed to destroy or mark cards but in my opinion this changes the nature of the game and other players might want to just get on with the game.
However, at home we played this and we worked together, really careful with how we played and we actually beat the game which was delightful. very exciting game. need a few hours to enjoy playing it though.
This is a game I truly believe anyone can truly get into. It is intelligent, it is addictive, and it is HARD. You never know what you are going to get with this game and that is what makes it so good. A good range of characters to chose from (each with their own abilities) and the various difficulty options means the scope for replayability is huge. Put it this way – me and my partner have definitely played this game over fifty times in the last four months or so (mainly because we lose and end up playing multiple times a night!), and we are still not bored of it.
For anyone wondering whether this works as a 2 player, it certainly does. A lot of people say to select two characters each if you are playing as a two but we both prefer to play with just one each as we find it works really well.
The game has two new main elements, the first is a set of cards which replace the original epidemic cards, which have more brutal effects on the game, as well as the inclusion of the virulent strain rule. The new, purple, epidemic cards now have more information on them, as they have effects on the virulent strain, as well as the traditional epidemic procedure.
The second main element of the game is a new competitive set of rules, where one player plays as a bio terrorist. This player doesn’t take part in the conventional sense, instead keeping tracking of his or her movements on a move sheet (a pad of which is included). The remaining players need to defeat the bio terrorist, or be defeated! The game advises that this game is for three or more players, but we have managed to play it as a two, with one player as the bio terrorist, and the second player as two separate players.
The only downside to this expansion, as we see it, is that it makes the cooperative game incredibly difficult at times. It can some times be frustrating how incredibly difficult it is to win, especially playing as a two, or on anything higher than the lower few levels. That said, a fantastic game and expansion, which adds some great rules to the game!
A great game, and a fantastic theme. Who doesn’t like trying to save the world from a global disease outbreak or two, and this falls into my favourite category of board games, that rare breed – the cooperative board game. Play with 2-4 players (the more the merrier).
It’s a challenging game to beat, but if it was too easy it wouldn’t be an accomplishment when you do finally save the world.
Lots of expansions out the for this one to keep the game fresh and exciting. Personally I’m looking forward to playing Pandemic Legacy which sounds like the original game on steroids.
Lately I’ve been doing a fair bit for research on board games that can be played with 2-3 players, aren’t too simplistic or oozing a theme that might divide its players. What piqued my interest was the subtle theme and dice chucking gameplay of Pandemic The Cure.
Dice represent viruses that are blind-drawn from a bag then thrown at each player’s turn. These then end up in different regions based on their face value. Players then travel around these continents, trying to contain the virus and treat as many instances as possible. There are outbreaks, special events and the luck of the draw of course (who doesn’t love throwing dice?) to keep things interesting.
Players are able to choose from 7 distinct characters that have one or two special abilities and custom dice which is a very neat touch. Each person therefore excels in particular areas, but is able to make due on their own.
Although the official rules state that the game is made for 2-5 players, lots and lots of people play solo (nothing stopping you from picking two or more characters!), and I’d argue that even though not ideal, you can squeeze in more than 5 players since you have 7 characters. Just need to balance the difficulty using the board and dice – maybe some house rules – to offset this.
Production values are great and the coloured dice are a lot of fun to use. The game’s theme isn’t as strong and oppressive, making it both a great family game and brilliant choice for more serious gamers alike.
By far my favourite co-op game. As a complete beginner to board games only a few months ago I was looking for gateway games and co-ops had the biggest draw for me and my partner, working together was a huge plus for both of us. Pandemic was an instant classic with its simple mechanics and replayability due to the number of roles available and the ability to change the difficulty to match your ability. if you are interested in gaming at all then Pandemic will provide you with many playthroughs even before expansions are introduced. Especially good for parties of people who have never played board games before.
Pros:
Exciting from turn one
Simple layout with a familiar map
Can easily replay without becoming repetitive
Cons:
Cannot think of any!
I absolutely love this game and I was thrilled to get my first copy.
The only downside is that my copy included two of the same Scientist player piece and no Dispatcher player piece. However I’ve contacted the manufacturer on their website and requested a correct player piece.
The game is amazing. I have played it twice by myself already, controlling two roles, two hands and with 4 epidemic cards. First time I lost just one move from victory, the second time I won within one move of a breakout loss.
The game is just spectacular, even to play alone. Really strategic and the way it’s balanced and escalates wildly the longer you play is masterful. You can feel like you’re getting on really well and that you might have an easy victory and the game will whip the rug out from under you and smoosh your weeping face into a spectacular failure.
Can’t recommend enough.
It’s great for team work and communication and even then it’s a hard task to win the game occasionally.
It’s definitely an advantage to have the role of the medic with you – which you can choose. However every time we play the game we shuffle the role cards for each player and you then have a choice of two cards and you might end up not having the medic in the game.
It’s definitely one of the best games I have bought recently. Looking forward to try one of the expansion games of this game.
It’s a tough game, even on “easy” difficulty. Until now, the amount of games lost is greatly outnumbering the amount of games won, but we’re just trying new tactics every time. If the game becomes too easy, you can add extra infection-cards, which will make the game a lot more difficult. The standard game is played with 4 infection cards, but the difficulty can go up to 5 or 6 cards.
I recommend this game for anyone who wants to play board games, but hates losing as a person, since either everyone wins or everyone loses in this game. I don’t give it 5 stars, because the difficulty might be too high for beginning players, which can take the joy out of the game pretty fast.
The only trouble is we’ve never actually won! Came very close….but then someone will draw an epidemic card and suddenly we’re completely out of control.
I love the fact it is you verses the game…and the game is evil! It is really interesting discussing options with other players and trying to work out a strategy. I just hope we win soon.
You’re working together with the other players to try and stop disease spreading around the world. You will need to plan your actions and make best use of your characters special powers if you’re going to save the world! The game is simple enough to play with youngsters, but you can ramp up the difficulty to give even the most hardcore gamer a challenge.
Okay, so I haven’t actually tried this one yet, but Pandemic (the original game) is my absolutely favourite game for two people! We’ve played it A LOT and though we still don’t always win with 6 epidemics – it really depends on the combination of characters you get – we wanted to try something else. Instead of buying a new game, I’ve decided to try this expansion first (I hear there are two more) and hopefully it will be so much fun as the first one. I plan to use it during my upcoming vacations.
The quality of the pieces is really nice – the petri dishes add a nice touch and the new box insert is set up to store all new and old pieces neatly in one box. They set provides you with a sticker or a card to put on your board for the cure spot for the new disease so you can choose to keep your old board pristine.
If you hadn’t realised, this IS an expansion and you NEED the original Pandemic to play it!
A great if not difficult expansion to the core game. The new box and pettri dishes make storing all the pieces easier, the new Event games are brilliant as to are the new roles – trust me, even if they don’t fill you with excitement immediately, they are so good and make such a difference to the game.
The Bio Terrorist is fantastic, as to id the mutation event – although read the instructions for this carefully as it works completely differently tot he rest.
If you love Pandemic and want more – this is a mus
Luckily we had a miniature blue comb in a Christmas cracker 🙂
However it has to be 5* for the cracking game, very different from the norm. You spend all of your time working together to understand, propose and direct everyone in order to win.
One tip, set the board up and try to start playing whilst reading the rules. We lost an hour trying to work it out (could’ve been the mince pies and mulled wine) but once we gave up reading and started playing it all become clear very quickly.
On the Brink is a slightly expensive but essential expansion for Pandemic. The extra roles keep the game fresh and the event cards likewise. The virilant strain modification is excellent, in fact, last night’s game came to an abrupt halt due to having to draw an extra infection card thus causing 10 outbreaks at once (yes, the board was getting out of hand).
The mutation (purple cubes) is not that exciting and after trying it a few times I don’t think it adds that much to the basic game (hence 4 stars). I have not tried the bio-terrorist mod yet but on roles, events, virilant strain and the cool petri dishes you also get, it’s worth getting if you’re a pandemic fan. You must have Pandemic 2013 edition before buying this.
I’ve played this with my daughter and son-in-law a few times and decided to get the new edition for my son-in-law at Christmas. I was delighted that he had done the same for me. It’s a co-operative game with everyone working together to succeed in wiping out the pandemic before the cards run out. I can’t think of any other game where I’ve gone away and spent the next couple of days trying to think of a strategy to help us win. Do start at the easiest level if you’re not a good loser!
A brilliant game! Once you start playing, it all fits together and all future games are easily understood. As you help each other (all versus the board) anyone who doesn’t know the game soon picks it up. No one loses – it’s all win or all lose, so no bad feelings. I love playing this game as it is different every time – different characters each with their own specialisms and you never know who will be in the team until you deal the role cards. Moving around the world has also improved my geography. I’ve yet to find someone who doesn’t like it. If in doubt go for it!!
Gawd! I knew I was going to like this game but I couldn’t have prepared myself for how involved the gameplay is. It really draws the players in and before you know it you’re immersed in your team fighting a pandemic across the world! The rules are a little ambiguous in places and are easy to misunderstand. We were delighted but couldn’t believe that we managed to win the first game so easily until we realised that we’d inadvertently made it much easier for ourselves. Playing to the rules properly, we haven’t won a game since but it hasn’t stopped us enjoying it! The 5th star was lost because there is a contradiction in age suitability. It says here that it’s 10+ but the game states 13+ (zoom in to the top right of the main picture).
Unlike any other game I’ve played, all the players work together and either win together or lose together!
Each player plays a different role (medic, researcher etc.) and the aim is to control the outbreaks of four different pandemics. The game shouldn’t take more than about an hour to play but it is often down to the last few moves whether you succeed or not. All players can communicate freely i.e. you’re all joining in on each other’s turn to decide on the most effective plan of action.
The aim is to research cures for all four strands of disease and it is also possible to eradicate diseases although that is not necessary to win.
Good fun for all players and for once it doesn’t cause arguments about who’s attacking who or who has the luckier dice…you either all win or all lose!
Pandemic is just a really good puzzle. It’s not a particularly deep one, so very sensible tactics (if not solutions) rise to the surface of its petri dish after just a few plays, but what Pandemic lacks in obscurity it makes up for in accessibility. Absolutely anybody can play this game, because this apocalypse of gelatinous cubes you’re all staring at is so marvellously visual, the theme is intriguing to all, and as a nice bonus it’s every bit as much fun with two, three or four players.
It’s a perfect game for couples. Just think! You. Your loved one. A cheap bottle of wine and a simulated apocalypse. Bliss.
At just 25 for its slim little box, Pandemic might be the most sensible purchase in board gaming. Not simply because it’s lovely, but because it’s modular.
Great game. Our first go at a cooperative game and we really like it. It’s not like anything we’ve played before and so far we’ve not tried all the roles out in all the combinations but so far it holds up well. Replayabilty value is high due to the variety of roles available and the mechanics controlling the spread of the diseases. Which, also cause diseases to suddenly crop up in parts of the world you weren’t watching. There are also three difficulty levels which allow you to change the game a bit depending on the experience of the players.
Works well as a two player as well. Not something we’ve experienced yet but a complaint on boardgamegeek is that it can suffer from “alpha player syndrome” if you get someone playing who can’t exercise some self control when playing with less experienced players.
Great game but if the world is ever in this much danger for real, I’ll stock up on chainsaw fuel and lock my self in the house!!
I like playing games where players fight against the game. This one is very good, for now I played it once by myself just to try it out.
The rules are quite simple if you are a regular player of those kind of games. You are doctors (every doctor has a special ability) and there are four kinds of diseases you have to cure. Every turn there is a spread of one of disease (different colors present different disease). There can be an outbreak and other incidents. Every turn you have 4 moves – you can move, travel, cure, build or exchange. It is played with cards, so you can travel or build or develop a cure with those cards. When you develop a cure for all four diseases you win. You lose when you run out of playing cards.
The only thing I didn’t like was the quality of cards and figures. The figures are very simple so you don’t get the real feeling out of playing a doctor.
Otherwise I recommend it!
I’ve been looking to add to our collection of board games as we enjoy having a good game session some nights. This game got great reviews and intrigued me because of its cooperative gameplay, something I haven’t really played before. It has now become one of our favourite games to play and provides a genuine challenge for the team each time. I think someone reviewing the game on youtube said that this is a game don’t play, you survive it. That seems a fairly accurate portrayal of how you can feel during this game. This game makes you think and at times, depending on the difficulty level you play on, it will give you a good hiding too. Rules are easy to get to grips with in general. I spent about 30-45 minutes reading the rules to get an understanding of the dynamics of the game. After that I was able to play the game without much need to clarify anything. I also found that explaining the rules to others was a quick process and people are able to pick up the game very smoothly during their first play through. Games usually last just over an hour for us, and although it is for 2-4 players you can easily play with more than 4 and just have additional players adding their input into what the team should do with their next moves.
If you’re looking for a challenging team game you can’t go far wrong with Pandemic.
Three new scenarios are added which make the game feel different. Mutation and Virulent Strain adds a fifth disease to make everything worse – in both scenarios it acts in different ways.
A Bio Terrorist mode is added, where one player utilises secret movement on the board (recorded via a pad) and can spread disease. It’s up to the other players to try and catch the terrorist whilst also eliminating the diseases.
Other odd changes are made – a fifth player is added, as well as multiple roles and several new difficulty levels if you’re feeling brave.
Personally, this is the ultimate shine to an already brilliant game, adding nice little variations so that you don’t feel the game getting too old if you play it too often.
I first saw this game played on the Youtube show, TableTop with Wil Wheaton and was instantly enamoured with it. I love the idea of games that encourage you to collaborate with the other players rather than grind them into the dirt.
Exciting and nail biting this is a game in which the players control various characters all trying to stop several diseases from spreading and killing off the worlds population. There are so many ways to lose and this keeps you on your toes. We did win but only with 1 turn to go before the planet was overrun by plagues.
There are varying degrees of difficulty so you can have an easier learning curve.
If I could, I would give this game 6 stars, Superb!
We play this together as a group of 5 or 6 of us (usually only 3 or 4 present, but if we have more than 4 you can have people sitting around advising because it’s that sort of game) and generally it’s been very well received. My only caveat would be that you have to like a challenge because, especially with 4 players, it can be pretty tough. We have played 5 or 6 games with 4 players and have still not won, on the easiest difficulty. With 2 or 3 players it is much easier.
We keep coming back because we enjoy playing it and want to beat it with 4, but for some people mI can imagine it would get frustrating.
I can be a bit of a sore loser at times, I don’t like games where there are losers. So this game is perfect for me as it involves team working!
The concept of the game is to cure and eradicate 4 diseases that break out across the world. Each player randomly selects a role card which gives you each slightly different skills and powers in order to aid you in the quest of curing the diseases.
You have to all work together as a team and come up with some sort of plan of action in order to be successful at the game!
I really enjoyed this board game as it is quite different to any others I have played. It is a lot of fun and brings everyone together rather than against each other!
Also, you can successfully play this game on your own if you play as numerous different roles at the same time 🙂
Hard to master, but fun to play. You can set the difficulty as low or high as you want
My 8 year old Autistic son simply loves this game.
It has rules that once you understand them are simple to follow, it has role cards so he gets to pick (although picking is not in the rules) his role and goes for it.
The game usually lasts 30-60 minutes although we had a game which lasted 1 turn…. quickest failure ever, but we laughed about it and tried again. At the start its not too frantic but as the epidemic cards appear and multiple outbreaks happen it becomes a frantic race to save the world.
Pandemic: On the Brink is an expansion to our popular cooperative game, Pandemic, where players take on roles to work together to find cures to 4 diseases.
In this expansion you will find seven new roles; eight new special events; and several challenge kits to be added to the basic game play.
Virulent Strain Challenge: makes one disease become particularly deadly in unpredictable ways.
Mutation Challenge: adds a fifth (purple) disease that behaves differently than the original four.
Bio-Terrorist Challenge: one player plays against the others!
You may also play with 5 players and play on Legendary level!
If you like Pandemic then you will enjoy this expansion. It add new and interesting twists to the basic game. All the components share the new revised artwork style from the Pandemic 2013 edition. All the components from Pandemic and On The Brink fit in to the On The Brink box (so you only have to carry around one box) unless you use card sleeves in which case the cards will not all fit.
In this game, players work together to travel around a very nicely designed Risk-style world map and prevent four diseases from spreading. There are around 8 different roles to choose from, each with their own special ability. The game box features a beautiful world map board with clear plastic disease cubes in four different colours and small wooden research centre counters, not to mention two decks of city cards.
It’s a very tough game too, and although you can set the difficulty level by deciding how many Epidemic cards to use, there’s still no guarantee you’ll win. That’s what makes this game so addictive! There’s a constant against-the-clock feeling and you can’t afford to dither around and waste time in your turns.
I bought this game after seeing a number of positive reviews online and have to say that they were not wrong at all.
The game might look a little like Risk or one of those fiddly card games you see about the place but there the similarity ends. This is a well thought out strategy game that pits the wits of the players to try and save the World from the horrors of a global pandemic. Once you have mastered the rules you will soon be enthralled especially as the game deck ensures a diversity of game events and outcomes.
I have played many board games and so finding such a wonderful game that is so much fun has been a very welcome and pleasant surprise. That is why I wholeheartedly recommend this game and have described it so effulgently and in such glowing terms.
Now go buy the game and spend your free time playing it!
We played it 4 times in the first day, initially it was get an understanding of the mechanics and how the general rules work, which to be honest are very clever. You need to learn what and how the role cards are and work for you, this really helps with being able to get close to winning this game.
A superb old school board game that is fit for family play, love it!!