---
product_id: 668844
title: "Pandemic"
brand: "z-man games"
price: "RM427"
currency: MYR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
category: "Z Man Games"
url: https://www.desertcart.com.my/products/668844-pandemic
store_origin: MY
region: Malaysia
---

# 45-60 min intense gameplay 4 global outbreaks to contain 2-4 players cooperative strategy Pandemic

**Brand:** z-man games
**Price:** RM427
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Summary

> 🧠 Outsmart the outbreak, together — because saving the world is a team sport!

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Pandemic by z-man games
- **How much does it cost?** RM427 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.my](https://www.desertcart.com.my/products/668844-pandemic)

## Best For

- z-man games enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted z-man games brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Key Features

- • **Race Against Time:** Fast-paced 45-60 min rounds keep tension high and decisions critical
- • **Perfect for Mixed Groups:** Engaging for ages 8+ and ideal for family or professional game nights
- • **Entry to a Legendary Series:** Master the base game, then dive into Pandemic Legacy campaigns
- • **Global Crisis, Local Heroes:** Collaborate as Medic, Scientist & more to outsmart outbreaks
- • **Teamwork Makes the Cure Work:** Every role’s unique ability shapes your winning strategy

## Overview

Pandemic is a critically acclaimed cooperative strategy board game for 2-4 players aged 8 and up, where teamwork and role-based tactics are essential to contain four global disease outbreaks within 45-60 minutes. Featuring distinct specialist roles like Medic and Scientist, it rewards planning, communication, and quick decision-making. As the gateway to the Pandemic series, it offers deep replayability and a shared challenge that makes every game night unforgettable.

## Description

Product Description "Pandemic is a cooperative strategy board game for adults and families where players work together to save humanity from four global outbreaks. Each player takes on a unique specialist role with distinct abilities, including the Medic, Scientist, Researcher, Operations Expert, and more. Together, the team travels the globe, manages crises, shares cards, builds research stations, and works toward discovering all four cures before the epidemic deck runs out or outbreaks overwhelm the board. Every turn brings meaningful decisions that reward teamwork, planning, and communication. Players must weigh when to contain new hotspots, when to support another specialist, and when to focus on long-term progress toward victory. This adult board game creates a shared challenge where success depends on coordinating each role's strengths and adapting to changing conditions across the map. For family game night, adult game groups, and players exploring modern tabletop games, Pandemic offers a clear ruleset with deep strategy and strong replay value. Games last approximately 45-60 minutes and support 2-4 players ages 8 and up, making it a strong choice for mixed-age groups ready to plan together. Pandemic also opens the door to the wider series, including Pandemic Legacy Season 1, for players who want to continue with a campaign-style experience after mastering the base game. A landmark cooperative board game, Pandemic remains a standout choice for teamwork-focused play, strategic decision-making, and memorable sessions built around shared wins and losses." Pandemic's genius lies in the intense collaborative tension it creates. Every turn presents agonizing decisions: treat infections here or race across the board to share a critical card? Build a research station or cure another city before it spirals? The game wins if you're not perfectly coordinated, and the shared thrill of narrowly saving the world makes Pandemic one of the most electrifying cooperative board games for adults available. Designed for 2-4 players ages 8 and up, games last approximately 45-60 minutes. Pandemic also serves as the entry point to an expanded universe: Pandemic Legacy Season 1 is a critically acclaimed campaign board game where decisions permanently evolve over 12 sessions. Whether you're looking for cooperative board games for adults, an engaging family strategy game, or a memorable gift, Pandemic delivers an unparalleled tabletop experience that has defined the cooperative gaming genre. From the Manufacturer Four diseases have broken out in the world and it is up to a team of specialists in various fields to find cures for these diseases before mankind is wiped out. Players must work together playing to their characters' strengths and planning their strategy of eradication before the diseases overwhelm the world with ever-increasing outbreaks. For example the Operation Specialist can build research stations which are needed to find cures for the diseases. The Scientist needs only 4 cards of a particular disease to cure it instead of the normal 5. But the diseases are out breaking fast and time is running out: the team must try to stem the tide of infection in diseased areas while also towards cures. A truly cooperative game where you all win or you all lose.

Review: Best game EVER! - 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+
Review: Diseases, Infections & Outbreaks...Oh My!!! - If anyone has read my reviews and/or answers on questions you will see that in the past year my family has gotten really into the Ticket To Ride (TTR) games. Well, while purchasing one of my latest TTR expansions I stumbled upon the Pandemic games; which are similar to the TTR ones in that you start with a base game, get the foundation for rules and game play and then you start moving on to expansions with additional features. I purchased Pandemic and with desertcart Prime it was delivered in less than 24 hours, no kidding! As is my usual custom I read the instruction manual and then because I am a visual learner I went to You Tube to watch some videos. ZManGamesOfficial does a 9.5 minute brief tutorial. WatchItPlayed does a wonderful job walking you through the game prep for a 2-player game including where all pieces, cards, etc. go. This was very helpful as there are specific instructions on how to shuffle and stack the Player Cards. My niece and I had this video up while setting up the first game. Finally, I watched Geek & Sundry do their TableTop version of the game where you actually get to see the players play. They have an abbreviated video and then a 1.5 hour extended game play. So, these are just tips that helped us get an understanding of the game play and we had a blast! Pandemic allows you to travel from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and you travel throughout the world trying to cure and eradicate 4 diseases. The instructions make it sound so easy but oh boy; it is not. Game play can be learned in about 15-30 minutes. The difficult part and it is not the actual game-play; is trying to come up with enough strategies fast enough to cure and eradicate the diseases before you and your team die! Yes, team...unlike TTR this is not a game 1 player wins. It's a collaborative game in which all players work together...you discuss how you can unite forces, share your special roles, your cards, etc. But be careful of an alpha player who may start bossing people around, telling them what to do and takes charge of the game. If you get an alpha player just let them have the game board, pawns, etc. and tell them to play the game by them self but as if they were many players. In the end if it's your turn you can listen to others, even the alpha player, but what you do is totally up to you. If you don't have a good strategy everyone loses...my niece and I call it dying because we have succumbed to the disease. So, why is it a race against the clock? Well, no matter how well your strategy, your team can "die" IF you: Have 8 outbreaks before curing/eradicating all 4 diseases, you run out of Disease Cubes or Player Cards. Note: You don't have to eradicate all 4 diseases to win; you just have to cure all 4. First game we cured all 4 diseases and eradicated the yellow ("Crazy Banana Disease") but we got 8 outbreaks...we saved the world! 2nd game; yes, we played another because we were feeling lucky! We cured all 4 diseases, didn't eradicate any and once again we saved the world. We named our diseases the Black Zombie Plague, Purple People Eater (Blue cubes), Angry Bird Virus (red) and of course the Crazy Banana Disease (yellow) because my niece named it while infecting Miami. During your turn you can play up to 4 actions, draw 2 Player Cards but you cannot be holding more than 7 at any given time and then you MUST infect cities! The Infection Rate starts at 2 cities per player, per turn. But every time a player draws an Epidemic Card they have to move the Infection Rate marker and it slowly increases the Infection Rate from 2 cities up to 4 cities. The Epidemic card also requires you to draw 1 city from the bottom of the Infection cards and you must infect that city with 3 disease cubes; 1 more cube of the same color and you have an outbreak, oh my! Finally, the Epidemic Card requires you to "intensify" the Infection Cards. That means you must shuffle all the Infection Cards (cities) that have been played since the last epidemic, including the city card you just drew from the Infection Card pile and then put them back on top of the Infection Card pile so they now go back into play. See the intensity? With just my niece and me playing we didn't have as many cards to reshuffle so we kept infecting the same cities; which in essence was then producing outbreaks faster. I "think" you may have a longer game play with more people because then the other players will also be contributing cards. An outbreak occurs if/when a city accumulates 4 of the same color disease cubes. When this happens you must put a disease cube of that same color in every city that is directly attached to the city that the outbreak occurred in, thus, the epidemic. Note: It's possible that you have infected a city with more than 1 disease so IF you have 4 or more disease cubes but they are different colors you do NOT have an outbreak. The outbreak is only when you get 4 of the same color in the same city but the 4th cube (same color) will not be placed on the city. So watch those disease cubes and treat and cure so you can prevent the outbreaks. Now when you play up to 4 actions during each turn you have an option to treat a disease. You treat by removing 1 or more disease cubes from the city you are in (each cube being an action) that you have used your actions and/or role to get to. I was the Medic during first game and one of my roles allowed me to remove ALL disease cubes from the city I was in or traveled to! The Dispatcher can move players from city to city with their permission so once again...If you have a Dispatcher in the same game with a Medic you can move the Medic to the city that needs to be treated and get rid of all the disease cubes. IF the disease has been cured (see above pic...the disease markers are solid colors and moved above the disease logos) then you get to remove ALL the disease cubes in that city EVEN IF you aren't the Medic. To eradicate the disease you must remove ALL disease cubes of the same color from every city on the board. When you have eradicated the disease you flip the disease marker over to reveal the little log for eradicated. Note: Cities can still be infected if the disease has been cured but NOT if it has been eradicated. Back to the outbreaks. There's also an outbreak chart with marker and each time an outbreak occurs you have to move the marker. If you have 8 outbreaks the game is over and there is no winner because everyone has died. You also have Research Stations and these are nice because there is one action that allows you to shuttle from station to station and that can get you closer to an infested area to have a chance to treat, cure and/or eradicate several or all cities. There are also Role Cards and pawns to match the color of your role. Each role has special duties that only that player can perform (see above with Medic and Dispatcher). You don't get to choose your color/role. Pandemic is for 2-4 players and there are 6 Role Cards so you won't have all 6 roles in game play at the same time. There is another extension that adds a 5th player. I know there is a lot more that can be said and I or someone else can try to answer your questions. I just played for the first time last night (4/13/19) and while playing the 2nd game I came to desertcart and we read descriptions for some the expansions. I immediately ordered Pandemic: The Cure--Experimental Meds and then about 2 hours later I ordered Pandemic: State Of Emergency (this introduces diseases/infections from animals). So as you can see this is how pleased I was with Pandemic and yes, we are still playing TTR...I will be posting some more reviews on those as well because I currently have 9 versions. I think I got infected with a board game virus but hey, what can I say; my family/friends still love games the old-fashioned way...totally unplugged, board games and card games around the table. On a side note I must share what happened during our game. My daddy called and my sister held the phone out so he could hear my niece and me playing. We had one part of the map covered and ready to explode with black Disease Cubes. My niece was trying to tell me how I could (as the Medic) take care of all the blacks. She said, "Auntie, if you just get rid of all the blacks we won't die! Can you just take care of all the blacks over there?" and she pointed to the area that was well infected AND we were trying to treat/cure some the disease so that we could remove some the black Disease Cubes off the board and continue game play. Later I dropped a Dorito on the map and I told my sister, "Shay-Bo, I think I just killed everyone in Moscow because a large UFO has landed on them." We are a Christian family that doesn't drink, smoke, etc. We just like to have good clean fun but I told my family if anyone was a fly on the wall during our game play they would have been questioning our integrity. We have already planned our next family game day for Good Friday and yes, it will be good!!

## Features

- 100% Toy
- Imported
- COOPERATIVE STRATEGY: Work as a team against the game itself in Pandemic. Players combine their roles and actions to contain four global outbreaks, share knowledge, and race to complete all four cures before time runs out.
- SPECIALIST ROLES: Play as the Medic, Scientist, Researcher, Operations Expert, and more. Each role has distinct abilities that shape team strategy and make every player's decisions important from start to finish.
- TEAMWORK GAMEPLAY: Pandemic rewards planning, card management, and coordinated moves. This cooperative strategy game creates tense decisions each round as players balance immediate threats with long-term progress.
- SERIES ENTRY POINT: Pandemic is the base game that introduces the wider series, including Pandemic Legacy Season 1. Learn the core systems here, then build on that experience in future campaign play.
- GROUP GAME NIGHT: For 2-4 players ages 8 and up, Pandemic plays in about 45-60 minutes. It fits family game nights at home, family vacations, adult board game groups, and players looking for a teamwork-focused tabletop challenge.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| ASIN | B00A2HD40E |
| Additional Features | Board Game |
| Age Range Description | 8 years + |
| Best Sellers Rank | #12,139 in Toys & Games ( See Top 100 in Toys & Games ) #276 in Board Games (Toys & Games) |
| Brand Name | Z-Man Games |
| CPSIA Cautionary Statement | Choking Hazard - Small Parts, No Warning Applicable |
| Color | Multi-colored |
| Customer Package Type | Standard Packaging |
| Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 18,841 Reviews |
| Edition | Updated Edition |
| Educational Objective | Develop critical thinking, cooperative learning, and decision-making skills |
| Estimated Playing Time | 45 minutes |
| Expansion For | Pandemic |
| Game Mechanics | card racks, cooperative |
| Genre | Strategy |
| Global Trade Identification Number | 00681706711003, 03558380046875 |
| Included Components | Toy |
| Indoor Outdoor Usage | Indoor |
| Item Dimensions | 12 x 8.6 x 1.7 inches |
| Item Dimensions L x W | 12"L x 8.6"W |
| Item Highlight | For team play, cure diseases before time runs out, Rewards planning and communication, Deep strategy with strong replay |
| Item Part Number | ZMG71100 |
| Item Type Name | Pandemic Board Game |
| Item Weight | 1.04 kg |
| Language | English |
| Manufacturer | Asmodee |
| Manufacturer Part Number | ZMG 71100 |
| Manufacturer Warranty Description | No Warranty |
| Manufacturer recommended age | 8 months - 15 years |
| Material Type | Paper |
| Minimum Age Recomendation | 96 |
| Model Number | ZM7101 |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Number of Packs | 1 |
| Number of Players | 2 to 4 players |
| Operation Mode | Manual |
| Rulebook Availability | Printed Included |
| Set Name | Pandemic |
| Size | Base Game |
| Subject Character | Operation Specialist, Scientist, Medic, Researcher |
| Theme | Strategy |
| Unit Count | 1 Count |

## Images

![Pandemic - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/711hemLdy-L.jpg)

## Available Options

This product comes in different **Size, Style** options.

## Questions & Answers

**Q: How does this compare with the original? Is the gameplay different?**
A: I've played both the old version and the new version dozens of time (though it's been a couple years since I played the first edition). Most of the changes are cosmetic in nature. The cards and board were redesigned (though they function exactly the same, except as noted). The nice wooden infection cubes have been replaced by a cheaper-feeling plastic. The cards and game look different, but are comparable in quality. The game play is basically the same, with a couple of minor changes. They buffed Light Green - the engineer (who can now charter flight from any city with a research station to anywhere on the board by discarding any card)  and White - the researcher (other players in the same city can now take any card from him, as opposed to him having to give the card during one of his turns). I think they also slightly changed Purple - the dispatcher. The buffs are very helpful, as the engineer was previously a virtually useless role. Now he can get anywhere easily by placing a city for one turn, then discarding any card to fly anywhere for his second turn, where he can heal two blocks immediately. This makes the researcher much more effective because she can spend all 4 moves getting to someone else, who can then spend their first three moves taking cards from the researcher and their fourth move developing a cure. The second edition also added 2 new roles: the contingency planner and the quarantine specialist. The former, as an action, can (one card at a time, and once per special event) redraw a special event card from the discard pile back into his own hand that doesn't count against his limit (i.e. He can have 8 cards as long as one of them is a redrawn special event). I typically don't play with the contingency planner because his role completely sucks. The quarantine specialist simply prevents new diseases from being placed in the city she is in, as well as all adjacent cities. If you have 2 adjacent cities with three blocks each, you can avoid a double-outbreak simply by moving her to either of the cities. We often use the dispatcher to move her around as needed. In summary, the second edition simply fixed a few annoying weaknesses of the engineer and researcher, replaced nice wooden cubes with cheap plastic ones, and added one fun new role. If your original version is still in working condition, don't buy a new game. Just print the new rules to buff the old roles. It's not worth a whole new board game just for the one role of quarantine specialist. If your old game is worn, get a new copy, but keep the wooden disease cubes.

**Q: What's the youngest age you'd recommend to play?**
A: The box says 8+, the Amazon description says 13-15. The expansions all are 13+, so maybe that's why Amazon is confused. We haven't played any of the expansions yet, but my 5yo and 8yo both love Pandemic. We got it shortly after the 5yo's birthday, and at first it was kind of frustrating at times when he'd insist on doing something completely illogical, but he's gotten better in the past half year. That said, he reads way above grade level, so 8+ is probably a better idea - you want the kid to be able to read the names of the cities, etc. I wouldn't buy the game if you only have kids under 8, unless they're profoundly gifted - we got it for the 8yo, and the 5yo just happened to be able to go along, but there are games that would be more suitable for his age - he isn't yet really able to strategize at the level needed for Pandemic. And really, saving the world can wait until the ripe old age of 8. ;)

**Q: How long does a typical game of Pandemic take to play?**
A: I think 45-60 minutes with a strong team who knows the game is a good estimate.  The first games with new players will take a while, even on easy, because there are a lot of little nuisances and details to learn... and if you're playing with a few different strong personalities, you may loose time to discussing the best tactics and strategies. When my husband and I play, 45 minutes is a good estimate, but we also work well together and know the rules of the game.

**Q: Would like a good two person game.  Is this it?**
A: After 7 plays as a 2-player game, I'd say it plays very well. I'd also say that I disagree with those who say it is harder as a 2-player game.  Each player has more influence over decisions and potentially twice as many turns as they would get in a four-player game.  So in some ways it could be a tad bit easier.  The amount of epidemic cards are more of a factor in the difficulty than how many players are in the game.  The infections and epidemic cards will come out at a rate irrelevant to how many players are in the game.  And one of the game-ending triggers is when all of the player cards are drawn - and that is based on how many turns are taken, regardless of how many different players are taking turns.  The disadvantage of playing a 2-player game would be missing out on larger group discussions and interaction.   But it's really not a big deal.  You will still find this game a great value if you play 2-players 90% of the time and 4-players 10% of the time.  That is the situation I am in and I recommend the game.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Best game EVER!
*by S***D on July 11, 2019*

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+

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Diseases, Infections & Outbreaks...Oh My!!!
*by G***L on April 14, 2019*

If anyone has read my reviews and/or answers on questions you will see that in the past year my family has gotten really into the Ticket To Ride (TTR) games. Well, while purchasing one of my latest TTR expansions I stumbled upon the Pandemic games; which are similar to the TTR ones in that you start with a base game, get the foundation for rules and game play and then you start moving on to expansions with additional features. I purchased Pandemic and with Amazon Prime it was delivered in less than 24 hours, no kidding! As is my usual custom I read the instruction manual and then because I am a visual learner I went to You Tube to watch some videos. ZManGamesOfficial does a 9.5 minute brief tutorial. WatchItPlayed does a wonderful job walking you through the game prep for a 2-player game including where all pieces, cards, etc. go. This was very helpful as there are specific instructions on how to shuffle and stack the Player Cards. My niece and I had this video up while setting up the first game. Finally, I watched Geek & Sundry do their TableTop version of the game where you actually get to see the players play. They have an abbreviated video and then a 1.5 hour extended game play. So, these are just tips that helped us get an understanding of the game play and we had a blast! Pandemic allows you to travel from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and you travel throughout the world trying to cure and eradicate 4 diseases. The instructions make it sound so easy but oh boy; it is not. Game play can be learned in about 15-30 minutes. The difficult part and it is not the actual game-play; is trying to come up with enough strategies fast enough to cure and eradicate the diseases before you and your team die! Yes, team...unlike TTR this is not a game 1 player wins. It's a collaborative game in which all players work together...you discuss how you can unite forces, share your special roles, your cards, etc. But be careful of an alpha player who may start bossing people around, telling them what to do and takes charge of the game. If you get an alpha player just let them have the game board, pawns, etc. and tell them to play the game by them self but as if they were many players. In the end if it's your turn you can listen to others, even the alpha player, but what you do is totally up to you. If you don't have a good strategy everyone loses...my niece and I call it dying because we have succumbed to the disease. So, why is it a race against the clock? Well, no matter how well your strategy, your team can "die" IF you: Have 8 outbreaks before curing/eradicating all 4 diseases, you run out of Disease Cubes or Player Cards. Note: You don't have to eradicate all 4 diseases to win; you just have to cure all 4. First game we cured all 4 diseases and eradicated the yellow ("Crazy Banana Disease") but we got 8 outbreaks...we saved the world! 2nd game; yes, we played another because we were feeling lucky! We cured all 4 diseases, didn't eradicate any and once again we saved the world. We named our diseases the Black Zombie Plague, Purple People Eater (Blue cubes), Angry Bird Virus (red) and of course the Crazy Banana Disease (yellow) because my niece named it while infecting Miami. During your turn you can play up to 4 actions, draw 2 Player Cards but you cannot be holding more than 7 at any given time and then you MUST infect cities! The Infection Rate starts at 2 cities per player, per turn. But every time a player draws an Epidemic Card they have to move the Infection Rate marker and it slowly increases the Infection Rate from 2 cities up to 4 cities. The Epidemic card also requires you to draw 1 city from the bottom of the Infection cards and you must infect that city with 3 disease cubes; 1 more cube of the same color and you have an outbreak, oh my! Finally, the Epidemic Card requires you to "intensify" the Infection Cards. That means you must shuffle all the Infection Cards (cities) that have been played since the last epidemic, including the city card you just drew from the Infection Card pile and then put them back on top of the Infection Card pile so they now go back into play. See the intensity? With just my niece and me playing we didn't have as many cards to reshuffle so we kept infecting the same cities; which in essence was then producing outbreaks faster. I "think" you may have a longer game play with more people because then the other players will also be contributing cards. An outbreak occurs if/when a city accumulates 4 of the same color disease cubes. When this happens you must put a disease cube of that same color in every city that is directly attached to the city that the outbreak occurred in, thus, the epidemic. Note: It's possible that you have infected a city with more than 1 disease so IF you have 4 or more disease cubes but they are different colors you do NOT have an outbreak. The outbreak is only when you get 4 of the same color in the same city but the 4th cube (same color) will not be placed on the city. So watch those disease cubes and treat and cure so you can prevent the outbreaks. Now when you play up to 4 actions during each turn you have an option to treat a disease. You treat by removing 1 or more disease cubes from the city you are in (each cube being an action) that you have used your actions and/or role to get to. I was the Medic during first game and one of my roles allowed me to remove ALL disease cubes from the city I was in or traveled to! The Dispatcher can move players from city to city with their permission so once again...If you have a Dispatcher in the same game with a Medic you can move the Medic to the city that needs to be treated and get rid of all the disease cubes. IF the disease has been cured (see above pic...the disease markers are solid colors and moved above the disease logos) then you get to remove ALL the disease cubes in that city EVEN IF you aren't the Medic. To eradicate the disease you must remove ALL disease cubes of the same color from every city on the board. When you have eradicated the disease you flip the disease marker over to reveal the little log for eradicated. Note: Cities can still be infected if the disease has been cured but NOT if it has been eradicated. Back to the outbreaks. There's also an outbreak chart with marker and each time an outbreak occurs you have to move the marker. If you have 8 outbreaks the game is over and there is no winner because everyone has died. You also have Research Stations and these are nice because there is one action that allows you to shuttle from station to station and that can get you closer to an infested area to have a chance to treat, cure and/or eradicate several or all cities. There are also Role Cards and pawns to match the color of your role. Each role has special duties that only that player can perform (see above with Medic and Dispatcher). You don't get to choose your color/role. Pandemic is for 2-4 players and there are 6 Role Cards so you won't have all 6 roles in game play at the same time. There is another extension that adds a 5th player. I know there is a lot more that can be said and I or someone else can try to answer your questions. I just played for the first time last night (4/13/19) and while playing the 2nd game I came to Amazon and we read descriptions for some the expansions. I immediately ordered Pandemic: The Cure--Experimental Meds and then about 2 hours later I ordered Pandemic: State Of Emergency (this introduces diseases/infections from animals). So as you can see this is how pleased I was with Pandemic and yes, we are still playing TTR...I will be posting some more reviews on those as well because I currently have 9 versions. I think I got infected with a board game virus but hey, what can I say; my family/friends still love games the old-fashioned way...totally unplugged, board games and card games around the table. On a side note I must share what happened during our game. My daddy called and my sister held the phone out so he could hear my niece and me playing. We had one part of the map covered and ready to explode with black Disease Cubes. My niece was trying to tell me how I could (as the Medic) take care of all the blacks. She said, "Auntie, if you just get rid of all the blacks we won't die! Can you just take care of all the blacks over there?" and she pointed to the area that was well infected AND we were trying to treat/cure some the disease so that we could remove some the black Disease Cubes off the board and continue game play. Later I dropped a Dorito on the map and I told my sister, "Shay-Bo, I think I just killed everyone in Moscow because a large UFO has landed on them." We are a Christian family that doesn't drink, smoke, etc. We just like to have good clean fun but I told my family if anyone was a fly on the wall during our game play they would have been questioning our integrity. We have already planned our next family game day for Good Friday and yes, it will be good!!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extremely fun but challenging game!!!
*by L***N on January 25, 2019*

It seemed like we’d just started the game and the yellow strain had not only been cured but eradicated! We were on the cusp of a cure for the second strain. This one was in the bag. We had weathered two epidemics so far without any egregious problems. Sure there was a pair of cities in Eastern Europe that was in danger, but what were the odds that was going to be a problem? One of us was already there. Then another epidemic hit, the infection rate increased, three cities were drawn and it seemed the cascading outbreaks knew no bounds. I think nearly everyone in Europe died that day, and we – a group of specialized scientists- were served a plate of bitter defeat. Again! Again and again, always defeat. Oh, the humanity! It’s true, I haven’t ever beat this rotten game and yet I keep coming back. Because one day I’ll win; in spite of all the wounds to my pride I’ve had to nurse, one day I’ll – I mean- we’ll win. I say we’ll because this is a co-operative game where you all work together against those nasty strains of no-doubt-human engineered beasties. Now, I know there are those of you who beat this every time you play, like I beat Shadows over Camelot every time I play, but I’ve invited those sorts to come play with me and they can barely stand the shame of losing with me. To make it even worse, we only play with 4 epidemics. I feel like I’m at an AA meeting: “Hi my name is Kyle.” “Hi Kyle” echoes the crowd. “I… I suck at Pandemic.” This is the part where you put your arm on my shoulder and tell me it’s going to be alright. Game Play This board is a handsome map of the world; only instead of country boards you see in Risk there is a red web of interconnected cities. Everyone starts in Atlanta were a research station is and you go from there. Each player plays a scientist that has a special ability: one can move others on their turn, one can give cards to another without the restrictions other players have and so on. The game also begins with 9 random cities around the world with varying degrees of infection (one to three stacked blocks). If a city would have a fourth block put on it (called an outbreak), it actually stays at three and the cities connected by the red web get a block. Isn’t that nice? It’s called a cascading outbreak. Such a pretty name. If you get 9 outbreaks in a game you lose. If you run out of blocks for a certain strain you lose, and if you haven’t cured all the strains before your white deck of cards runs out, you lose. I hate to be a negative Nancy, but there’s a lot of ways to lose this game. If, on the other hand, you are able to find cures for each strain, you win! How do you do that? Well you get someone who has got 5 cards of the same color in their hand to a research station, that’s how. One of the players only needs four. Every turn each player gets to do four actions. Picking up a cube off a city counts as one, so does moving between cities. You can charter flights with your cards, rather than use them for cures. You can build research stations and fly between those without expending a card, and a few other things. Then you draw cards that you think will help you, but can instead turn out to be epidemics. And you also draw cards for cities that get infected: usually this amounts to adding on square to the city’s pile. As the game progresses, more cards are drawn at a time to be infected. Oh, and when an epidemic happens, the cards for the cities that were infected get put back on the top of the draw pile. Oh dear. I hate to tell you what to do because what do I know anyway? Those of you who beat this all the time should tell me what to do. I understand that finding the cures is everything- lest you run out of time. Others say, make sure that you never have three on on e city at a time, as to avoid outbreaks. Make sure that the medic is only clearing off stacks of infections, the dispatcher should be moving people so that don’t have to move themselves. Again, I never win, so what do I know? Theme If it hasn’t been obvious, I am completely sucked in by the theme. There are similarities to other co-operative games especially Forbidden Island: Each character has special powers, you make moves for the team and then the board pushed you closer to defeat, that sort of thing. Forbidden Island also shares the shuffle the cards and put them back on top of the draw deck mechanic. I tell you this so that you won’t be surprised if you decide to add them both to your game closet, this is why I haven’t added Forbidden Island to mine, though I’ve played the game. While this adds to the evidence that the theme could be stripped out of the game, I don’t recall cascading flooding going on in Forbidden Island, or feeling like humanity is hanging in the balance, or being glad I don’t live anywhere in Eastern Europe. That is to say, I think the theme sticks. Balance I read about people who win all the time and needed the expansion to rouse any concern in them. But who can believe everything they read on the internet, I ask you? Just because I’ve never won though doesn’t mean that it’s not an enjoyable experience, mind you. Because I keep coming back. Interaction Interaction is very high. There’s all sort of collaborative discussion that goes on through this game. Learning Curve Low. It takes all of ten minutes to explain and there are directions on the board and the turn cards. Downtime Nill. You are all in it together! And you even get to move a guy in your turn. What’s not to Like? I actually know where some of these cities are on the map are but they all have these lines that go from the pin-pointed location to the circle where you actually place the blocks. That remains a bit annoying even after playing the game 10 times. Collateral Endorsement My four year old likes “The one where they get sick” We run around curing cities till the infection deck runs out. He feels a lot better about himself than the rage I feel playing by the real rules. Actually, as I think about it, the first time I played this game I was at the home of some friends and I think we won. But I’m certain I have not won with my copy of the game. I’d say mine is jinxed, but we’ve played on another friends copy and lost there too. Also, I should say that a brother of mine lost two in a row and saw the writing on the wall in the third game and left the table, swearing off the game forever. You might consider your own resiliency before buying this game.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Pandemic Board Game (Base Game) - A Cooperative Battle to Save Humanity, Strategy Game for Kids and Adults, Ages 8+, 2-4 Players, 45 Minute Playtime, Made by Z-Man Games
- Ticket to Ride Board Game - A Cross-Country Train Adventure for Friends and Family! Strategy Game for Kids & Adults, Ages 8+, 2-5 Players, 30-60 Minute Playtime, Made by Days of Wonder

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