Pandemic

Description

--- **TLDR** Pandemic is a cooperative board game where players battle four global diseases using actions, cards, and roles to cure plagues before outbreaks overwhelm the world. (22 words) Key mechanics include: - *Cooperative gameplay* Players team up as specialists with unique roles like Operations Expert and Scientist to combat diseases collectively. - *Action selection* Each turn allows up to four actions: travel between cities, treat infections, discover cures, or build research stations. - *Card decks* Player deck provides abilities but includes Epidemic! cards that intensify disease spread; separate infection deck controls normal outbreaks. - *Role-specific abilities* Specialists leverage strengths, e.g., Operations Expert builds stations easily, Scientist cures with four cards instead of five. - *Disease management* Treat hotspots on a world map of population centers while racing against spreading plagues. - *Win/lose conditions* Win by curing all four diseases; lose if any disease spreads beyond recovery or time elapses. Pandemic is a cooperative board game in which players assume roles as disease-fighting specialists combating four simultaneous virulent plagues across global population centers depicted on the game board. On each turn, players perform up to four actions to travel between cities, treat infected areas, discover cures, or establish research stations essential for mobility and curing. A player deck grants these abilities but is interspersed with Epidemic! cards that rapidly accelerate and intensify outbreaks, while a separate infection deck governs standard disease propagation. Each player takes a unique role with specialized strengths—such as the Operations Expert facilitating research station construction or the Scientist requiring only four cards to cure a disease instead of five—requiring strategic coordination to align team efforts. The 2013 edition introduces the Contingency Planner and Quarantine Specialist. Players win by researching cures for all four diseases; they lose if any plague spreads uncontrollably or if elapsed time exhausts options. As the inaugural game in the Pandemic series, it emphasizes tense, collaborative planning against escalating global threats. ---