Pandemic

 

Pandemic

Company: Z-Man Games; Type: Eurostyle ; Players: 2-4; Time: 45 minutes; Genre: Collaborative; 
Rating: 💥💥💥💥💥 I love it!

(First, I must say that I actually know the game designer! Matt Leacock was an undergraduate at Northern Illinois University, while Neil Christiansen and I were graduate students there. Matt was part of our gaming group and created our first double oval racetrack for our extended, multi-set Daytona 500.)

The object of the game is for the team to amass cures for each color epidemic before the game defeats them by tipping into a worldwide pandemic through infection, by running out of cards to be played, or by depleting the infection pool of cubes for any individual color. There are a number of tipping points in the game where the team can lose, because of just that one extra thing than happened . . . .

Each player has a limited number of actions that they can take. Each also has a special power that modifies one of the existing default rules in their favor. Players need to work together, to plan and execute their plays with an eye to not only what they can do, but what actions the other players will be taking after they go.

This is a game that scales well. My wife and play it a lot as a two-player game. One tip: when playing as two-people, it is highly recommended that one of the roles be the Medic. This is a pure collaborative game. And the theme is well-realized and works well with game mechanics.

--LM