Pandemic Base Board Game

Numbe Of Players : 2–4 Players

Playing Time : 45 Min

Recommended Age : 8+

In Pandemic, several virulent diseases have broken out simultaneously all over
the world! The players are disease-fighting specialists whose mission is to
treat disease hotspots while researching cures for each of four plagues before
they get out of hand.

The game board depicts several major population centers on Earth. On each turn,
a player can use up to four actions to travel between cities, treat infected
populaces, discover a cure, or build a research station. A deck of cards
provides the players with these abilities, but sprinkled throughout this deck
are Epidemic! cards that accelerate and intensify the diseases' activity. A
second, separate deck of cards controls the "normal" spread of the infections.

Taking a unique role within the team, players must plan their strategy to mesh
with their specialists' strengths in order to conquer the diseases. For example,
the Operations Expert can build research stations which are needed to find cures
for the diseases and which allow for greater mobility between cities; the
Scientist needs only four cards of a particular disease to cure it instead of
the normal five—but the diseases are spreading quickly and time is running out.
If one or more diseases spreads beyond recovery or if too much time elapses, the
players all lose. If they cure the four diseases, they all win!

The 2013 edition of Pandemic includes two new characters—the Contingency Planner
and the Quarantine Specialist—not available in earlier editions of the game.