Pandemic Board Game Review: Challenging and Strategic

Pandemic is a board game that takes two to four players on an epic fight against the global disease. As members of the World Health Organization, your team will travel around the world in order to find cures for 4 different diseases before they get out of hand and wipe out humanity! This game tests your teamwork skills while also requiring some strategic thinking. It’s one of my favorite tabletop games, but might not be for everyone.

Release September 4, 2017
Players 2-4
Playing Time ~45 min
Age 13+
Genre Strategy
Brand Z-Man Games
Manufacturer Publisher Services Inc (PSI)

Overview and Theme

Pandemic is a cooperative board game that tests your communication and teamwork skills. It’s exciting because there are so many things to do, but it can also be stressful when the diseases start spreading too quickly for you to stop them all.

Pandemic’s theme is incredibly immersive, and the gameplay reflects this. You’ll really feel like you’re trying to cure these global diseases yourself! But be warned, it can get very intense! It might not be for everyone because of how high-pressure some turns can become.

Pandemic is for players who like teamwork and think they can handle a high-pressure game. It’s not really suitable for people in the mood to relax with some casual board games, but if you’re looking for something that will test your endurance and ability to plan ahead, this might be right up your alley!

I personally love cooperative games, and Pandemic is one of my favorites, but I can see many people being frustrated by how intense it gets on some turns.

Tons of theme and immersion
Immersive theme
Strategic gameplay
Highly replayable
Can be frustrating on some turns

Mechanics and Rules

The game is played on a large board that represents the world. The board will have different cities marked by small plastic cubes, and your goal is to move around these cities in order to find cures for each disease before they get out of control!

You’ll start off with four characters who are represented by playing cards. Each character has advantages over another, so you’ll have to work together by using each of your characters’ unique specialties in order to win the game!

Each turn will be divided into different phases. First thing’s first, you draw five cards from a deck of infection cards and place them face-up on the board. These are where new sick people appear every day around the world, and they’ll need you to cure them!

After that, the infection spreads. Players will then draw two more cards from the infection deck and add one card face up in each city connected to a city already infected with at least one disease cube. If this causes new outbreaks (three or more cubes in a single location), these cities will get more cubes.

You’ll also move around the board by using up to four actions per turn. You can take one action each time you play a card, so be efficient when playing your cards!

Each player has two types of cards: ones that have standard actions and ones with specialized abilities. Standard ability cards allow players to travel from the city.

Gameplay: Complexity and Replayability

Pandemic is a challenging game, but it’s also extremely fun! When you’re playing the game, everyone has to work together in order for things to go smoothly. It can be frustrating when someone isn’t doing what they should be or makes another player sit out of action because they got unlucky with their card draw.

It can get very intense when the disease cubes start spreading too quickly for you to stop them all. This is where Pandemic shines in my opinion! You’ll feel like you’re actually trying to save humanity, and it really immerses you into the theme of fighting against these global diseases!

However, I can see many people getting very frustrated by how fast things can escalate. This game isn’t meant to be easy, after all! If you’re looking for a casual board game that’s suitable for chilling out and having fun with friends, Pandemic might not be the best option.

Pandemic Review: Components and Setup

Pandemic is a great-quality board game! The box itself has lots of nice images and information on the front, which gives you an idea about what kind of experience to expect from this.

Pandemic consists of several elements:

  • The Board – you’ll be moving around this as your team tries to find cures for each disease.
  • Player Cards – you start with a few of these. Each one has two abilities, and they can be used once per turn to help the team out if needed!
  • Infection Deck – this deck contains cards that represent each disease spreading throughout Earth. Whenever an epidemic card is drawn, players must draw several infection cards from the top of the deck.
  • City Cards – you can pick up a maximum of three city cards during the game, and using these is vital for curing diseases.
  • Player Markers – there are cubes that represent each player on the board. These are moved around depending on how far you get while traveling between cities/countries or where outbreaks occur.
Pandemic uses several types of dice, including blue disease dice (used for curing diseases), black infection dice (representing the number of infections in a city or country) and white event die (which can be used to help players if drawn).

It’s important to note that Pandemic only uses four colors: grey, green, orange, and purple. While this might sound simple, it can be a bit of an eyesore when your table is full of several different colors.

Artwork and Component Quality

Pandemic is a well-made board game that’s made with high-quality components.

There are several different colors of cubes to represent each player, and each color has been assigned a number. This makes it easy for players to quickly identify which cube represents them when playing the game! They’re also quite large in size, so they don’t get lost on the board easily.

Each player card has an illustration that represents a major world city in some way or another, and it’s nice to see these images being used for once! It adds more variety when you’re moving around between all of them while playing Pandemic. The cards themselves are made with good-quality plastic, so you won’t have to worry about them getting damaged easily.

Each die used in Pandemic has been designed with colorful symbols on each side, which makes it easy for players to see what’s happening when they’re rolling the dice during this game! They also roll quite nicely across the board, and there are no suspicious bumps or ridges that might affect the outcome of your game.

Tips for Playing Pandemic

Pandemic is a great board game that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. However, it might take you several tries before you actually understand how to play this well!

Try not to over-analyze your turns too much

Since there are so many different things happening in Pandemic, it’s easy to lose track of what you’re doing at any given moment. If you take your time and think carefully about each move before actually completing the game, that might end up working against you in the long run!

Try not to get too frustrated if things are going south

When diseases start spreading out of control during Pandemic, it can be a bit of a difficult situation for players. However, don’t get too frustrated if this happens to you – everyone’s going through the same thing! Just try and stay calm and keep your head on straight while playing Pandemic.

Don’t play with people who are extremely competitive

While there is some strategy involved in Pandemic, there are also some people who might take the game a little bit too seriously. If you find yourself playing with one of these people (we call them “micro-managers”), it’s best to play Pandemic another time!

Don’t try and save up all your cards

It can be difficult for players to decide whether or not they should hold on to their cards. However, it’s usually a good idea for them to actually use those City/Player cards as soon as possible! Players can only carry around three of these at any given time during Pandemic, so try and utilize your resources wisely.

Bottom Line

Pandemic is a great board game that puts you in the shoes of an actual contagion expert as they try to stop several different diseases from spreading across the planet. With Pandemic, each player plays at their own pace and can choose whether or not they want to help out during this time!

The only major downside I’ve noticed with Pandemic is that a lot of the elements used in this game are very bright and colorful. If you’re going to be playing with people who have sensitive eyes, Pandemic might not be the best option for your next board game night!

Price
5
Easy to Play
4
Gameplay
4
Artwork & Components
5
Result
4.5
Pandemic is for players who are looking to think ahead, have good teamwork skills, and enjoy high-pressure games! It's best played with three or four people because of how intense it can get on some turns. We recommend playing this game when you're in the mood to solve a puzzle together with your friends instead of just casually relaxing.

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