Pandemic Board Game (Base Game) | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults and Family | Cooperative Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2 to 4 players |…
$32.74
Last updated on March 9, 2024 1:10 am Details
- STRATEGY GAME: Players must work together playing to their characters’ strengths as they plan their strategy of eradicating the diseases before they overwhelm the world with ever-increasing outbreaks. A truly cooperative game where you win or lose together.
- COOPERATIVE BOARD GAME: Only through teamwork will you keep the world safe from outbreaks and epidemics. Your team must work together and plan carefully to stem the tide of infection while working toward finding the cures.
- WORK TOGETHER AND SAVE HUMANITY: Four diseases threaten the world, and your elite team of specialists must find a cure for each of them before it’s too late. Everyone must work together applying their unique character skills to benefit the team—and the world.
- LOOKING FOR NEW GAMEPLAY AND ADVENTURES? The Pandemic game line now includes multiple expansions and stand-alone titles. Note: Expansions require Pandemic Base Game to play.
- NUMBER OF PLAYERS AND AVERAGE PLAYTIME: This easy to learn family and adult board game can be played with 2 to 4 players. The average playtime is 45 minutes.
Specification: Pandemic Board Game (Base Game) | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults and Family | Cooperative Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2 to 4 players |…
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Photos: Pandemic Board Game (Base Game) | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults and Family | Cooperative Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2 to 4 players |…
9 reviews for Pandemic Board Game (Base Game) | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults and Family | Cooperative Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2 to 4 players |…
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Pandemic Board Game (Base Game) | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults and Family | Cooperative Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2 to 4 players |…
$32.74
DadBuddyReviews –
I’m a total novice with board games, but absolutely loved this! Obviously I’ve played monopoly and mouse trap etc, but this was my first “cooperative board game.”
My advice would be to find a good YouTube video explaining the game first, then read the rules, and have them to hand for the first game. It’s a lot to take on all in one go, but once you get going the gameplay is logical and easy to follow.
Gameplay-wise, the tension can quickly start to mount as the viruses start to spread through the cities and this really brings out the best in relationships with your other players. You really have to communicate and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
All I learned about my father from playing Monopoly with him is that he has a great poker face and is even more miserly in a fantasy reality than real life! I also know my mother is a wanton cheat who would really rather the game would hurry up and get finished! Those kind of games, with players pitted against each other, just don’t make for a happy Christmas/get together!
The box and components are sturdy, the instructions are clear, well illustrated and easy to follow and the graphics etc look nice.
Highly recommended!
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GM –
Great game, full of cooperation. Lots of variables to consider, so it took a few games to get the hang of it (I’d suggest removing the epidemic cards from the trial runs as this will help you get up to speed!). Very enjoyable when you know what to do.
Patrick –
My wife and I have gradually gotten more into board games, because we’re old and lame and that’s ok. She’s a bit … competitive, however, so even playing a game like Settlers can put me on the edge of the seat a little bit if I’m winning. Some of you know what I’m talking about. Board games kept popping up in my Amazon recommendations, and I kept seeing this one (nice work, Amazon ad algorythms). Cooperative? Sounds good!
There went that Sunday. I even stopped watching football, BECAUSE CHILDREN ARE DYING IN ISTANBUL OR CONSTANTINOPLE. We played several games. We lost our first few, then kept winning. Our kids were annoying us with petty stuff like, “Daddy, I’m hungry” and “Mommy, my toe fell off” but sometimes you just have to tell your kids that now isn’t a good time, because Daddy is building a research center and then has to fly to meet Mommy in Milan, and there is leftover ham in the refrigerator.
I do question whether the game will keep its challenge. We’ve won our only two games on the hardest difficulty, but it felt suspenseful and like we could have lost, so I think it’ll still be fun to play. Regardless, we’ve already gotten our money’s worth out of this game. I think my daughter (six) will be able to learn it now or shortly as well, which will be cool and we can monitor her toe situation better.
goodnplenty –
This is one of the best board games I’ve ever played that features a team dynamic. Unlike Settlers of Catan, which will ruin any and every relationship you ever had, this co-op will reveal the true colors of anyone daring to pick up a colored pawn. Play this game with a stranger to get to know them. I promise that by the end of the game that you will know whether they will become your beast of a best friend forever or labeled a selfish, uncooperative squat head to be despised forever. Try it on a first date. It will foretell whether or not you and your interest will successfully spawn offspring together.
After opening this box for the first time, my roommates and I spent countless nights trying to save the world. As frustrating as it is to lose to a piece of cardboard, it is equally, if not more, gratifying to conquer your imaginary microscopic adversaries. There are so many occasions where you end the game in despair wishing you had just one more turn. But when you win, you come away feeling like the hero of an apocalyptic movie, saving the world in the very nick of time! Needless to say, we are currently best friends changing the world via healthcare, the arts and non-profits.
MR A T DOWNING –
Nice game, easy to play and addictive
Rachna –
First of all the game doesn’t look original as u can see in the pics the cure markers(purple instead of red) and pawns doesn’t match the specifications. But the quality isn’t bad so I am fine with it even though its overpriced(Rs.2500) being a counterfeit. Doesn’t have option to choose the original. Anyways main issue was that a city card was missing in the first set I ordered, I placed a replacement order..again the same city card(Jakarta) is missing in replacement item also. Both the sets were received sealed pack..so I assumed its manufacturing defect. I so wanted the game from a long time..but have to return it..defective duplicate product at 2500 bucks isn’t worth it!
Evie –
I believe I was sent a fake. Loads of spelling mistakes, poor quality and the 🚫 symbols on the cure vile had rubbed off by the end of the first game. Played on a friends board that he bought in-store and the quality and colours were quite different.
Brian –
I love Pandemic. I originally picked it up because I got Pandemic Legacy for a very, very good price, and in the directions they tell you to play a few games of the original first to get your feet wet, so I bought it. This is probably one of my favorite games. I play anywhere from 1 to 4 players, while playing alone I’ll play 2 rolls.
Be warned, you won’t win. Out of 17 games, I have a 29% win ratio on it. The game normally wins, but that is part of the fun of the game, when you win as a team it feels more of a victory.
This is a co-op game, all players are on the same team and work together, and because of that, you can get the Alpha-Gamer in the group that tells you how things should be done, so just be aware of that. I’ve never had that occur, we all gives our onions and if needed vote.
It is highly recommended that you also pick up the
Pandemic on The Brink Expansion Board Game (2nd Edition)
with this copy. It adds nice storage, better rolls, smaller tokens, along with more ways to play. Even if you don’t play the expansion what it does add to the main game is nice.
K. Garfield –
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.