Pandemic (board game)
Cooperative board game about curing four diseases before a pandemic.
Pandemic is a cooperative board game where players work together to stop four diseases from causing a pandemic.[1][2] Pandemic is considered one of the most successful cooperative games to reach mainstream market sales.[3] Matt Leacock created the cooperative board game Pandemic, which Z-Man Games initially published in the United States during 2008.[1]
Quick Facts
- Designer
- Matt Leacock
- Publisher
- Z-Man Games (U.S.); Κάισσα (Greece), Hobby Japan (Japan)
- Illustrator
- Joshua Cappel (graphics and illustration)
- Régis Moulun (cover painting)
- Chris Quilliams (2013 edition)
- Players
- 2–4 (5 with On the Brink expansion) (1–6 with the In the Lab expansion)
- Setup time
- 10 min
- Playing time
- 45 min
- Random chance
- Moderate
- Skills
- Tactics
- cooperation
- logic
- logistics
Facts from the source article.
Making and release
The original Pandemic appeared in 2008 and played like most non-roleplaying games, resetting initial conditions each new game.[4] Three expansions—Pandemic: On the Brink, Pandemic: In the Lab, and Pandemic: State of Emergency—were co-designed by Matt Leacock and Tom Lehmann.[5] Pandemic: Rapid Response, a real-time cooperative game designed by Kane Klenko, was released exclusively to Target stores in the U.S. on June 23, 2019.[6] The SARS outbreak that occurred from 2002 through 2004 served as the inspiration for the game's design.[7]
A 2013 update to Pandemic, its second edition, featured fresh artwork and added the Contingency Planner and Quarantine Specialist as new playable characters.[8] Certain copies from the second printing run contained a production flaw where a connection line between Lagos and São Paulo was absent, and cards were printed edge-to-edge.[8] July 2018 saw the launch of a 10th Anniversary Edition, which contained detailed miniatures, an enlarged game board, and disease cubes made of wood.[9] During summer 2013, a second expansion came out, introducing a separate game board where players could conduct laboratory research to find cures for diseases.[10]
What the cited sources add
Ars Technica reported that Pandemic Legacy was, at the time of writing, the best board game ever made according to Board Game Geek users who had catalogued more than 82,000 games.[4] Pandemic Legacy begins with the base set of Pandemic rules, but an "infection deck" spreads new disease cubes around the board and the number of infection cards drawn increases as the game goes on.[4] ICV2 reported that Pandemic: Rapid Response is for 2–4 players, ages 8 and up, and plays in 20 minutes.[6] Kotaku stated that the Pandemic 10th Anniversary edition costs $100 and includes a range of plastic miniatures based on 2nd generation character designs.[11]
References
- Wikipedia, "Pandemic (board game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Pandemic", BoardGameGeek (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Pandemic (board game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ihnat, "Break free from the screen: The best card and board games for your kids", The A.V. Club, September 28, 2017; "(20140113) Pandemic rulebook" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Pandemic (board game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chabris, "The Rise of Cooperative Games", The Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Anderson, "Pandemic Legacy is the best board game ever—but is it 'fun?'", Ars Technica, March 12, 2016. facts only, no text reused. arstechnica.com
- Wikipedia, "Pandemic (board game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Pandemic:OTB" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Bunge, "'Pandemic: Rapid Response'", ICV2, 22 May 2019. facts only, no text reused. icv2.com
- Wikipedia, "Pandemic (board game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Leacock, "No Single Player Can Win This Board Game. It's Called Pandemic.", The New York Times, March 25, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Pandemic (board game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "5 years of Pandemic: the virus is growing stronger!", Z-Man Games, 2013-01-14; Why is everyone talking about a misprinted Pademic [sic board game?] BoardGameGeek; Card issue in new edition (color/type visible from side) BoardGameGeek (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Pandemic (board game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Plunkett, "Pandemic Getting A Very Fancy Re-Release For Its 10th Birthday", Kotaku, July 24, 2018 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Pandemic (board game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "5 years of Pandemic: the virus is growing stronger!", Z-Man Games, 2013-01-14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Plunkett, "Pandemic Getting A Very Fancy Re-Release For Its 10th Birthday", Kotaku, July 24, 2018. facts only, no text reused. kotaku.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Pandemic (board game) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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