For Co-Op Casual Friday this week, we're going to unplug the console for a bit. Not all games require a controller, disc, cartridge, or quarter to play. Board games are an excellent way to spend time. Though we typically think of board games as being for kids, or all based on luck, there are plenty of high quality board games out there that are neither. Today, we'll look at a great new board game that is simple enough to be accessible for non-gamers, yet deep enough to satisfy a diehard gamer's strategic brain: Pandemic. The best part about Pandemic? It's cooperative, meaning not only we can cover it here at Co-Optimus, but you don't have to worry about getting your face punched in when you safely pass Boardwalk for the third time in a row. Plus, we've got a guest report from Co-Optimus legend "justabaldguy"!
Pandemic has a great theme: players are members of a disease control team. The world is being overrun by four deadly sicknesses, which are spreading across the globe like wildfire. Your team's overall mission is to research the cures for each disease before time runs out; this is accomplished by collecting five city cards of a given disease's color at a research station. Each team member has a different ability. The scientist can cure a disease by matching only four cards. The researcher can trade any city card to another player located in the same city, while other players are far more limited in how they can trade. Other roles are the dispatcher, medic, and operations expert, and each break the rules in their own special way. Players have four actions per turn, such as movement, removing disease, or "flying" to other cities by playing matching city cards.
Sounds easy so far, right? Not so! At the end of every turn, new cities are revealed from a special infection deck. New infections, represented by small colored blocks, are added to the revealed cities. If a fourth cube would be added to any city, this causes an outbreak, and each neighboring city gets another cube instead. Chain reactions can occur, and before you know it, an entire continent could be infected. That's not the worst of it, though. Periodically, epidemic cards pop up in the player deck. An epidemic places three cubes on one city, all at once, plus raises the infection rate, meaning more infected cities show up each turn. As you can imagine, there is a real sense of urgency, almost like panic as the board begins to fill with infection cubes.
There are several ending conditions: running out of player cards, depleting the reserve of extra infection cubes, or causing the eighth outbreak. The sole victory condition in Pandemic is researching the cure for all four diseases. The key strategy in the game is balancing clearing the board of disease while at the same time working towards trading cards to research the cures. In my first game, playing with several experienced players, we won, and it seemed easy. However, when I got my own copy, and played it at home, things seemed to be going well, but we ran out of player cards with only two cures researched. I'm sure with more playtime, things will get less difficult.
There's a lot to like about Pandemic. The mechanic of using cards both to move and to cure diseases is quite elegant. The clearly defined roles allowing players to break the rules feel almost like a class-based RPG system. The game is very visually appealing, with a beautiful board and clearly designed card art. The best part, of course, is the co-op. Most board games are competitive in nature, and when you are sitting right across the table from your opponent, feelings can get hurt. In Pandemic, the game rules are the opponent. Besides this, the powers all work together in ways that promote cooperation. For example, the Dispatcher can move the Medic around the board easily, curing far more infection than the medic could alone. Pandemic is a great game, but why take just my word for it?
Longtime Co-Optimus user "justabaldguy" and I have been discussing our love for Pandemic in the past few months. I asked Baldy for his thoughts on the game, and he was willing to share.
"First off, it was my friend and his wife (who've played it a good amount but mostly by themselves) playing with me and my wife (playing for the first time). EVERYONE enjoyed it, no one had a bad time. Finding a game like this that keeps the wives entertained is huge in my book.
We did have some player cards we thought would rock but didn't. I played two rounds as the Scientist but never got to use my "special power." Really the main one you wanted was the Researcher. The ability to trade cards without being in one specific city is huge. Sometimes play drags for other characters. The Medic can waltz through and clean up zones with ease, but that can be a moot point if you're trying to win simply by researching a cure. Some cards, like the guy who builds research stations, seem pretty weak by comparison.
Winning or losing can come pretty quickly, but if you have one experienced player makes a big difference. We usually found ourselves deferring to my friend on every choice, saying "Well I guess I'll do X, then Y and Z. Sound good?" almost every time. That's fine, and pretty co-op over all. My friend said one rule option is everyone keeps their cards concealed, hidden, forcing players to ask "Who has (insert city name)?" or similar statements. He said the rules have this as an option to really get players to speak together.
Coordinating moves is really interesting. Many times we'd try to "clean" a bit and remove some blocks but time our move to end in a city where we could meet someone else and trade cards.
The difficulty scales a bit with extra players: you get less cards but you can take out Epidemic cards to make it easier or harder.
Overall we enjoyed it but I don't know how fun it'd be to repeatedly play. There is an expansion pack we are going to try next that puts one player as a bio-terrorist and everyone else needs to stop him. As co-op boardgames go though this is the one to beat for now."
I'd definitely agree! Pandemic is one of the highest rated games at BoardGameGeek, a fantastic resource for board game players. It has everything you could want in a game: scalable difficulty, good replayability, and a great learning curve. Plus, there's the cost factor: a brand new copy can be found for about half the cost of a new current-gen video game, and for that price, it's absolutely a steal. Pandemic is a great game for kids, as other players can easily assist youngsters without breakling the rules at all. Board games appeal to the casual gamer who might never hold a controller, because we all remember playing them in the past. Pandemic is an excellent game, board or otherwise, and for fans of co-op, it is certainly worth playing.
What do you think of board game coverage here at Co-Optimus? Interesting? Too off topic? Let us know in the forums! Also, a big thanks goes out to Baldy for co-oping this feature with me!