Pandemic

What you need

• Pandemic base game: world map board, 4 disease cubes (24 per color), 6 research stations, player pawns, role cards, player deck, infection deck, epidemic cards, 4 cure markers, outbreak marker, infection rate marker

Setup

1. Place the board. Put the outbreak marker on 0 and the infection rate marker on the leftmost '2' space.
2. Each player takes a random role card and matching pawn — everyone starts in Atlanta. Place a research station on Atlanta.
3. Deal starting hands based on player count: 4p=2 cards, 3p=3 cards, 2p=4 cards.
4. Shuffle the infection deck. Draw 9 infection cards: place 3 cubes on the first 3 cities, 2 on the next 3, 1 on the next 3. Discard them.
5. Prepare the player deck: split remaining player cards into equal-sized piles based on desired difficulty (4=Intro, 5=Standard, 6=Heroic), shuffle 1 Epidemic card into EACH pile, then stack the piles.

How to play

1. OBJECTIVE: Discover cures for all FOUR diseases (blue, yellow, black, red) before any losing condition triggers. The whole team wins or loses together.
2. TURN STRUCTURE: The active player takes (1) 4 actions, (2) draws 2 player cards, (3) infects cities. Then play passes.
3. STEP 1 — 4 ACTIONS. Choose from: Drive/Ferry (move to adjacent city), Direct Flight (discard a city card = fly to that city), Charter Flight (discard the card matching your CURRENT city = fly anywhere), Shuttle Flight (move between research stations), Build Research Station (discard your current city card), Treat Disease (remove 1 cube — remove ALL cubes of a cured color for free), Share Knowledge (give or take the city card matching the city you are BOTH in), Discover a Cure (at a research station, discard 5 cards of one color).
4. STEP 2 — DRAW 2 PLAYER CARDS. If you draw an Epidemic: (1) advance infection rate 1 step, (2) draw the BOTTOM card of the infection deck and put 3 cubes on it, (3) shuffle the infection DISCARD pile and place it on TOP of the infection deck. Then continue drawing.
5. HAND LIMIT: 7 cards. If over, discard or play an Event card immediately.
6. STEP 3 — INFECT CITIES. Draw cards from the top of the infection deck equal to the current infection rate (2/2/2/3/3/4/4). Add 1 cube of the matching color to each drawn city. Discard the cards.
7. OUTBREAKS: If a city already has 3 cubes of a color and would gain a 4th, it OUTBREAKS instead — advance the outbreak marker AND add 1 cube of that color to each connected city (chain reactions to already-infected cities do not re-trigger during the same infection).
8. CURES vs ERADICATION: Discovering a cure lets you Treat all cubes of that color in one action. If, after curing, the world has zero cubes of that color, it's ERADICATED — infection cards of that color no longer place cubes.
9. LOSS CONDITIONS: (1) 8th outbreak, (2) run out of any color's cubes when you need more, (3) player deck runs empty during Step 2.
10. WIN CONDITION: All 4 diseases cured. You do NOT need to eradicate — cure only.

Host tips

• Strategy board game — read the rulebook once before hosting.
• Use the in-app Scorekeeper to track running totals.
• Tap 'Ask AI Judge' if a rules dispute comes up.

Snack & drink pairings

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