aka pastor guy: #42: Pandemic (Mark's 100

Pandemic

Mark's Ranking

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Why It's On The List

A brilliantly constructed cooperative game with nail-biting tension - are we going to be able to save the world from the viruses or not?

Tips & Tricks:

You must watch ALL of the timers - the one you're most likely to forget is the draw deck.
When you're teaching Pandemic, work extra hard not to "run" the game - let players make mistakes, learn, and enjoy this great game experience. If you really want to play the game with extra control, play it solitaire.
Do go out & purchase the On the Brink expansion - not only does it offer some fun new ways to play (Mutant Strain, Virulent Outbreak, new roles & new special help cards), but it also has the very cool petri dish holders for the pieces.

Extras

I'm not a big fan of the Bio-Terrorist variant in the On the Brink expansion in which one player is working against everyone else.
There's also a LARP game that's been run at a few gaming conventions - again, I haven't got to play it myself but I love the idea!
There is one more published expansion (In the Lab) which I've only played in prototype form... and another (State of Emergency) which is due out later this year. I'm jazzed enough about State of Emergency that I finally broke down and ordered the replacement decks for my first edition copy of the game.
There are two "spin-off" games: a dice game (Pandemic: The Cure) - which I enjoyed but not as much as the board game; and a card game (Pandemic: Contagion) - which was just OK.
More importantly, Matt Leacock & Rob Daviau have teamed up to create Pandemic Legacy (Season One) - melding the innovative cooperative Pandemic system to the equally innovative Legacy model... it's due out in the fall of 2015. Color me very excited.
Pandemic has two more "family with kids" friendly cousins:

aka pastor guy