Pandemic Board Game (Base Game) | Family Board Game | Board Game for Adults and Family | Cooperative Board Game | Ages 8+ | 2 to 4 players | Average Playtime 45 minutes | Made by Z-Man Games

My boyfriend and I just cant play competitive games against each other. They always end with one of us gloating and the other glowering, muttering profanities under their breath. So, we decided that wed try to find a good cooperative game. Unfortunately, good two-player coop games are tough to come by. Thats why were so happy to have found Pandemic. Its you against the board WITH your partner (up to four people). The game is really easy to catch on to; after playing through the first few moves, we both got the hang of it. You definitely dont need to be a hugely experienced boardgame player to enjoy it. There are tons of small parts and nuances to each game, so I do recommend limiting the game to 10 years old and up. Expect your first game to last 90 minutes with the learning curve, but that time will quickly reduce to an hour or so after you understand how to play the game. Set up takes five minutes. Overall, the game is replayable and thoroughly enjoyable. My boyfriend and I are both not super great at it (yet), but I would much rather be conquering this game WITH him than tearfully conceding another game TO him. At least, now, I have a chance.

Favorite game that we purchased for the holidays. As a 2-4 player game it was very fun for our family and with friends. Some of the role cards can be confusing, but the popularity of this game is so high that finding resolutions to the rules was super easy online. We are buying the expansion pack.

One of our favorite games.

I’ve introduced this game as a way to get people into board gaming, specifically coop gaming, and for the most part they have enjoyed it. However, the nature of the game leads to an extreme “quarterbacking” problem where one or 2 people are controlling everyone’s actions. Overall, it’s a good intro game into the coop genre, but I wouldn’t recommend this for more experienced gamers. I have heard good things about the Legacy editions of Pandemic, which I may look into, but for now my go-to coop game is definitely still Spirit Island.

My girlfriend and I played this probably around 10 times since we have bought the game. The very 1st game we played, we lost. From there on out we have one every single game on each difficulty. Do not be fooled, this game is HARD. If you want to have a couple brews, listen to music and enjoy conversations with your friends - Go buy UNO. If you want to feel an actual sense of accomplishment while using strategy and teamwork, this is your game. I have taught 3 couples the game, and all of them are itching to play again. Like you, I was reading through the comment section; everything I was coming across was telling me that you will never win this game. If there is a will, there is a way. I can say that I see this game going terribly out of hand quickly if you are messing around - this is a cognitive game. I guess you can leisurely play, though be prepared to get your a** kicked ( which equates to NO FUN). I gave this game a 5-star because it is ingenious and one of the most fun games I have ever played. I wish I could explain, but I cant - just buy the game and find out. GL HF

I am officially 100% obsessed with this game. At first, there’s a lot of nuances to grasp, but after the first play-through, we had them down. My boyfriend and I have introduced the game to some of our friends, and they all love it too! We are definitely planning on buying some expansion packs, but for now we’re content playing on the increased difficulty level that you can do with the original game. Definitely buy this if you’re considering it! I had it in my cart for a while, and I was so happy when I finally bought it.

I bought this game at the reassurance of my friends who enjoyed this game with another group of friends. They talked about how hard it was but also what a good time they had, so I bought myself a copy. And I like it. Maybe due tot he friend I have that enjoy group puzzle solving and really digging into a concept, but we had a blast the first time we played. Was there yelling? Of course, but your milage may vary. I have yet to bring it to another, more party orientated friend group, but I hope theyll like working together instead of against each other. The down sides: there are a lot of pieces to lose, but they do give you lots of little baggies to keep things in. Also, there is a learning curve which you cannot forget because you will mess the game up, so this isnt a game to break out after killing a box of wine.

I bought this game because I am very competitive. My wife, although she would not want to admit it, also does not like to lose. We both love to play games, but there have been many tense moments in the house after one of us has achieved victory over the other. This game fixes that problem. It is a ton of fun to play! Easy to learn and teach to others, and the Co-op aspect is great. All players work together from start to finish to win or lose together. You all share your ideas and strategies as you work towards curing the world of 4 diseases. The best part is that my wife and I are brought closer together while playing rather than feeling like we never want to play another game again. The first 2 times I played we were very quickly wiped out by the diseases. The 3rd time we played we stood on the edge of a knife pretty much the whole time, but were able to win. The great thing about the game is that it only takes about 30-45 minutes once you know what you are doing, and if you lose you really want to immediately start again so you can defeat the disease. The game has great re-playability. If you like games, buy it. If you love to win games but dont like to destroy your relationships with friends, family, and significant others, stop reading reviews and order this game right now!

This game is fantastic. Its brilliant! It scales very well to the number of players, its cooperative, which is not that common and its perfectly balanced with just the right number of disease cubes, event cards and number of cities to pose a challenge no matter how many epidemics are added to the deck. The game stays fresh with numerous levels of difficulty and of course, you can add your own rules to shake things up. The game is also very challenging. There are many ways to lose but only one way to win, but win or lose it is always fun. Im also quite impressed with the expansion packs. The freshen up the game very well and add cool new pieces, like petri dishes and vials for the cures. There is even a mode (in an expansion) that allows for a bio-terrorist for those that just have to compete. Set up is a bit long, but worth it. There are also lots of little pieces that can be lost, so be careful with them. The game has the side benefit of teaching the players a little bit of geography. I think the game captures the difficulty of trying to cure diseases around the world with about as much accuracy as a game can. Each player assumes different roles with different skill sets to help them, but will it work? Try it and see!

The kids are always pretty skeptical of new games. They get attached to the ones they already know. And they can be brutal with games they dont like. For example they hated exploding kittens and it just sits there gathering dust. So when I finally convinced them to try Pandemic I was relieved that they loved it. We hadnt tried any other cooperative games before so they talked a bit about the experience of all of us winning or losing as a team. I think it builds communication skills.