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 husband and I LOVE this game. Highly recommend, especially for people who are competitive. This is the first cooperative board game we have ever played and we love it-- we win together or lose together. We work together to come up with the best move for each person and brainstorm/debate which move is best. We are super nerdy and started playing at the highest difficulty after playing ~2 games at a normal difficulty. So far, we win about 50% of the time, but we always seem to get close to winning so its always fun! Playing this game always leaves people in a good mood, even if we lose. With other board games, you have to choose whether you want to win at all costs and upset friends/family being ruthless, or be nice/casual and pretend like you dont care about winning (but you do...) LOL. Pandemic is just fun and everyone can put in the amount of effort that they want.

The theme is dark, to be sure, but this is a very fun game. The backdrop of the game is that several deadly, communicable diseases are circulating around the world and your team is trying to keep them subdued, create cures and treat/prevent outbreaks before the world is consumed by a pandemic of global proportions. So if youre a touch of a hypochondriac... you should probably pick something in a different genre. I purchased this as a gift for a friend and we both love it. The different characters abilities make each game fun and unique, even if you play with the same couple of people. Also, is plenty of fun with just two players, whereas other games become less interesting without three or four. This is also a cooperative game (rather than competitive) which different than most board games but is a lot of fun - youre working with other players to save the world... and inadvertently brushing up on your geography on the way there. Id say teens and up on this one if the players are going to get the point and understand the somewhat involved game play (LOTS of tiny pieces, different draw decks, two separate trackers, different kinds of player, and assorted other simultaneous rules.) The game is a touch complicated to set up, but after you play a few rounds it goes in a flash. Card based, not dice based (if youre like me that is a large plus!)

challenging indifferent every time you play, supports teamwork and not competition

I got this for my momma for Mothers Day based off of reviews from some online board game sites. Since my family usually plays competitive games, I thought this would be a good change of pace. Be sure to read the rule book thoroughly before starting a game, and keep it on hand for the first few times making sure to follow the rules exactly to a T. (We thought we were taking a short-cut with preparing the decks, and soon regretted it) The logic of the game is very well thought-out, but still simple to follow. For a family that used to slam doors over a game of Sorry, this is probably the best board game experience weve had thus-far. Cant wait to try out the expansion packs! I would highly recommend!

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.

This is a fun game, but its tough to play it right out of the box because the rules are complex. Weve played it probably four times and were still finding things we are doing wrong. However, it is a fun game, and its one that adults will enjoy as well as mature or older children. My 11 year old son likes it a lot. My fiance likes it more than, say, Settlers of Catan and 7 Wonders (talk about complex rules!!!) And I like it a lot, partly because Im a health sciences person, but also because its collaborative rather than competative. Everyone wins or loses together, and so every time its your turn, youre talking with the other players to decide what to do. I love that. This is a great game and its fun enough that I think youll play it enough times to make it worth buying, and even when youre playing it wrong, the same is true. In fact, now Id like to rope the family into playing again soon...

I have always been a fan of board games and card games; mostly standard classics with board games though...RISK, Monopoly, etc. While I loved these games they were never all that fun with only 2 people...and eventually I quit trying. I bought this game on a whim looking for something to play with my brother since we got sick of Magic the Gathering. After opening everything up one night, we were both overwhelmed with how complex the game seemed; i didnt think we would learn, but we decided to try it once. We both quickly learned how to play and answered all our questions during our first game (with a little help from an online video from Wil Wheaton, Thanks Mr. Crusher!) After the first game we were hooked! We played six games (they average about an hour) our first night playing and barely won twice (its a tough game). I never thought board games could be this fun and addictive, Ive already bought a few more, hopefully they hold up to this one.

I liked this game very much it was easy to learn and very fun

This game is very intense. Its a cooperative game and the sense of impending doom is very palpable. Something about diseases getting out of control injects a lot more intensity into this game than I see in other cooperative games. Everything feels like its about to get out of control. This game is difficult. Actually, I havent beat it yet. I might be just really bad at it or something. Anyway, I can easily recommend it. Theres a reason this a hugely popular classic. I have only played it two player, but I suspect it would work better and perhaps be easier with more players. Very high quality concept and execution.

I bought this game after playing it once at a friends house. Although I am a very competitive person, I had fun playing a cooperative game with my friends. Ive only played this game with 4 players so far but the fact that you can play with two is appealing. The point of the game is to act as a team to treat and cure diseases that are spreading around the world. You can perform a limited number of actions per turn before a mandatory phase where the infections spread. The rule book is very long. You should read it cover to cover at least once before trying to play. Im guilty of not re-reading the rules after not playing for 6+ months and forgot there were different difficulty levels to the game. Needless to say, my family lost our first few games playing with all 6 epidemic cards and 3/4 of the players having never played before. Plus there are a lot of rules in total and youll want to have it handy while playing to reference them. It is intimidating; when I introduced the game to my family they almost didnt give it a chance because of the rule book. In the end everyone ended up enjoying the game. Despite initial concerns that a game should not be cooperative, you can still be competitive by trying to convince the other players that your decision is better than anothers. Thanks for reading and please click the button below if you found this helpful.