First, do no harm
There were two reasons why I was eager to start this review. The first is that I’m a huge fan of co-op games and never played the original Pandemic . A version of Cthulhu once flashed across my table , but it was on it about twice and all I remembered about it was a very nice performance – I probably played with the cultist figures longer than I played with it. The second reason is that I was looking for a co’op that can be closed in less than half an hour. If anyone has any nice suggestions, I would like to read it – feel free to comment.
Roll for Pandemic
At this point, I always mention the author of the game, and in this case the situation is very convenient for me. The duo of Matt Leacock and Tom Lehmann do not need to be introduced in more detail. As a chronicler, I will only say that the first of them is behind such titles as Forbidden Island or the entire Pandemic series (top 2 BGG !!!), and the second is the creator of the already iconic Race and Roll for the Galaxy . It sounds very tasty.
The power of simplicity
After opening the box … and here I complain a bit, because I had a real problem with it – the box was so folded that it was impossible to open it normally. It’s a little better now, but still not perfect. Inside you will find an instruction, a nice compact board, 4 pieces, some cards and markers. Plus for help cards, which are slowly becoming standard, but sometimes still missing. The graphic design is simple, but I like basically everything except those Chinese-style pawns. Here you could really try a little harder. I’m spoiled, I know. However, I will not change my mind.
Let’s heal!
We are dealing here with a game for two to four people. Thematically, we will play the roles of team members looking for a cure for three different diseases, this time devastating Europe. And I definitely like it – there was an edition devoted to North America earlier – however, I prefer to save Warsaw and Kiev than the example of Detroit. On the mechanical side, it is a game about choosing and optimizing actions, with elements of hand management. The gameplay itself is very simple. Each player receives his pawn, a team member card that has some special ability to use during his turn, and cards with city names that can be used to travel or invent a cure if you collect a certain amount of them.
In one turn, the player performs 4 actions, which may include:
– traveling around the map (in three different variants, with or without cards)
– healing the disease (removing markers from the map)
– exchanging / giving cards (strongly fortified)
– inventing a cure (clue of the game).
Then you draw cards up to your hand limit and draw one / those that will indicate where the next outbreaks will appear. It all comes down to planning where to go and where to get the markers at the right moment. This is important because if there are too many of them in one city, the disease will spread, and this is the beginning of our end. It is also worth mentioning that if it gets too easy for someone, there are still 9 mutation cards in the box that can increase its difficulty. They are always happy with such elements, it is no different here.
Is it worth it?
This version of Pandemic is likeable. I’m not sure if that’s a good word for a game like this, but that’s what I think. During the first game I thought “it’s nice, but somehow easy” and I lost. Disgracefully. It is a very light game – according to the instructions, it is a simplified version of the base. Everyone has to ask themselves if they needed a simplified version of a fairly light game. I liked it because I like games with simple rules, not necessarily trivial to win. I also remembered a nice patent with the fact that the cards that throw up the dice at some point return to the top of the deck, making it harder on the one hand, but on the other you know more or less what to expect.
