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Pandemic
Year
2008
Players
24
Play time
45min
Min age
8+
Weight
2.39
BGG rating
7.51
BGG rank
#173
Best with
4

Local copies

Rating: 7.0

In Pandemic, several virulent diseases have broken out simultaneously all over the world! The players are disease-fighting specialists whose mission is to treat disease hotspots while researching cures for each of four plagues before they get out of hand. The game board depicts several major population centers on Earth. On each turn, a player can use up to four actions to travel between cities, treat infected populaces, discover a cure, or build a research station. A deck of cards provides the players with these abilities, but sprinkled throughout this deck are Epidemic! cards that accelerate and intensify the diseases' activity. A second, separate deck of cards controls the "normal" spread of the infections. Taking a unique role within the team, players must plan their strategy to mesh with their specialists' strengths in order to conquer the diseases. For example, the Operations Expert can build research stations which are needed to find cures for the diseases and which allow for greater mobility between cities; the Scientist needs only four cards of a particular disease to cure it instead of the normal five-but the diseases are spreading quickly and time is running out. If one or more diseases spreads beyond recovery or if too much time elapses, the players all lose. If they cure the four diseases, they all win! The 2013 edition of Pandemic includes two new characters-the Contingency Planner and the Quarantine Specialist-not available in earlier editions of the game. Pandemic is the first game in the Pandemic series.

Categories

MedicalTravel

Mechanics

Action PointsChainingContractsCooperative GameEventsHand ManagementMulti-Use CardsPoint to Point MovementSet CollectionSimulationSolo / Solitaire GameTagsTradingVariable Player PowersVariable Set-up

Best with how many players

1
Recommended
2
Recommended
3
Recommended
4
Best
4+
Not rec.

Community votes from BoardGameGeek

Language dependence

Some necessary text - easily memorized(282 of 344 votes)

Sub-rankings

  • Family Game Rank#34
  • Strategy Game Rank#177

Learn to play

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External data

Wikidata enrichment: 5 links · 1 facts · latest game data 06/20/2026.

Latest Wikidata run: ok · 06/20/2026.

Links

  • Official websitezmangames.com

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  • Official rulestherulebook.com

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  • Official rulesspeedrun.com

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  • Official rulesofficialgamerules.org

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  • Official rulesleacock.com

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  • Official rulesbrettspielwelt.de

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  • Official FAQboardgamegeek.com

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  • Official FAQzmangames.com

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  • Official FAQzman-games.com

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  • Official errataboardgamegeek.com

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  • Official erratazmangames.com

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  • Publisher supportzman-games.com

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  • Wikipedia (da)da.wikipedia.org

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  • Wikipedia (en)en.wikipedia.org

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  • Wikidatawikidata.org

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  • BGG rules threadboardgamegeek.com

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  • BGG rules threadboardgamegeek.com

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  • Imagecommons.wikimedia.org

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  • Fan referencemeepletron.com

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  • Fan referenceen.wikipedia.org

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  • Fan referenceseesaawiki.jp

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  • Fan referencepurdue.edu

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  • Fan referenceorderofgamers.com

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  • Fan referencetesera.ru

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  • Fan referencebrettspielwelt.de

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  • Fan referencespokesman.com

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Facts

Publication date
2008