If you lived through 2020, then you’re definitely going to have a couple of flashbacks and stories to tell as you play the Pandemic board game with your friends. The board game is based on a team of 7 characters that work together to try and prevent a disease from spiralling out of control and spreading across the world. It’s quite different from other board games because it requires cooperation between players to win, but nonetheless, it’s still a fun game to play. Get to the end of this review to find out if it deserves its spot on our list of the best board games.
Why We Like It – Z Man Games ZM7101 Pandemic
The Pandemic board game from Z Man games is a fun game to play if you’re excited about working together as part of a team. The whole objective is to prevent the wide spreading of a disease across the world, and relying on one another’s abilities to do so. Like the Betrayal At House On The Hill, this game is more suitable for adults.
- Team-based
- Short rounds
- Might start getting predictable
- Young players may struggle
Performance
Unlike Catan the board game, playing the Pandemic starts by first choosing player roles. The 7 different roles available are medic, researcher, scientist, contingency planner, quarantine specialist, dispatcher and operations expert. Once the roles are randomly chosen, the next step is to draw random cards and infect nine different cities. There will be 4 different diseases to wipe out, and they’ll be spread out through different continents. Each player gets to have different abilities depending on their chosen character, and everyone must work together to prevent the disease outbreaks from spreading across the world and becoming a Pandemic. This game can be played by lots of people, but if you prefer a game for only two to four people, the Plan Games Azul Board Game is a better option.
Design
There’s not really much to the Pandemic board game except for a large board of the world, player cards, and large cubes to represent the four different diseases. The game does have a number of moving parts, but not too many to have you all over the place. Just like the plan games azul board game, there doesn’t seem to be any extra parts lying around once you start playing the game, so everything gets put to use.
Value
The Pandemic board game from Z Man Games will take about 30 minutes for new players to learn how to play. It’s also described as suitable for players of over 8 years old and above, but we think being a cooperative game, it would be best left for adults. For each turn, a player gets up to 4 actions, and these actions require a lot of cooperation to find out the best way to handle the outbreak before it gets out of hand. The objective of the game is to find cures to all 4 diseases, and at the same time ensure that it does not spread too far out of control. In some aspects, the game is similar to Ticket to Ride since there’s a lot to learn, but all in all, both games are fun and easy to understand.
Z Man Games ZM7101 Pandemic Wrap Up
Z Man games is an American board game company that’s got a lot of interesting titles in its line-up, but so far, the Pandemic board game remains their most popular release. The board game is a great way to strengthen the bond between friends, and foster the team spirit within the group.
