The stage for this game is a world map with 48 locations where four diseases spread. The players, using roles dawned for the game, try to contain the diseases. There are five roles possible: a researcher collecting and passing on information, an operations expert setting up research stations, a dispatcher shuttling people around, a scientist discovering cures, and a medic curing diseases. The nature of the game is different from a usual board-game in that the players play against the game in a cooperative way and either they all win, or they all lose. The official version is for 2-4 players, and it can be fun with players trying to come up with steps in the strategies to arrest the spread of the epidemics. At this moment, however, it is my favorite solo game where I take on the role of 2, 3, or 4 players (whatever version I have set up the game for - but I like the one with 4 roles best). The game has a small number of attractive pieces and is easy to set-up. The roles, a few special cards that can delay the epidemics, an element of randomness and the continuous race against the outbreaks make the play tight and exciting.
The element of randomness in the location where the disease starts off, or accelerates, is balanced very well by the number and type of tools available to the team-members with the final result (win or loss) almost never completely clear. Corresponding to the 48 locations where diseases can spread, team members have the same set of locations available for movement using different mechanisms and understanding these mechanisms is important. Since the game is for a maximum 4 players, at least one of the five specialist roles always gets left out.
Each player takes 4 actions, followed by new locations being available, and spreading the disease (an unavoidable side effect). Mixed with the location cards arethe epidemic cards. As a result, instead of getting access to a new location, one can accidentally cause an epidemic adding to the tension. Once such an epidemic does happen, the rate at which infection spreads increases, and this can cause outbreaks that spread to more regions. The cities that were already affected are now at a greater risk. You could also get some special cards (only one each of five different types) that give you one special free action. To discover a cure one needs five cards of one color in the hand. The usual capitalistic limit of not being able to hold more than 7 cards at a time makes this non-trivial.
The game ends in victory when all four cures are discovered or in a loss when no more cards can be drawn, or there are no more disease markers for a color, or there have been eight outbreaks. Four, five, or six epidemic cards can be roughly equally spread in the draw pile and that is what makes this an easy, normal, or heroic game. Don't mistake the 'easy' to be so. First few times, until you master the speacial roles, that is what you should play. Gradually you start understanding how to use the order of the roles effectively and are
ready to try to be more heroic. In a given game the roles come in a particular random order as decided at the start. Since the different roles complement each other in different ways, it is important to have a plan and to work towards it. One has to also keep an eye on evolving situations that could torpado the entire world. The importance of the role order can be illustrated with a couple of examples: if a dispatcher comes before the medic, it is a good idea to get him to move the medic to where the worst infection is. If the
dispatcher comes before the researcher and the scientist, it is important to move them together in case the scientist can be given cards that contribute to a cure. If operations expert comes before medic, he should set up stations that will aid the movement of the medic to hotspots. And so on. The variations possible are large. For 4 player games, any one of the 5 roles gets left out (5C4 = 5C1 = 5). For the four players, the order can be one of 24 distinct one (4P4 = 4! = 24). Because of the cyclic nature of the roles this reduces by a factor of 4. Still the total possibilities is 5*6 = 30. Add to that the four diseases, and the 12 cities (and their connections) within the main areas of each disease making each game unique.
The official version is sleek, attractive, and beautiful, but the dynamics of the game itself can be set-up using a couple of standard decks with different designs and a bunch of lego pieces. Remove the Kings (or Aces) from the decks and treat those as the 48 cities belonging to 4 disease areas (each suite representing one disease). The connections between the colors can be decided as follows: order of suites: Clubs (C), Diamonds (D), Hearts (H), Spades (S). S5 connected to H2 and H3, S11 to H3 and H8; H5 to D2 and D3, H11 to D3 and D8; D5 to C2 and C3, D11 to C3 and C8; C5 to S2 and S3, C11 to S3 and S8. The kings (not used as the 48 cities) become the epidemic cards (along with 2 jokers). I would have suggested Jacks instead of Kings, but did not want to break the sequence. For the special cards, 5 cards with backs identical to the 48 location and 6 epidemic cards will have to be used. Lego pieces can be used for markers of role (5), epidemic (1), outbreak (1), cure (4) and research station (6). And then there is the board. While this can be done, it is much better to buy the game itself. You will enjoy that far more.
The element of randomness in the location where the disease starts off, or accelerates, is balanced very well by the number and type of tools available to the team-members with the final result (win or loss) almost never completely clear. Corresponding to the 48 locations where diseases can spread, team members have the same set of locations available for movement using different mechanisms and understanding these mechanisms is important. Since the game is for a maximum 4 players, at least one of the five specialist roles always gets left out.
Each player takes 4 actions, followed by new locations being available, and spreading the disease (an unavoidable side effect). Mixed with the location cards arethe epidemic cards. As a result, instead of getting access to a new location, one can accidentally cause an epidemic adding to the tension. Once such an epidemic does happen, the rate at which infection spreads increases, and this can cause outbreaks that spread to more regions. The cities that were already affected are now at a greater risk. You could also get some special cards (only one each of five different types) that give you one special free action. To discover a cure one needs five cards of one color in the hand. The usual capitalistic limit of not being able to hold more than 7 cards at a time makes this non-trivial.
The game ends in victory when all four cures are discovered or in a loss when no more cards can be drawn, or there are no more disease markers for a color, or there have been eight outbreaks. Four, five, or six epidemic cards can be roughly equally spread in the draw pile and that is what makes this an easy, normal, or heroic game. Don't mistake the 'easy' to be so. First few times, until you master the speacial roles, that is what you should play. Gradually you start understanding how to use the order of the roles effectively and are
ready to try to be more heroic. In a given game the roles come in a particular random order as decided at the start. Since the different roles complement each other in different ways, it is important to have a plan and to work towards it. One has to also keep an eye on evolving situations that could torpado the entire world. The importance of the role order can be illustrated with a couple of examples: if a dispatcher comes before the medic, it is a good idea to get him to move the medic to where the worst infection is. If the
dispatcher comes before the researcher and the scientist, it is important to move them together in case the scientist can be given cards that contribute to a cure. If operations expert comes before medic, he should set up stations that will aid the movement of the medic to hotspots. And so on. The variations possible are large. For 4 player games, any one of the 5 roles gets left out (5C4 = 5C1 = 5). For the four players, the order can be one of 24 distinct one (4P4 = 4! = 24). Because of the cyclic nature of the roles this reduces by a factor of 4. Still the total possibilities is 5*6 = 30. Add to that the four diseases, and the 12 cities (and their connections) within the main areas of each disease making each game unique.
The official version is sleek, attractive, and beautiful, but the dynamics of the game itself can be set-up using a couple of standard decks with different designs and a bunch of lego pieces. Remove the Kings (or Aces) from the decks and treat those as the 48 cities belonging to 4 disease areas (each suite representing one disease). The connections between the colors can be decided as follows: order of suites: Clubs (C), Diamonds (D), Hearts (H), Spades (S). S5 connected to H2 and H3, S11 to H3 and H8; H5 to D2 and D3, H11 to D3 and D8; D5 to C2 and C3, D11 to C3 and C8; C5 to S2 and S3, C11 to S3 and S8. The kings (not used as the 48 cities) become the epidemic cards (along with 2 jokers). I would have suggested Jacks instead of Kings, but did not want to break the sequence. For the special cards, 5 cards with backs identical to the 48 location and 6 epidemic cards will have to be used. Lego pieces can be used for markers of role (5), epidemic (1), outbreak (1), cure (4) and research station (6). And then there is the board. While this can be done, it is much better to buy the game itself. You will enjoy that far more.
