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Like many board gamers, one of the first games I played was Pandemic. It was the first cooperative board game that I’d played and it kind of blew my mind. It completely altered my view of what board games could be. I’d played a couple of the other gateway games usual suspects; Ticket to Ride and Catan, both of which I liked. They’re not games that I play as frequently now, I would always be happy to, but they never make the top of my list. However, Pandemic (or a version of it) I return to again and again. Like Catan and Ticket to Ride, there have been lots of new innovative and creative versions providing plenty of variety, whilst the familiar mechanisms make them intuitive to play. There are currently 15 Pandemic and Pandemic System games (not including expansions), here are my top ten.
Original Pandemic
In the original Pandemic players are working together, each with a specialist role, to treat, cure and eradicate four deadly diseases.
Players travel between 48 cities across the world treating infection, building research centres, and sharing and building enough knowledge to find cures. Throughout the game, cities are infected (represented by cubes) and periodically epidemic cards are drawn to simulate the escalation and spread of disease. This leads to outbreaks if the infections have not been well managed. Players win together when all four diseases have been cured, players lose together if time runs out (triggered by exhausting a deck of cards), there are more than eight outbreaks, or if the level of infection is so high that no further disease cubes can be placed on the board.
As I say, the first time that I played, it completely changed my idea of what board games were. It’s a brilliant gateway to next step kind of game because of the variable levels of difficulty, making it easy to step up the challenge as you become better at the game.
My one complaint about Pandemic is that whilst the components are fine, the artwork, not that there’s much, and graphic design is pretty meh, and I think a little old fashioned. I have been tempted by the 10th anniversary edition which comes in an old-fashioned medical kit tin. It looks so good but feels a bit extravagant when I already own the game. Still, perhaps I’ll splurge when I feel I deserve a treat.
Contagion
Contagion may not be for everyone, as you’re playing as the disease rather than trying to eradicate it. I have friends who don’t like Pandemic because of the theme, even more so post-Covid, so this might take it a bit too far for some players. However, the gameplay feels a little
more abstract and I feel that the theme is handled sensitively here. To me it feels like a card game implementation of Pandemic and a great alternative when you don’t have time for the full set up and playthrough. Unlike the other Pandemic games in this list, I find Contagion does not play well at two, which is how I play most games. Whilst there is a two-player set up and rules, they really feel like an afterthought and for me this is definitely a game to be enjoyed with a higher player count.
Reign of Cthulhu
I feel slightly incapable of writing these blogs without including a potentially controversial opinion, but I don’t massively see the appeal of the Cthulhu theme. I’m sure I’ve not taken the opportunity to play some fantastic games as a result! However, I do really love Pandemic, so I gave this one a try and I really enjoyed it. It feels eery and immersive, but without me having to be massively into the Cthulhu/Lovecraft lore or sci-fi as a theme more generally.
This plays fairly similarly to the original Pandemic. Each player takes on a specialist investigator role. Instead of curing diseases you’re racing to locate and seal four magical portals whilst destroying cults and avoiding insanity. Instead of a world map, the board shows four fictional towns in New England, and the ‘Old Ones’ take the place of epidemics.
Whilst the theme isn’t a huge hook for me, I really love the artwork in this, it’s really well done and feels really evocative. So much so that it’s even piqued my interest in other Cthulhu games. A little.
The Cure
I think of The Cure as Pandemic: The Dice Game, but will qualify that by saying ‘the dice game’ done very well. Often, though not always, the smaller more portable dice versions of games aren’t super successful in my opinion. This is a very effective implementation though and like the original has a variable set up to determine the level of difficulty. For me, it absolutely delivers on the feel of the bigger game. It still creates lots of tough choices and interesting puzzles for players to solve. The Specialist roles are managed through custom dice, diseases spread throughout the regions by dice and epidemics take place depending on the progress on the biohazard track, triggered by player dice. Unlike other dice game implementations, I don’t find this significantly quicker than Pandemic, however the set-up is much quicker, so I tend to want to play this over the original.
Rising Tide
Rising tide is a Pandemic System game rather than a retheme of Pandemic. Instead of managing disease, players are defending the Netherlands from flooding. To win you must
construct four hydraulic structures, and in the meantime manage the flow of water. Of the spin-offs this feels the most different to the original, and for me was certainly the trickiest to get my head round the set up and rules. As with all the spin-offs I really like the theme and I much prefer the look of this game to the original. With that being said, it perhaps interferes with the usability a little as the board is a bit busy and the regions can be difficult to distinguish. Although that’s a fairly minor gripe for me. One of the things that I particularly appreciate about Rising Tide is that as well as the usual variable set up for difficulty, you can add a small module (included in the box) which sets objectives. I think it’s one of the trickier and more challenging Pandemic games, so is my choice when I’m in the mood for a tougher cooperative experience.
Legacy Season 2
There are three legacy versions of Pandemic which are all very different, but all have an overarching narrative that play out over a year. The direction of your game evolves over the course of multiple game sessions when choices that you make in one game impact future plays. I won’t say anything very specific about any of the Legacy gameplay, to avoid spoilers. However, I can say that just like when I first played Pandemic, playing Pandemic Legacy (I started with one) completely changed my notion of what board games are again. Popular opinion seems to be that Season Two wasn’t as good as one or zero, and I think it’s been judged a little unfairly. I admit it’s my least favourite of the three, but there’s not much in it. They’re all incredible and playing through these has been some of the best game experiences that I’ve had. I actually played this during lockdown via Zoom and it worked surprisingly well, it’s still up there as one of my best gaming experiences.
Fall of Rome
Fall of Rome is another of the Pandemic System games, and like Rising Tide whilst it’s still recognisably Pandemic, it adds some new elements that change the feel of the game.
Instead of curing diseases, players are protecting the Roman Empire. Players do this by fortifying cities, building alliances, recruiting centurions and battling invading tribes. It’s a great example of innovative and creative design, the system for adding cubes (invading tribes rather than infections in this case) to the board works quite differently to the original game but feels intuitive and makes perfect sense thematically.
I really like this theme, and this is a great choice if you like the idea of cooperative and/or Pandemic games but find the disease theme off-putting.
Iberia
Another of the Pandemic System games, In Iberia you’ve travelled back in time and have to manage various outbreaks across Spain and Portugal without the benefit of modern medicine. You’re as much reliant on a clean drinking water supply and building railway infrastructure to mobilise medics and resources as you are medical breakthroughs.
Like Fall of Rome, Iberia has nice art and lovely wooden components, which I think are much more pleasant to play with than plastic. Moreover, they don’t feel incongruous in an historically themed game.
I love this version, it’s very familiar Pandemic, but with a couple of really interesting twists. It almost feels a little like a Pandemic/Ticket to Ride cross over and I think both people who’ve enjoyed Pandemic or Ticket to Ride would enjoy this.
Legacy Season 1
Rest assured this will remain spoiler free, but I particularly loved season one because the first game is essentially just a normal game of Pandemic. Like I said, this was my first legacy game full stop, and it completely blew my mind. I found it very much like bingeing a great boxset, but in board game form. I took it on every holiday we went on because I couldn’t bear the idea of not being able to play and as soon as we finished, I bought another copy to play through again with friends. It’s a great starting point for the Pandemic legacy games and legacy games in general if you’ve not played one before.
Legacy Season Zero
in Legacy Season 0 you’re playing as spies in the 1960s, that’s not a spoiler, it tells you that on the box. Still, I shall say nothing more than that, as the twists and turns that come during the course of the game are stunning. There were several times that the group I played with were left speechless or babbling nonsense after an unexpected reveal. It was such an exciting and immersive experience. The artwork is evocative of the era and I can’t think of components in any other game that are as creative. I cannot recommend this enough, although I would definitely play seasons one and two first. Possibly my absolute favourite game experience, I am desperate to get another copy and play through the campaign even though I know what’s coming. My partner thinks we should play some of the other games that we own but haven’t played yet. Well, Fine… Actually, that is fine, we’ve got lots of great games to play.
In summary
Whichever you choose, all the Pandemic games are fantastic. There is something for everyone, both experienced and more casual gamers. There are quicker versions when you’re pressed for times or immersive legacy versions with a narrative that becomes as exciting as the gameplay itself.