On New Year’s Eve, I’m always a hermit. I don’t usually have big extravagant plans with a glass of champagne in my hand. This year is no different because I spent it at home playing a board game I received for Christmas called Pandemic. Special thanks to my boyfriend’s parents for buying this game for me for Christmas after seeing my bucket list pinned to the top of this blog. 🙂

The basis behind Pandemic is to prevent a world catastrophe by finding the cure to four deadly diseases. This game is cooperative which brings players together. There are seven pawns that represent characters who are crucial to the success of this game. There’s a researcher and a scientist who have extra benefits to help make the game that much easier.

Losing the game can happen in a couple of ways: there are more than 7 outbreaks globally, no more diseases (diseases are represented by color-coded cubes placed on the board) can be placed on the board and all cards are drawn from the player deck. It may seem like the odds are against you, but with character benefits, it makes for a pretty fair game.

I love how each game is relatively short. I would say no longer than an hour. In terms of difficulty that can be adjusted by the player. Epidemic cards can be added to the main deck resulting in diseases spreading and increasing the infection rate. There are 6 epidemic cards and they recommend adding four if you’re a beginner.

My only problem with this game is how the cards are worded. I realized that I had misread the card and I had been playing the game wrong twice. Oops. That happens sometimes when you start a new board game, but I thought the wording on the instruction cards could have been more clear.

Pandemic is a very fun game for beginners to board games such as myself, but it’s great for longtime fans. I’m going to play it tomorrow again, but it ranks among the top five board games I have played so far. I definitely need to research the expansions for this game because I’m sure they’re fantastic. It’s great to cross another game off my bucket list!