Pandemic Contagion

Pandemic Contagion
From Z-Man Games

Last year I had the privilege to review the game Pandemic from Z-Man Games on my blog.  Since the release of the new edition of the game, two expansion packs were also release: Pandemic in the Lab  and Pandemic on the Brink.  Pandemic is also available as a game on your Apple devices.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t expecting to receive the new version of the game – Pandemic Contagion – which will be release in store later this month.  This time the game has a completely different twist – you are the disease and there is no cure!  Though I will admit that with the various viruses going on right now having this game has mixed feeling…  

The game is described as this on Z-Man Games website:

For too long has the human race assaulted diseases. For too long has mankind found cures and other means to eradicate them from the planet. Now, the diseases are fighting back and humanity doesn’t stand a chance! Will you be the disease that exterminates humanity?
A new, non-cooperative game in the Pandemic line! Become one of the diseases in this new game that reverses the roles and where you must now try to annihilate the human race.

I personally experienced the same sickness twice in my lifetime – once as a child and once as a young adult.   I was told back then that the reason why I caught it a second time was because the sickness has change over a period of 20 something years and because of that many university students were getting the new “version” of it.  Not fun because I had to be very careful in being expose to sunlight for a certain period of time.   So I am not surprised in seeing a game based on the fact that diseases modified themselves in order to take a revenge on humanity.  

The box contains sixty contagion cards, twenty-four city cards, twelve event cards, six WHO cards, five player disease boards, five score markers, five petri dishes, seventy-five disease cubes and one scoring board.  The disease cubes are made of a transparent plastic in five different colors – blue, red, yellow, black and purple.   The cities that will be attacked are: Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Sydney, Seoul, Delhi, Mumbai, Tokyo, Milan, Essen, London, Paris, Cairo, Lagos, Kinshasa, Johannesburg, Bogota, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Montreal, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and New York.  The WHO cards includes events like clean-up, PR program to raise public awareness, the efforts being spread globally, a cure found, deployment of medical teams and vaccines available.   As for the events cards, they are essentially ways for the diseases to spread more rapidly throughout the world like attendance at worldwide festivals, travels, refugees, government collapsing, and more.  The disease boards and the scoring board are made of strong cardboard while the cards are very colorful.  

This game could make a great gift for Christmas for someone in your life who loves to play out-of-the-ordinary board games.   It is definitively not your normal game board and will provide great family time when you play with your kids.

Pandemic Contagion is available for purchase at your favorite games store, even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

  

Disclaimer: Thanks to Z-Man Games for sending me the product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.