Pandemic

To set up, place the game board in the center of the table. Place the six research stations, disease cubes (96 total, 24 of each color), and disease markers (4 total, one for each disease type) near the board. Place the Outbreak marker on space 0 and the Infection Rate marker on the leftmost space of the Infection Rate track. Shuffle the Infection cards and place them face down. Draw the top three cards, place three disease cubes of the matching color on each city. Draw the next three cards, place two cubes on each. Draw the final three cards, placing one cube on each. Discard these nine cards. Each player randomly selects a role card and takes the corresponding pawn. Separate the Player cards from the Epidemic cards. Shuffle the Player cards and deal them to players based on the number of players (4 cards for 2 players, 3 for 3, 2 for 4). Divide the remaining Player cards into equal piles and shuffle one Epidemic card into each pile. Stack these piles to form the Player Draw Deck. The player with the highest population city in their hand starts.

The objective of Pandemic is for all players to collectively cure all four diseases before any of the three loss conditions are met. This is a cooperative game, meaning all players win or lose together.

A player's turn consists of three phases: 1. Perform four actions: Players can choose from various actions like moving (Drive/Ferry, Direct Flight, Charter Flight, Shuttle Flight), building a research station (discarding a city card matching your current city), treating a disease (removing one disease cube from your current city), sharing knowledge (giving or taking a city card from another player in the same city), or discovering a cure (discarding five city cards of the same color at a research station). 2. Draw two player cards: Draw two cards from the Player Draw Deck. If an Epidemic card is drawn, follow its instructions immediately. If the Player Draw Deck runs out, players lose. 3. Infect cities: Draw a number of Infection cards equal to the current Infection Rate. Place one disease cube of the matching color on each city. If a city already has three cubes of that color, an Outbreak occurs.

Pandemic is a cooperative game, so there is no individual scoring. All players either win or lose together. Victory is achieved by successfully discovering cures for all four diseases.

The game ends immediately in one of four ways. Players win if they discover a cure for all four diseases. Players lose if: 1. They run out of disease cubes of any one color to place on the board. 2. The Outbreak marker reaches the final space on its track (8th outbreak). 3. The Player Draw Deck runs out of cards, and a player cannot draw two cards at the end of their action phase.