Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

The game board is laid out, displaying interconnected cities across the world. Disease cubes are placed on specific cities as indicated by the infection deck. The player deck is prepared by shuffling city cards and then dividing them into five equal piles, with one epidemic card shuffled into each pile. The infection deck is also shuffled. Players choose their characters (Trevor, Nick, Zack, Gwen are chosen in the video) and select two upgrades: 'Borrowed Time' (current player takes 2 extra actions) and 'Local Initiative' (place a quarantine marker on any 2 cities). Additionally, 'Permanent Roadblocks' are chosen as a game-end upgrade, allowing three roadblocks to be placed permanently on the board. An 'Unfunded Event: Experimental Program' is added to the Manila city card, allowing players to remove one disease cube anywhere on the board when the card is played. Initial military bases and CDC centers are placed on the board.

The primary objectives for the players are to discover cures for three specific diseases: Cobra 403, Milan Pox, and Zombie X. Additionally, players must establish a military base in all six main regions of the world. An alternative objective is to have seven quarantine markers placed in faded cities. Faded figures cannot be cured or eradicated, making quarantine a crucial strategy for these areas.

Each player's turn consists of four main phases: first, the player performs up to four actions, which can include moving, treating diseases, building research stations, or sharing knowledge. Second, the player draws two player cards from the player deck. Third, any drawn epidemic cards are resolved, which involves increasing the infection rate, infecting cities, and intensifying the infection deck. Fourth, the player discards cards if they have more than seven in hand. Finally, cities are infected by drawing cards from the infection deck, placing disease cubes on the corresponding cities, and potentially causing outbreaks if a city already has three cubes of the same color.

The game is scored based on whether the players successfully meet their objectives. If all objectives are met, the players win the game. If certain negative conditions are met (e.g., running out of disease cubes, exceeding the outbreak limit), the players lose. A 'Win Bonus' card is available if the game is won in June, which can provide additional benefits for future games.

The game concludes when players either achieve all their objectives (resulting in a win) or fail to do so (resulting in a loss). Failure conditions include running out of disease cubes of a specific color, exceeding the maximum number of outbreaks, or running out of player cards. The outcome of each game, whether a win or a loss, influences the narrative and future gameplay through permanent changes to the board, characters, and available upgrades.