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Pandemic: board game
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Author:  Foamy [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 10:52 am ]
Post subject:  Pandemic: board game
Got it for Christmas and it is just as awesome as I thought it would be. Played it three times with my Bro-in-law and we won each time. We're going to up the difficulty for the next play to see if we really do know what we are doing, or just had lucky draws.

Up until Forbidden Island, I don't think I quite knew of the Co-op genre of board game. I was so used to them all being competitive or at least team based. Both Forbidden Island and Pandemic are of this genre and both have a great element of suspense that I thought was unlikely from a board game. I would highly recommend both. I saw FI in the stores for the holidays at $29.99, but online it was in the $18-$25 range. Of course, the after holiday retail sales will probably see that price cut.

Spent some X-mas money to buy the expansion for it already. Can't wait for it to get here. I just wish I had more time to coordinate my few game playing friends, I have so many games that I want to play. This will definitely be busted out for New Years Eve.
Author:  Arathain Kelvar [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 12:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pandemic: board game
Foamy wrote:
Got it for Christmas and it is just as awesome as I thought it would be. Played it three times with my Bro-in-law and we won each time. We're going to up the difficulty for the next play to see if we really do know what we are doing, or just had lucky draws.

Up until Forbidden Island, I don't think I quite knew of the Co-op genre of board game. I was so used to them all being competitive or at least team based. Both Forbidden Island and Pandemic are of this genre and both have a great element of suspense that I thought was unlikely from a board game. I would highly recommend both. I saw FI in the stores for the holidays at $29.99, but online it was in the $18-$25 range. Of course, the after holiday retail sales will probably see that price cut.

Spent some X-mas money to buy the expansion for it already. Can't wait for it to get here. I just wish I had more time to coordinate my few game playing friends, I have so many games that I want to play. This will definitely be busted out for New Years Eve.


Never heard of this or the co-op genre. Can you get into it a little more w/o spoiling? How's it work?
Author:  Foamy [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 12:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pandemic: board game
Instead of they players being pitted against each other, they are playing against the game as a team.

In Forbidden Island, the island is sinking and you have to retrieve 4 treasures and all players make it back to the helicopter landing to be airlifted from the island.

In Pandemic, 4 separate diseases are spreading across the globe and the players have to discover the cures for each of them before the player draw pile runs out, 8 outbreaks occur, or too much of one disease has spread without treatment.

Both games have an countdown that gets increasingly more challenging the longer the game goes on. Take too long to accomplish your goals and it gets much more difficult to do so. A device that both games use is the reshuffling of the already drawn cards into the "countdown" draw deck (IE: in FI, already flooded tiles will be the first to likely sink, and in Pandemic, already infected cities will be the first to be drawn again thus increasing the possibility of outbreak)

Each game has the players all assigned a role that has a special ability and the trick is to best coordinate with your teammates to optimize each players strengths.

They are quick to learn and the games usually last 45 minutes to an hour. There is the tendency that one player may try to dictate to the others what they should do on their turns, but usually with mutual understanding of the rules, players learn what to do on their turn for themselves where the whole table can agree.

I have had too many experiences with games that AREN'T team or co-op, that turn into just that. Oonagh and I play for ourselves, but others at the table would do things to benefit each other or specifically not harm each other. My Bro-in-law and sis-in-law were notorious for this.

Both games have adjustable difficulty levels by, in effect, speeding up the timers. This makes it a little more adaptable for those that have a good grasp on the needed strategies and ability to cooperate with each other and can consistently win on lower difficulty. Of course, there is always that random bad draw that can sink your hopes of winning even before everyone has had a turn.

They are inexpensive, quick to learn, and quick to play. My Bro-in-law and I got two games in the other night, back to back. Lots of fun and it avoids players teaming up against each other or backstabbing. Of course, if you are all for that type of play, I would suggest any of the Munchkin series or the much more amusing "Hex Hex"
Author:  Talya [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 2:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pandemic: board game
Foamy wrote:
Lots of fun and it avoids players teaming up against each other or backstabbing.


So you're contrasting it against...oh...let's pick..."Settlers of Catan," the most evil game ever, designed to ensure family members are not speaking to each other anymore after only one night?
Author:  Foamy [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 2:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pandemic: board game
Talya wrote:
Foamy wrote:
Lots of fun and it avoids players teaming up against each other or backstabbing.


So you're contrasting it against...oh...let's pick..."Settlers of Catan," the most evil game ever, designed to ensure family members are not speaking to each other anymore after only one night?


Strangely enough, I've never run into much controversy in Settlers. Somehow, it always managed to stay civil.
Author:  shuyung [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 4:30 pm ]
Post subject: 
You must not be playing it right, then.
Author:  Elmarnieh [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 4:32 pm ]
Post subject: 
Settlers is awesome! And as long as everyone understands everyone is trying to get one over on others it all works out ok.
Author:  Crimsonsun [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 4:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pandemic: board game
Talya wrote:
Foamy wrote:
Lots of fun and it avoids players teaming up against each other or backstabbing.


So you're contrasting it against...oh...let's pick..."Settlers of Catan," the most evil game ever, designed to ensure family members are not speaking to each other anymore after only one night?


I thought that was Monopoly...
Author:  shuyung [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 5:35 pm ]
Post subject: 
No, Monopoly is the game that lasts long enough everyone gets tired of playing it and quits.
Author:  Corolinth [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 5:39 pm ]
Post subject: 
I punched someone during a game of Settlers.

It wasn't the first time this person had been punched over a game of Settlers, or even the first time he'd been punched over the tactic he employed.
Author:  Kaffis Mark V [ Wed Dec 28, 2011 8:24 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'm sorry, but no discussion of "screw your buddy" games is complete without mentioning Illuminati. Or Munchkin. Both by Steve Jackson.. hmmm....

Now that that's been remedied, in any case, I put forth the contention that Fortune and Glory is a superior cooperative board game (well, it's got a cooperative variant), because it pits you against a non-player team of Nazis. With a zeppelin. I haven't played Pandemic, but.. Nazi Zeppelins.
Author:  Lonedar [ Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:54 am ]
Post subject: 
I got FI for Christmas...even the wife enjoys it...which is saying something. Kaffis has me *this* close to buying FaG. And I'll submit Defenders of the Realm for fantasy-tastic, Pandemicy co-op. I haven't played Pandemic, but Defenders has been described as fantasy Pandemic with more dice and less puzzle.
Author:  Taamar [ Fri Dec 30, 2011 10:49 am ]
Post subject: 
Pandemic is an awesome game, and the expansion allows a 5th player. I particularly like that the game pace is based on the number of players, so it's really no more challenging with two than it is with 5. The ONLY problem we've had is that particularly strong/pushy players may take over, solved by only playing with people who will tell them to go take a flying leap.
Author:  Numbuk [ Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pandemic: board game
I've been enjoying House on Haunted Hill. Which is a mostly co-op game and one player is the traitor. Nobody knows who the traitor will be, and it's different every time. Maybe the traitor turns into a werewolf and has to eat people. Maybe they get to help the ghost of an ancestor try to kill the party. If the traitor defeats the other players, he wins. If the other players complete the objective to stop the traitor, they win.

It's basically a random-tile-base haunted house game. Quite fun.

The other Co-op games I own that are surprisingly fun are the Dungeons & Dragons board games like Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon. Players pick pre-generated, simplified D&D characters and you have different scenarios to crawl through these dungeons. Non D&D players can learn the game quite easily and each game generally lasts about an hour.
Author:  Arathain Kelvar [ Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
shuyung wrote:
No, Monopoly is the game that lasts long enough everyone gets tired of playing it and quits.


Axis and Allies, ugh. That game so accurately represents WWII, that it takes nearly 4 years to play.
Author:  Darkroland [ Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re:
Arathain Kelvar wrote:
shuyung wrote:
No, Monopoly is the game that lasts long enough everyone gets tired of playing it and quits.


Axis and Allies, ugh. That game so accurately represents WWII, that it takes nearly 4 years to play.


Yeah, I used to love playing games that took all weekend. Now I check the box to make sure I can play it in under an hour, in the hopes that I might ever actually squeeze in a game in-between responsibilities.
Author:  Corolinth [ Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:01 pm ]
Post subject: 
The last five games of A&A I played were under four hours, and were actually decided by the end of Russia's move on turn 2. Two of them had Germany crushed between Russia and U.K. by turn 3.
Author:  Müs [ Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:07 pm ]
Post subject: 
I also like Munchkin ;) Its quite fun with 4 or 5 hyper competitive rules lawyering players ;)

Blood was nearly shed once ;)
Author:  FarSky [ Fri Dec 30, 2011 6:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Pandemic: board game
<3 Munchkin. Also, as mentioned in Lenas' thread, Apples to Apples.
Author:  Jocificus [ Sat Dec 31, 2011 12:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re:
shuyung wrote:
No, Monopoly is the game that lasts long enough everyone gets tired of playing it and quits.


Monopoly is not a very long game if you play by the actual rules instead of with house rules. Almost no one knows this, and there are dozens of "rules" out there that people don't know aren't actually in the real game rules.

There are two rules I see pretty commonly that aren't in the real ones: the fact that when someone lands on a square and doesn't purchase it, it's supposed to be auctioned to the highest bidder (almost no one does this), and there isn't supposed to be a money pile for someone when they land on free parking.
Author:  Foamy [ Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re:
Jocificus wrote:
shuyung wrote:
No, Monopoly is the game that lasts long enough everyone gets tired of playing it and quits.


Monopoly is not a very long game if you play by the actual rules instead of with house rules. Almost no one knows this, and there are dozens of "rules" out there that people don't know aren't actually in the real game rules.

There are two rules I see pretty commonly that aren't in the real ones: the fact that when someone lands on a square and doesn't purchase it, it's supposed to be auctioned to the highest bidder (almost no one does this), and there isn't supposed to be a money pile for someone when they land on free parking.


Bingo. Also, I believe that no one knows that the game is only played to a second bankruptcy and that the creditor for the first bankrupt player is supposed to immediately pay 10% of the mortgage costs of EVERY property turned over by the bankrupting player even if they aren't lifting the mortgage at that moment.
Author:  Taamar [ Mon Jan 02, 2012 9:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pandemic: board game
The problem with monopoly is that there's no win condition, just a lose condition. So the game can go on long after some players are out.
Author:  Foamy [ Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:20 am ]
Post subject: 
Bro-in-Law and I have played about 9 games of this so far. No expansion challenges added in, but have added the new roles from the expansion.

We are currently about 6-3, with the three losses coming after adding the 5th epidemic card to the mix (Normal Difficulty).

I have never enjoyed a board game quite so much as I have this one. Two games have came down to the very last turn/card draw. One was a sudden victory that we didn't expect....so much so, that one of our team doctors fled to South America on his last turn as it was completely uninfected and he was buying time for himself and his family to survive.

The other one was a sudden loss as the last infection card I drew caused the 8th outbreak on the very turn before my teammate was set to nail the final cure.

If I haven't said it before, I HIGHLY recommend this game.
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