Week Twenty One: Pandemic

I went back to a board game for my week.  Back when I picked up Arkham Horror, I had seriously considered playing Pandemic, instead.  Its another one of those co-operative board games, where everyone playing is on the same "team" trying to win against events that occur in the game.

This time, I picked a game that not only is rated highly, but one I actually had played before and was fairly comfortable with the rules. Plus, there aren't a whole lot of rules in Pandemic, at least compared to something like Arkham Horror.

Since we were playing at home, I didn't have to worry about a babysitter, but I did need to go out and buy the game. It turned out the day before our P52 night, I got a half day off from work, so I made use of it and ran by a local game shop to pick up the game. Unfortunately, they were out of stock. They said they could order it, but the game is really popular. When they looked it up in their system, they could only give me an estimate of a month, before it would be back in.  They did have a copy when I bought Arkham Horror.  Needless to say, I passed.

I went to Plan B, which was another game I had played which could be run with two players, SmallWorld.  But they were out.  I looked for Carcasonne, a highly rated game that plays two, but they were out of that as well.  I cut my losses and went to Plan...Plan D?

Another store, same issue.  They didn't have Pandemic, but they did have Carcassone.  I asked them about Pandemic, which they confirmed they were out of stock.  They could order it, which the clerk promptly started looking up on the computer.  I mentioned that I was wanting to play it the following evening, which I expected couldn't be done, but the clerk said they could have it tomorrow afternoon.  I confirmed I wanted it and gave them my contact info.

Next day, I was pleasantly surprised to get a call in the morning that Pandemic was in.  I picked it up after work and once the kids were in bed, Amy and I pulled the game out, went over the rules briefly and then started playing.

We played two games and won both of them (what a pandemic team!).  The first was kind of easy (playing on beginner mode). The second, on normal difficulty, we won by the skin of our teeth, on our last turn after strategizing for a while.

Fun times!  The game is easy to learn, easy to play, fun to play and only lasts about 45 minutes.  It plays 2-4 people and doesn't take a whole lot of concentration.