Objective of the Game

Welcome, aspiring disease fighters! In Pandemic, you and your team aren't just playing a game; you're humanity's last hope against four deadly diseases threatening to wipe us out. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to work together to find cures for all four diseases before the world succumbs to chaos. It's a race against time, outbreaks, and dwindling resources!

You'll achieve victory collectively and immediately when you've successfully discovered the cures for all four diseases. Remember, you don't need to eradicate them all, just find the cures!

Preparation (Setup)

Alright, let's get this global crisis under control! Here’s how to set up your game of Pandemic:

1. Separate the Disease cubes by color into four distinct supply piles.
2. Place the Outbreaks marker on the '0' space of the Outbreaks track.
3. Place the Infection Rate marker on the leftmost space (the '2') of the Infection Rate track.
4. Set the four Cure markers, 'vial' side up, near the Discovered Cure indicators.
5. Shuffle the Role cards and deal one faceup to each player. Each player also takes a reference card and places their matching pawn in Atlanta.
6. Place one research station in Atlanta.
7. Take all Epidemic cards out of the Player deck and set them aside for now.
8. Shuffle the remaining Player cards (City and Event cards) and deal the initial hands to players:
   • For 4 players: 2 cards each.
   • For 3 players: 3 cards each.
   • For 2 players: 4 cards each.
9. Now, choose your difficulty!
   • Introductory: Use 4 Epidemic cards.
   • Standard: Use 5 Epidemic cards.
   • Heroic: Use 6 Epidemic cards.
   Remove any unused Epidemic cards from the game.
10. Divide the remaining Player cards into a number of facedown piles equal to the number of Epidemic cards you're using, making them as equal in size as possible. Shuffle one Epidemic card into each pile. Stack these piles to form the final Player deck (smaller piles should be placed on the bottom).
11. Shuffle the Infection cards. Then, flip over 3 of them. For each of these cities, place 3 disease cubes of the matching color.
12. Flip over 3 more Infection cards. For each of these cities, place 2 disease cubes of the matching color.
13. Flip over 3 final Infection cards. For each of these cities, place 1 disease cube of the matching color.
14. All these flipped Infection cards go faceup onto the Infection discard pile. The rest form the Infection deck.
15. Finally, players look at the City cards in their hand. The player with the city that has the highest population goes first.

The Turn of Play

Play proceeds clockwise around the table. While players can (and should!) advise each other, the player whose turn it is always makes the final decision.

Each turn, the current player must complete three phases in order:

1. Do 4 Actions

You get to perform any combination of available actions, up to a total of four. You can even do the same action multiple times, each time counting as one action. If you don't want to use all four actions, you can pass on some, but unused actions don't carry over to your next turn. Keep in mind that your unique Role might change how some actions work!

Movement Actions

• Drive / Ferry: Move your pawn to a city connected by a white line to your current city. Lines 'wrap around' the board, so don't be afraid to travel!
• Direct Flight: Discard a City card from your hand to move your pawn to the city named on that card.
• Charter Flight: Discard the City card that matches the city you are currently in to move your pawn to any city on the board.
• Shuttle Flight: Move your pawn from a city with a research station to any other city that also has a research station.

Other Actions

• Build a Research Station: Discard the City card that matches the city you are in to place a research station there. If all six research stations have already been built, you must take one from anywhere on the board and move it to your current city.
• Treat Disease: Remove 1 disease cube from the city you are in and return it to the supply. If this disease color has already been cured, you remove all cubes of that color from your current city! If removing the last cube of a cured disease from the board, that disease is now eradicated. Flip its cure marker to its side.
• Share Knowledge: Give or take a City card that matches the city you are in to or from another player. The other player must be in the same city as you. If a player now has more than 7 cards, they must immediately discard a card or play an Event card.
• Discover a Cure: If you are at any research station, you can discard 5 City cards of the same color from your hand to cure the disease of that color. Move the disease's cure marker to its Cure indicator. (Note: its cubes remain on the board, and new ones can still be placed.) If no cubes of this color are on the board after the cure, the disease is eradicated. Flip its cure marker to its side.

Role Abilities (Examples)

Your Role card grants you special abilities that can change how actions are performed or give you entirely new options. Here are a few examples:

• The Contingency Planner: Can take an Event card from anywhere in the discard pile and place it on his Role card (only one at a time). When he plays it, it's removed from the game instead of discarded.
• The Dispatcher: Can move any pawn (with owner's agreement) to any city with another pawn, or move another player's pawn (with owner's agreement) as if it were his own.
• The Medic: Removes all cubes of the same color with the Treat Disease action. If a disease is cured, he automatically removes all cubes of that color from a city by entering it or being there (no action needed!). He also prevents placing disease cubes and outbreaks of cured diseases in his location.
• The Scientist: Only needs 4 City cards of the same disease color to discover a cure.

2. Draw 2 Player Cards

Draw two cards from the top of the Player deck. Be careful!

• If you draw an Epidemic card, immediately follow the Epidemic rules below.
• If there aren't enough cards left in the Player deck for you to draw two, the game immediately ends in defeat for all players!

Epidemic Cards

When an Epidemic card is drawn, follow these three steps in order:

1. Increase: Move the Infection Rate marker forward 1 space on the Infection Rate track.
2. Infect: Take the bottom card from the Infection deck. Unless its disease color has been eradicated, put 3 disease cubes of that color on the named city. If the city already has cubes of this color, add enough cubes so it has 3 of this color, then an outbreak occurs. Discard this card to the Infection discard pile.
3. Intensify: Reshuffle just the cards in the Infection discard pile and place them on top of the Infection deck. This makes recently infected cities more likely to be infected again!

If two Epidemic cards are drawn at once, complete all three steps for the first one, then complete all three steps for the second one. After resolving any Epidemic cards, remove them from the game (do not draw replacement cards).

Hand Limit

Players have a hand limit of 7 cards. If, after resolving any Epidemic cards, you have more than 7 Player cards in hand, you must immediately discard cards or play Event cards until you are back down to 7 cards. (Your Role and Reference cards don't count towards your hand limit.)

3. Infect Cities

Flip over a number of cards from the Infection deck, one at a time, equal to the current Infection Rate (indicated by the Infection Rate marker). Cities are infected in the order they are drawn.

• For each card, place 1 matching disease cube onto the city named (unless that disease has been eradicated).
• If a city already has 3 cubes of that color, instead of adding a 4th cube, an outbreak occurs there! Discard the card to the Infection discard pile.

Outbreaks

When an outbreak occurs:

1. Move the Outbreaks marker forward 1 space on the Outbreaks track.
2. Place 1 disease cube of the outbreak color on every city connected to the city where the outbreak originated.
3. If any of these connected cities already has 3 cubes of the disease color, a chain reaction outbreak occurs in that city after the current outbreak is fully resolved.

When a chain reaction outbreak occurs, move the Outbreaks marker forward 1 space again, and place cubes as above. However, do not add a cube to cities that have already had an outbreak or chain reaction outbreak during the current Infection card resolution.

Event Cards

Event cards are powerful tools! They can be played at any time (even on another player's turn), except in between drawing and resolving another card. Playing an Event card does not require an action. The player who plays the card decides how it's used. After playing an Event card, discard it to the Player discard pile.

End of Game and Scoring

There are two ways the game can end: in glorious victory or crushing defeat!

Defeat

The game immediately ends in defeat for all players if any of these unfortunate events occur:

1. You are unable to place the number of disease cubes actually needed on the board (you've run out of a color!).
2. The Outbreaks marker reaches the last space of the Outbreaks track (the world has simply had too many outbreaks!).
3. A player cannot draw 2 Player cards after doing their actions (you've run out of time!).

Victory

Players collectively win the game immediately when the cures to all 4 diseases are discovered! Remember, you don't need to eradicate all four diseases to win, just find their cures.

Tips for Winning

Pandemic is tough, but with teamwork and smart planning, you can save the world! Here are a couple of tips to get you started:

1. Prioritize Curing, Not Just Treating: While treating disease is crucial for managing outbreaks, your ultimate goal is to find cures. Focus on gathering the necessary City cards of the same color and getting to a research station to Discover a Cure. Don't get so bogged down in treating individual cubes that you forget the bigger picture!
2. Communicate and Coordinate Actions: Since you can advise each other, use it! Discuss your hands, potential actions, and who is best positioned to perform certain tasks. For example, if one player has many cards of a certain color, try to get them to a research station or in the same city as another player to Share Knowledge.
3. Manage Outbreaks Proactively: Outbreaks are a major threat, quickly escalating the infection rate and potentially leading to a loss. Keep an eye on cities with 3 disease cubes, especially those connected to other heavily infected areas. Treating even one cube from such a city can prevent a devastating chain reaction.