We were basically done with the board game Pandemic. Lately, variants of this virus-fighting game have appeared faster than we could play between the lockdowns. Only dairy cows Monopoly and Risk have more reinterpretations.
Are you taking part? There is the mini variant Pandemic: Hot Zone. There are two Dice Variations: Pandemic: Rapid Response and Pandemic: The Cure. There are themed variations, such as Pandemic: Fall of Rome (with barbarians instead of viruses), Pandemic: Rising Tide (with dikes), Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu (with horror creatures). And last week a World of Warcraft variant appeared, with undead. And yet, as of this month, another Pandemic game has been on the table. We’ve fallen head over heels for Pandemic: Legacy Season 0.
Pandemic from 2008 is the primordial mother of modern cooperative games. Players do not compete against each other, but work together. As a fictional OMT, the players try to contain disease outbreaks and permanently eradicate diseases by developing vaccines.
Pandemic: Legacy Season 0 is a dragon of a name that should be immediately forgotten. Pandemic: Cold War would be a better fit. Set in 1962, the Soviets are hatching an evil plan involving a bioweapon. The virus cubes from the original have been replaced by red spies that are popping up everywhere. The players are on the side of the ‘allied forces’ and must try to thwart the Soviets in various missions.
The game embraces the pulp side of the spy being. Each player receives a golden passport, with space for different identities. There are stickers of beards, glasses, hats and wigs to help shape those identities.
The game runs smoothly, with enough variety to challenge the experienced Pandemic player. In this variant, cities belong to three power blocs: allied, neutral or communist. Traveling to allied cities is easy, for communist cities you need detours.
Two cities are like cul de sacs on the board: Havana and Saigon. Saigon is an allied city within the communist sphere of influence, Havana of course a communist city in allied territory. With all the travel restrictions, that immediately results in nice puzzles. How do we get those damn cops out of Havana?
This variant has enough charm and strategy to keep us glued to the table again. But after that, we’re really done.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of December 1, 2021
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