Pandemic is a great new game which pits 2-5 players against the game. In other words it is my favorite type of game a cooperative one. I'll do a full blown review another time but after just one session I highly recommend it.

My wife Idy and I choose to give this game a whirl tonight, having just got the game today wasn't an issue as it is easy to learn and teach.

Idy drew the Operations Specialist who has the ability to create a research station anywhere they wish without having to have that cities card. I drew the scientist who can cure a disease with 4 cards instead of 5.

Our initial set up saw a large concentration of the Blue disease in North America and a small bit of yellow in South America, Black had a few cubes out and red was almost no existent. Of course Blue had 3 cubes in New York and Atlanta to start the game.

Turn 1 - Idy
She heads to Kinshasha and builds a research station and then does some treatment to remove 2 yellow cubes. Yellow has the second largest concentration so we want to cut down those 3 cube spots.

Turn 2 - Dan
I move to Kinshasha to meet her and wait a turn to get her black cards via shared knowledge. I'm a bit unsure but the card reads that you can pass a card for an action with shared knowledge which we determined means she has to pass it to me. If she had just passed it to me in Atlanta I could be curing the black disease on turn 2 but i didn't notice what cards she had before she made her move.

Turn 3 - Idy
She uses an action to share her black card with me, then moves off to Miami and makes her way to Toronto to try and treat Blue.

Turn 4 - Dan
I cure black, and since there is so little on the board I decided to move through the area trying to eradicate the disease.

Turn 7 - Idy
Idy moves to Baghdad to share some more yellow cards with me, as we have collected 2 apiece and my scientist can cure with 4.

Turn 8 - Dan
I make my way back to Atlanta via a direct flight and then cure yellow. Things are looking good except on my draw phase I get our first epidemic card. Fortunately it is in Hong Kong and Red isn't an issue at this point.

Turn 11 - Idy
Well Blue isn't looking to hot, since the Epidemic I know that it's a matter of time before we have blue outbreaks. I'm trying to treat blue just to get the numbers down and Idy is over in China removing Red. Unfortunately on her Infecter stage she pulls Mexico city which already has 3 yellow cubes so an outbreak occurs and even though we have a cure for yellow a Mexico city Outbreak is an issue.


Turn 12 - Dan
We still don't have any Blue cards in our hands and I know that Atlanta or some other Blue city is due up. I'm still treating Blue and Idy is trying to make her way back to start eradicating yellow.

Unfortunately on my draw phase we have another epidemic and I pick Chicago and this causes and out break. Which chains to Atlanta and that chains to Toronto and in a matter of seconds all of North America is covered and we are out of Blue cubes. Which resulted in many curses from my wife which was funny.

Conclusion
Overall it was a great first game my whole purpose for buying this game was to find something new my wife would enjoy and she gave it a 10 when I asked her to rate it. We saw that we squandered a turn and then took too long in getting to the blue. The first few turns when black wasn't an issue and we had a cure I squandered trying to eradicate black. There is definitely some luck and randomness to the game, but thats what makes the game fun in my opinion. I know we can't wait to play again, tomorrow night I get to see how the gaming group likes it.