Win together by discovering cures for all four diseases before time, outbreaks, or empty player cards defeat the team.
Assign roles, infect the world, and build the player deck with Epidemic cards.
Place the board, disease cubes, research stations, outbreak marker, and infection rate marker within reach.
Give each player a random role card and matching pawn, then place all pawns in Atlanta.
Deal starting player cards based on player count and keep the rest for the player deck.
Build the player deck by dividing it into equal piles, shuffling one Epidemic card into each pile, and stacking the piles together.
Infect cities by drawing the top 9 infection cards: place 3 cubes on the first 3 cities, 2 cubes on the next 3, and 1 cube on the final 3.
Take 4 actions, draw 2 player cards, then infect cities.
Spend up to 4 actions to drive/ferry, take a direct or charter flight, use a shuttle flight, treat disease, build a research station, share knowledge, or discover a cure.
Draw 2 player cards. If you draw an Epidemic, raise the infection rate, infect the bottom city heavily, then intensify by shuffling the infection discard pile onto the infection deck.
Draw infection cards equal to the current infection rate and add 1 cube of that color to each city drawn, resolving outbreaks if a city would receive a fourth cube.
Prioritize cure progress, contain outbreak chains, and use roles to keep the board under control.
Treating cubes buys time, but discovering cures is what wins the game. Do not get trapped playing only defense.
Research stations are your mobility engine. Place them so teammates can cross the map efficiently.
Hand management matters: line up city cards by color early so the Scientist or Dispatcher can help finish cures fast.
Watch the infection discard pile after Epidemics. Those cities are the most likely flashpoints next.
Prevent chain reactions in tightly connected regions by clearing 2-cube and 3-cube cities before they explode.
All players win or lose together. Open table talk is allowed, so planning as a team is part of the game.
Each turn starts with exactly 4 actions. Repeating the same action is allowed as long as you can pay its cost.
At a research station, discard 5 city cards of the same color to cure that disease. The Scientist needs only 4.
A city never holds more than 3 cubes of one color. Adding a fourth causes an outbreak, placing 1 cube in each connected city and moving the outbreak marker forward.
An Epidemic increases the infection rate, heavily infects the bottom infection card's city, and makes recently infected cities more likely to appear again.
If a cured disease has no cubes left on the board, it is eradicated. Future infection draws of that color place no cubes.
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