allboardgames.com
Pandemic: Contagion box art
2014 Ranked #2,559

Pandemic: Contagion

Competitive disease-spreading card game where players evolve contagions to wipe out human civilization. Cities and traits determine where an outbreak can grow, so every mutation must make your disease deadlier than the competing infections.

Family Games Card Game Medical Area Majority / Influence Tags

Players

2-5

Play time

Not listed

Age

14+

Complexity

1.89/5

Rating

6.42

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.3/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 3.9/5

High replayability

Interaction 4.2/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

After many years of trying to defeat the diseases that threaten mankind’s existence, the tables have been turned. You are now the disease and guess what?

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

After many years of trying to defeat the diseases that threaten mankind’s existence, the tables have been turned. You are now the disease and guess what? There is no cure. In Pandemic: Contagion, you are competing against other diseases (fellow players) to see who can eliminate humanity. With no cure to be had, the one of you that wipes out all human civilization will come out on top as the most deadly disease ever known to man, may he rest in peace. Pandemic: Contagion includes a deck of contagion cards with differing colored borders, city cards with similar colored borders, event/WHO cards, player disease card and disease cubes. On a turn you take two of three possible actions, and you can take the same action twice. Those actions are: Draw contagion cards equal to your current incubation rate. Advance one of three mutations to the next level. Spread disease equal to your current transmission rate. When the number of diseases equals the city’s population number, the city is wiped out. The player who placed the final disease earns a special action. The player with the most diseases scores the population number. The two smaller numbers are awarded to those with the second- and third-most diseases. Your disease card has three mutations: Incubation (number of cards you can draw), Transmission (number of disease cubes you can spread), and Resistance (number of cubes/cards you can protect). As an action, you can advance a mutation one level by discarding the required number of cards. Event cards are drawn at the start of each round and affect everyone during their turn. You might benefit from the card or it could have a negative impact. WHO cards are always bad, but your resistance will lessen whatever the penalty would be based on its level, if you planned ahead. Mid-game scoring occurs when the second, fourth and sixth skull comes out. When a city icon appears, a new city is introduced. Once the event/WHO deck runs out or only two city cards remain in play, the game ends, with players conducting a final scoring round to see which virus is victorious. Part of the Pandemic series.

Browse all classifications

Shopping

Where to buy

No verified retailer offers are available yet. The references below may still help you continue your search.

Unverified shopping references

Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
No editions imported yet.

Player resources

Rulebooks, player aids, FAQs, and solo resources.

No files imported yet.

Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
2–5
Best with
3–5
Play time
30 min
Age
14+
Complexity
1.9/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Carey Grayson

Artists

4
Marie-Elaine Bérubé Josh Cappel Philippe Guérin Marie-Eve Joly

Publishers

1
Z-Man Games

Linked items

No published linked games yet.