Week 6 (9th - 15th December 2013): Pandemic.

This week's solitaire outing is yet another of Z-Man Games' offerings, Pandemic. In truth, I had intended on giving the new Eldritch Horror a spin but, with the usual pre-Xmas rush as work winds down, I found myself pushed for time and so opted for a game that a) I was familiar with and b) had a short enough play time and could fit into my rather hectic schedule.

Game set-up at the start of play

Sadly, this also means I don't have time to review the game in detail subsequent to my playing. In brief Pandemic is a co-operative/solitaire game in which the players are battling to cure four diseases before they reach epidemic levels, bringing about an apocalyptic end of things if too many outbreaks occur. Overall, I've found this game quite a tough cookie to crack - needless to say, during tonight's game I lost spectacularly (although I had managed to find the cure to one disease, and was close to curing another before the end). Whilst I don't quite have the time to go into the details of gameplay, Pandemic is very quick and easy to pick up, and involves a number of very clever (but simple) mechanics which drive the game's AI. The great thing about this game is the level of tension is manages to ratchet up as the players race against time to save the world, which works extremely well in terms of Pandemic's theme. This is also a game which can be played quite easily multiple times in an evening (an average game takes about 45 minutes - 1 hour), and works well as a filler between longer games.

On the Gaming Self-Abuse Scale (tm), this one scores 8/10.

Apologies for the brevity of this post, but as I have some time off over the next few weeks, expect longer and more detailed posts during the coming month, where I will be turning my attention to a number of as-yet-unplayed games.