Pandemic

Setup: two to four players take roles and start at Atlanta’s research station. Deal four/three/two initial Player cards for two/three/four players. Infection rate starts at two; reveal nine cities, placing three cubes on each of three, two on each of three and one on each of three. Shuffle four/five/six Epidemics separately into near-equal Player-deck piles and stack them.

Turns proceed clockwise: take up to four actions, repeating or taking fewer if desired; draw two Player cards, resolve Epidemics and the seven-card limit, then infect cities. Everyone may discuss, but the active player decides their actions.

Movement: drive/ferry along a connection; discard the destination’s card for a Direct Flight or your current city’s card for a Charter Flight anywhere; Shuttle between research-station cities. Each normally costs one action, with explicit role/event exceptions.

Build a station by discarding your current city’s card; if all six stations are built, relocate one. Share Knowledge requires agreement and both players in the same city, normally transferring that city’s card for one action per card. The Researcher may give any City card from her hand, not arbitrarily take one from another player.

Treat normally removes one chosen-color cube from the current city, or all that color if cured. Discover a Cure at any research station by discarding five same-color City cards, four for the Scientist; station-city color is irrelevant. The Medic treats all cubes of one color even before a cure, and automatically removes/prevents cured colors at his location.

After actions draw two Player cards together. Inability to draw both loses; never reshuffle Player discards. Resolve and remove Epidemics without replacements. City and Event cards share a seven-card hand limit: immediately discard/play Events to seven after resolving drawn Epidemics, including after a Share Knowledge transfer. Role/reference cards do not count.

Epidemic: advance infection rate; draw the Infection-deck bottom card. Unless eradicated, an empty city gets three cubes; a city already containing that color is filled to three and outbreaks. Shuffle only the Infection discard pile onto the existing deck. Resolve two drawn Epidemics completely one after another, then still perform normal infection.

Infect one top card at a time up to the current rate, normally adding one cube of its city color. A fourth same-color cube instead triggers an outbreak: advance the outbreak track and add that disease color to connected cities. Each city outbreaks at most once in a single card’s chain; later cards form separate chains.

Events cost no action, can be used on other turns and are directed by the playing player. Do not interrupt between drawing a card and resolving it, except for explicit card timing permissions. With two Epidemics, an Event may follow complete resolution of the first. Follow other roles’ specific movement, action or prevention text rather than sharing their privileges across the team.

All four cures win immediately without clearing or eradicating every disease. A cured color becomes eradicated when its last board cube is removed, preventing future placement. The eighth outbreak, insufficient required cubes of a color, or inability to draw two Player cards immediately loses for everyone.