'Pandemic: Hot Zone' is a compact game that even beginners can play quickly and save humanity from the spread of the new virus.
Pandemic: Hot Zone | | ANALOG GAME INDEX
http://hobbyjapan.games/pandemic-hot-zone-north-america/
The package of 'Pandemic: Hot Zone' looks like this.
Assuming 2 to 4 players, 30 minutes of play time, and target age of 8 years or older.
The contents are rule manuals, game boards, cards, various tokens and pieces.
The 'Pandemic: Hot Zone' is designed to be more compact than the 'Pandemic: A New Trial' set in the whole world, and the stage is limited to the North American continent. The size of the board is about 30 cm x about 40 cm, and you can see the size well by arranging it side by side with the iPhone X with a long side of 143.6 mm.
City cards and crisis cards, event cards, epidemic cards
Players have only 4 types of expert cards. Randomly draw by the player.
First, place the player token in the Atlanta square. You can choose the color of the player token that corresponds to the color of each expert card. In the 'Pandemic: Hot Zone', only Atlanta will have a base of activity.
Place the infection rate marker on the leftmost cell labeled '2' in the upper left.
Place the Outbreak Marker in the top square on the top right of the board.
Since we will be playing with 4 players this time, we will shuffle 24 city cards and 4 event cards and distribute 2 cards to each player's hand.
After distributing your hand, divide the remaining cards into three piles and put one epidemic card in each pile.
Stack three piles and place them as a deck in the card deck storage area at the bottom left of the game board.
Shuffle the 24 infected cards well and place them in the upper left corner of the game board.
First, determine which city is infected with the virus. Draw two cards from the top of the infected card ...
Place 3 pathogen pieces of the same color in each city. Pathogen pieces indicate the level of virus infection in a city, and up to three can be placed in a city.
Draw two again ……
This time, place two pathogen pieces.
Draw two more ...
Place pathogen pieces one by one. The purpose of the 'Pandemic: Hot Zone' is 'A virus infection has begun in a total of 6 cities! Experts will work together to develop therapeutic agents and save the North American continent from destruction!'
The procedure of the game is very simple, just proceed clockwise by 'player takes action 4 times'-> 'turns 2 city cards'-> 'turns infected cards'.
The most basic actions a player can take are 'move the city' and 'remove pathogen pieces'. For example, in the image below, the dispatcher (pink) player behaved as follows.
1: Move from Atlanta to Miami
2: Move from Miami to Havana
3: Remove one pathogen piece in Havana
4: Remove one pathogen piece in Havana
There are other actions that players can take. For example, the following scene where a generalist (gray) arrives in Havana, where a dispatcher is located.
The generalist happened to have a Havana city card in his hand. By consuming one action, it is possible to 'give the card of the city you are in to the player who is in the same place as you'. There, the generalist gives the dispatcher a Havana card.
Now you have four yellow city cards in the hands of the dispatcher. With four city cards of the same color, the player can spend one action to 'develop a remedy'.
On the next turn, the dispatcher returned to Atlanta and was able to develop a remedy by discarding four yellow city cards. There are three types of pathogens, red, yellow, and blue, and if you develop a remedy for all three types, the game will be cleared. However, please note that the development of therapeutic agents can only be done in Atlanta.
In the scene where you finish 4 actions and draw 2 city cards, you can also draw an epidemic card mixed with the city card. Epidemics put humanity at a greater disadvantage as pathogens spread rapidly.
If an epidemic card comes out, draw one from the bottom of the infected card ...
Place three pathogen pieces in the city.
Further shift the infection rate marker to the right by one. The infection rate marker indicates the number of infected cards that will be flipped at the end of the turn. At first, the number of flips was 2, but if the epidemic occurs twice, it will increase to 3, and if it occurs 3 times, it will increase to 4.
Then, shuffle the discarded cards of the infected card and place them on the deck to end the epidemic. When the epidemic is over, flip the infected card as usual. The infection card is that you have to increase the pathogen pieces one by one in the city that turned over. The infection level in that city will increase by one.
For example, in the following scene, I flipped over an infected card in Toronto.
I tried to put one pathogen piece in Toronto, but I already had three pathogen pieces in Toronto.
If the city's infection level exceeds 3, an outbreak will occur. The virus infection spreads rapidly, increasing the infection level in the surrounding cities by one. In the case of Toronto, the infection level in neighboring Chicago, Montreal, and New York will increase by one.
Further move the outbreak marker down by one. The game is over when the outbreak occurs 4 times. With multiple infection level 3 cities, outbreaks can call for more outbreaks, which can lead to chaining and quickly destroying humanity.
From the city card, there may be event cards that create a situation that is beneficial to humankind. Event cards can be activated at any time in addition to your hand.
'Air transportation' allows any player to move to any city at any time. When you want to hand over a city card, or when the infection level of a city in a very distant place suddenly rises, you can carry things more advantageously by using 'air transportation' in anticipation of future development. It will be possible.
And the specialists who represent humankind fighting the pathogens that rage in North America have special skills. For example, a generalist has the skill to perform an action that can only be performed up to 4 times 5 times.
It is very good that the number of actions that can be taken increases, thinking that 4 times will only increase to 5 times. One more action means more pathogen pieces that can be removed, so you can stop the infection at the last minute.
Medics can also remove all pathogen pieces in the city with a single action.
In addition, he has a powerful skill that 'if you are developing a remedy, the city you are in can unconditionally remove all pathogen coma', 'just move around the city and all the viruses will be purified. There was also a scene where all the players wondered, 'Well, the medic is no longer a biological weapon.'
While being careful not to explode the infection like that, we will exchange cards while going through epidemics and outbreaks and proceed with the development of therapeutic drugs.
Clear the game if you can develop all the remedies. It took about 30 minutes for one game. In the case of 4 players, it is calculated to make about 3 laps per game, and the secret to saving humanity is to firmly divide the roles while discussing with the players from the beginning.
You can also mix crisis cards with city cards to make it even more difficult. A crisis card is a card that causes an event that is disadvantageous to humankind.
For example, the following 'hygiene policy failure' is to advance the infection rate marker by one space. If the infection rate marker goes up, the number of infected cards drawn will increase, which can be a disadvantage at once.
Certainly, the impression that the difficulty level went up considerably when the crisis card was inserted. I was struggling to lower the infection level, and the development of therapeutic drugs by handing over the cards did not proceed slowly, and eventually the deck of city cards was exhausted. Of course, if the deck of city cards runs out, it will be impossible to proceed with the game, so the game is over.
'Pandemic: Hot Zone' has a much more compact design than 'Pandemic: A New Trial' because one game lasts about 20 to 30 minutes, so you can play crisply. However, the difficulty level of the game is not so low at all, and the appeal of 'Pandemic: A New Trial' is that the game has become more compact, limiting what the player can do, and making the game progress even faster. You can enjoy the last-minute battle with pathogens as it is.
Even if humanity is defeated, it is a big point that you can feel free to try 'Let's try again next time!'. Also, since the rules are very simple in cooperative board games, it is a perfect game for those who are accustomed to board games and beginners of board games to play together.
'Pandemic: Hot Zone' can be purchased at Amazon.co.jp. At the time of writing the article, the price is 2600 yen including tax.
Amazon | Hobby Japan Pandemic: Hot Zone Japanese Version | Board Games | Toys
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