Parts needed:
– Board
– City Cards
– Epidemic Cards
– 5 Event Cards
– Role Cards (used as special cards)
– Disease Cubes
– Research Stations
1) To set up the game, divide and organize the city cards by color.
2) Each player must choose a color to play (yellow, black, blue or red). Once these colors are chosen, obtain your color-coded deck of city cards. In addition to their respected color of city cards, each player must have two event cards and three role cards shuffled within their deck.
3) Each player must draw two city cards from their deck. The cities written on these two cards will be that player’s base. At each base, place a research station piece as well as three disease cubes. Place these two cards back into the bottom of your deck.
4) The player must also draw three more city cards. At these three city cards, place two disease cubes. Place these three cards back into the bottom of your deck.
5) To being the game, each player draw the first card on your deck. Whoever has the most population in that city will go first. Turns will continue to the left of the first player. Players must return this card back into their deck and shuffle.
6) The goal of each player is to take over as many research stations as possible until no players are left on the board.
7) A turn begins by the player drawing the top most card. If the card is a:
– City card – the player must add one troop to that city. The player also receives only three moves to distribute their troops. A move constitutes as transporting as many disease cubes from one city to another connecting city. For example, blue may travel 3 disease cubes from London to Paris or 1 t disease cube from Milan to Istanbul. These two examples are considered one move. Players are only to move their own disease cubes. There is a max of 5 disease cubes per city. In the case of a player chooses to move their disease cubes to a connecting city that is occupied by disease cubes of a rival color this causes a war. In order to win the war, player must outnumber disease cubes from their city to the opponent’s city. For example, if red moves 3 disease cubes from Beijing to shanghai, but sees there are 2 black disease cubes, red wins the war. In the case of equal disease cubes of each opposing side, any disease cubes from the connecting cities surrounding both sides of the war will help your number. The highest number wins the war. Those who lose the war, disease cubes are removed and are placed in the opponents disease cubes arsenal. In the case the player draws a city card that is already occupied by 5 disease cubes of any color, then the move is dependent on connections. At the end of a players move, all cards must be shuffled back into their deck.
– Event card – This causes a war of a different type. Once drawn, the player must count the number of their own color disease cubes on their own color territory as well as the number of disease cubes of the opposing colors. If an opposing color has more disease cubes within the drawer’s respected color area, then the opposing color can take over any city connected to the drawer’s base. If the drawing outnumbers any opposing colors, the game continues. In addition to this, the drawer still retains his/her three moves.
– Special cards – This card will let you move one of your cities across to any other city on the board. Once the player decides which city they would like to move and which city they would like to move across to, then it is up to them how many of their disease cubes goes to the new city. The maximum amount of cubes that can be moved is the amount of cubes on the city you would like to move from. After you move your cubes to the new city of your choice, you have a max of three additional moves to move your cubes in the new city area.
