Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
260 questions players ask about Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-23.
260 questions players ask about Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-23.
Several players point to the rulebook's own advice on practice games; no official ruling was needed.
Yes — the rulebook encourages new players to play a few ordinary Pandemic games on the Legacy board first. Use the starting roles and the starting Player and Infection decks, and don't open any dossier door, package or Legacy card. Use the Legacy components rather than an older Pandemic set, since the board and the character mix differ slightly.
Funding is fixed at 5 in a pre-campaign practice game, so shuffle 5 funded Event cards into the Player Deck. The designers said this step was accidentally left out of the rulebook. You win a practice game by curing all four diseases.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — practice games leave the components untouched. You don't name characters, add stickers or write anything until you start the campaign with January, and practice games don't count toward the campaign.
The rulebook's overview states which changes are permanent and that everything else starts fresh each game.
Only the permanent changes carry over: stickers, writing, opened dossier doors and packages, destroyed or added cards, and the position in the Legacy Deck. Everything else resets each game — disease cubes, Faded figures, research station and other pieces on the board, cures, outbreaks, and the cards in players' hands.
The designer answered this directly, and it matches the rulebook's Game Months section.
No — you always play all 12 months. Each month is played at most twice: lose the first game and you replay it, lose the replay and you move on to the next month anyway. Repeated losses bring more funding and extra help rather than ending the campaign.
“You'll always get to play all 12 months.”
— RobDaviau, designer
The rulebook's Game Months and After the Game sections state this directly.
You must replay it. After a first loss you play the same month again with the same rules and objectives; only after losing that second game do you move on. The replay isn't optional.
The rulebook's Game Months section says each month is played once or twice.
Between 12 and 24. Winning a month's first game moves you straight to the next month; losing it means a second game that month. Players commonly estimate a typical campaign at around 15 to 18 games.
The rulebook's After the Game section says Legacy cards never return to the deck and the replay uses the same objectives, and players agree the board isn't rewound.
No — the replay continues from where the lost game left off. Panic stickers, rule stickers, opened doors and packages, upgrades, characters found and objectives destroyed all stay; Legacy cards already drawn are not put back. Only the normal game pieces (cubes, cures, cards in hand) reset, as in any new game.
The rulebook's Legacy Deck section says the STOP card tells you when to draw and cards are never put back.
Not just because you're replaying. You only draw from the Legacy Deck when the card on top says to; most of the month's cards were drawn in the first game, so often nothing new comes out. Read the current STOP card for its trigger.
Many experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — every objective stays in play, game after game and month after month, until a card tells you to destroy it. That includes completed, failed and optional ones, and the mandatory cure objective. Lay them all out at the start of each game.
No — objectives must be met again in each game, including the replay of a lost month. The exception is a board-state objective such as having a military base in every region: if permanent bases already satisfy it, it counts from the start of the game. It stops counting if that state is lost.
Many experienced players agree; no official ruling.
No — the search is done for good. Whoever or whatever you found stays found, and the search objective is destroyed at the end of that game as its card says, even though you lost. In the replay you need the month's full count from the objectives that remain.
The number of star symbols under the month on the board's calendar is the number of objectives required. Every objective marked mandatory must be among them, and the rest can be any of the optional ones. You don't pick in advance which ones you're going for.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Keep them all in play. The board's objective spaces aren't a limit; overlap the cards or set the extra ones beside the board.
Many experienced players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — the cure-three-diseases objective that replaces cure-all-four in January is marked mandatory, and it stays in play until a card tells you to destroy it. In every game that uses it you must cure all three non-COdA diseases, not just two, and it counts as one of the objectives the month requires.
The designer endorsed this reading for the vaccine factory objective.
No — objectives that describe a board state must be true at the moment you claim the win. If a vaccine factory is destroyed after you had three, or a quarantine marker is removed from one of your seven Faded cities, that objective stops counting until you restore it.
The designer answered this directly in 2016.
No — that objective is destroyed the moment the search is completed, so it no longer counts. If you had cured three diseases and had a base in every region, you now have only two objectives and must keep playing. Resolve all of the search's results before checking for a win.
Yes — you have to build military bases and then sabotage two of them in the same game. Any base counts, including ones you built this game, and progress doesn't carry over: one base sabotaged in a lost game doesn't count next game. The bases sitting on the objective card are only a memory aid, so you can build with them.
The designer answered this directly in 2016 and acknowledged the card's wording was unclear.
Six in total — the designer clarified that it means having 6 vaccinated cities on the board, including cities vaccinated in earlier games. It is a one-time objective: once you have six, destroy it at the end of that game, even if you lost.
Yes — the nuke removes what's in the city but doesn't un-fade it. It is still a Faded city, so it still needs vaccinating for the objectives that count Faded cities.
Yes — a win bonus applies to every game you play in the month it names, so if you lose that month's first game you apply it again in the replay. It is destroyed after that month.
“It's available for the whole month of February.”
— mleacock, designer
The designers answered this directly in 2016.
It depends on the wording. If the bonus says you "may" or "can" do something, it's optional; if it simply tells you to do something, you must. The same rule applies to every instruction in the game.
“If we write that you “may” or “can” do something, it's optional. If we tell you to do something, you’re required to do it.”
— mleacock, designer
Many players agree; no official ruling.
Keep the card unscratched. If you win the month's second game you scratch it and get the bonus. If you lose both games you never scratch it and get no bonus; destroy it when the card says to.
Yes — the instruction doesn't say "may" and has no exception for the last game, so you open it even though the campaign is over and it can't help any more. An earlier designer reply said you could open it; the 2016 ruling makes it required.
The rulebook's After the Game section sets out the funding changes.
It starts at 4. After every win it drops by 2 (minimum 0), and after every loss it rises by 2 (maximum 10), including the loss that sends you to a month's second game. The new level applies right away to that replay. Funding sets how many funded Event cards go into the Player Deck.
Several players agree, and the community's compiled FAQ notes the designers confirmed the early-win case; no direct designer post was harvested.
Pick the uncured disease with the most cubes on the board. You only choose a cured one if every disease was cured, meaning you won January before the second Epidemic. Then the disease with the most cubes becomes COdA. Once chosen, COdA can never be cured.
Take the other option on the card. The community's compiled FAQ reports that the designers confirmed this bonus as a printing error. If you do still have one open search, advancing that single track two spaces is fine.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — an impossible objective isn't a loss condition. Keep playing until a normal win or loss, working on other objectives and improving the board for your next attempt.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Only December's two new objectives. All earlier objectives, the mandatory cure objective included, are destroyed at the start of December. Both new ones are mandatory and both must be completed to win.
The designer confirmed this reading in 2016.
Yes — scratch it unless you have opened both packages. The designers acknowledged the card's wording was unclear and improved it in later printings.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Team Bravo steps in: the 'Time is Running Out' card has you scratch off the unfinished searches and resolve them in full, so the story continues. The help costs a flat 200 points at final scoring, however many searches it finished.
The rulebook's Legacy Deck section says the STOP card tells you when to continue drawing.
Stop drawing, but read the STOP card's face. It tells you when to resume, which may be mid-game, at the end of the game or at the start of the next month. When that trigger comes, draw cards one at a time, read both sides and follow them, until the next STOP card. Draw everything up to the first STOP before setting up a game.
Several players agree, quoting the January Legacy cards; no official ruling.
It marks when to go back to the Legacy Deck: once the second Epidemic is fully resolved. It is not the infection rate marker, so the infection rate doesn't change. Many groups miss this instruction on the January STOP card. The token isn't used in later games unless a card tells you to place it.
Several players agree, quoting the card's timing; no official ruling.
Yes — an Epidemic is resolved once its Intensify step is done, so you draw and apply the Legacy card right then, before that turn's Infect Cities step. Whatever the card changes is already in effect when you go on to infect cities.
Several players agree, quoting the card text; no official ruling.
Those cards cover it: if the game ends first, win or lose, draw and resolve the card at the end of the game. Do that before clearing the board. In January, that's how COdA gets chosen even after an early win.
The rulebook's Additional Rules cover mistakes in general; there is no ruling on this specific case.
Fix it and move on. The rulebook's advice for rules mistakes is not to undo them, adjusting funding if a game was clearly too easy or too hard. Players suggest applying the missed card as soon as you notice, or rewinding if that's practical. If you lost and are about to replay January, don't simply draw it at setup: place the reminder token again and draw it after the second Epidemic of the replay.
Many experienced players agree; no official ruling.
A dossier door. Circled numbers and letters always refer to the dossier doors, and you open them as soon as you see them, one at a time. The numbered packages (boxes) open only when a yellow instruction explicitly tells you to, usually printed inside a dossier door. After removing a door, read both the panel and the space it uncovers.
Many players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — open the doors listed on that card right away, in order. From then on, any circled number or letter you come across means open that door, even without explicit wording.
The rulebook's Overview says missing rules A through Y are added as you play and change the rules from that point on.
Lettered stickers go in the matching lettered space in the rulebook and take effect immediately. Numbered stickers go wherever their own instructions say. Only place them when a card or door reveals them; don't pre-fill the rulebook's empty spaces.
The rulebook's Overview says not to open packages until instructed.
No — open nothing until a Legacy card or a revealed panel tells you to. Opening ahead spoils the story and can apply rules before they're meant to exist.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — open it as soon as the condition is met and apply its contents during the current game, not at the end.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — door 7 in the dossier and Package 7 are different things; open door 7 whenever a card shows it. Package 7 opens once the Immunologist's checklist of three items from the other searches is complete, which can be as early as October. When a circled door number appears on the Immunologist's card, open that door right away.
Stick it on the lid of Package 8 as a reminder of when it may be opened. Don't open Package 8 itself.
Each card is labeled LD ## B on the back and LD ## F on the front. Stack them in numerical order with LD 01 on top and the B sides up; a red card marks the end. If the deck gets scattered, have someone who isn't playing re-sort it by number.
Only what a card or rule explicitly tells you to destroy. Old mission briefings have no ongoing effect, but keep them; they help you check which doors and packages you should have opened.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Probably not. Keep drawing Legacy cards until you reach the next STOP card: the matching search card or replacement objective is usually the next card. Only if it isn't there might a card be missing.
One player cites the community's card list; no official confirmation.
It appears to be a misprint. According to the community's numbered list of Legacy Deck contents, LD 27 should be a win bonus of 3 roadblocks.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — that card is misprinted. The correct January win bonus has you remove one disease cube of your choice from the board after setup, before the first turn, in each February game.
Several players agree, quoting the card; no official ruling.
No — it applies once per September game, after setup and before the first turn: advance one search party token 2 spaces, or each one 1 space.
The designers answered this directly in 2015.
Yes — you decide how many characters to use, from 2 to 4, before each game, and it can differ every game. People can join or drop out, and one player can run two characters, each with its own hand and turn. New players will need catching up on the story and rule changes so far.
Before setup step 1. The designers treat deciding who is playing as an unwritten first step, like putting the board on the table, so you can't wait to see the initial infections before settling the player count.
The designers answered this directly in 2016; some players still treat it as against the spirit.
Yes, technically — nothing in the rules forbids it, and the designers saw playtesters do it. Many groups still fix the seating before setup as a matter of taste. Only the starting player has to be chosen at random.
Many players agree, citing the numbered setup steps; no official ruling.
After. In Pandemic Legacy you infect the starting cities and deal the hands first, then choose characters and the shared starting research station knowing what the board looks like. Infection is printed on the facing page of the rulebook, so it's easy to do in the wrong order. The first player is still picked at random afterwards.
Many players agree; no official ruling.
No — characters aren't tied to players. Each game anyone can pick any available character, and characters keep their own upgrades and scars whoever plays them. The two games of a month are separate games, so you can switch between them too.
Several players agree, citing the setup steps; no official ruling.
No — the starting player is chosen at random. The setup step that has you blindly pick a pawn decides only who goes first, not which characters are played.
Several players agree, citing the setup steps; no official ruling.
All characters start together at one research station, and the group chooses which one after seeing the infections and hands. If no research stations are left, start in the ruins of Atlanta. A military base alone isn't a valid starting city.
The rulebook's Setup section says to place a research station in each city with a starting sticker.
Yes — every city with a starting research station sticker gets a station piece at setup; it isn't optional and you can't hold one back. The sticker doesn't replace the piece. The same goes for starting military base stickers.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
You choose them. Before each game you pick funded Events up to your funding level and shuffle them in with the City cards. Unfunded events on City cards are always in the deck.
Several players agree, citing setup step 5; no official ruling.
Four each with two characters, three each with three, two each with four. Deal them after the Event cards are shuffled in but before the Epidemics are added, so a starting hand can contain an Event but never an Epidemic.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
After dealing starting hands, split the rest of the deck into as many roughly equal piles as there are Epidemics (5), shuffle one Epidemic into each, and stack them with the larger piles on top. There are no difficulty levels: always use the 5 Epidemics.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Into the Infection Discard Pile. They stay there until the first Epidemic's Intensify step shuffles the discard pile back on top of the Infection Deck.
Several players agree, citing the setup rules; no official ruling.
Yes — Pandemic Legacy's setup has players keep their hands face up. A group that prefers hidden hands won't break anything in the campaign.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
No — it applies only to cards drawn at the end of a turn. Dealing starting hands at setup isn't drawing, so no Faded figures are added then.
“Only when drawing at the end of your turn, not during set up.”
— RobDaviau, designer
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Faded figures. Once the Faded rules are in play, setup infections follow the same rule as any other infection. A Faded city of any color gets figures, and a COdA-colored city that isn't Faded yet becomes Faded and gets figures instead of COdA cubes.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Nothing is placed there, and you don't draw a replacement — the card still counts as one of the nine initial infections. A vaccinated Faded city never gets its original color back either; only an outbreak of another color can put cubes there.
Several players agree, quoting the setup sticker; no official ruling.
Yes — during setup's infection step, the first eligible city infected (one without a starting or sabotaged military base sticker) gets a starting military base sticker and a base. Do this once per game at setup, not on Epidemics, and stop once those stickers run out.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Up to four characters can play a game. If you have more players than available characters, as can happen once characters are lost, the extras play as Civilians.
The Dispatcher's. Any card the move costs (flights, roadblocks, collapsing or fallen cities) comes from his hand, and only his upgrades and scars apply. The moved character's upgrades and scars, such as Paramilitary Escort, don't trigger. Neither do its movement abilities, so the Colonel can't ignore roadblocks this way. A role ability that just depends on where the pawn is, like the Medic clearing cured cubes, still works.
Many players agree, following the designers' ruling that the Dispatcher's own upgrades apply; no direct ruling on these upgrades.
Yes — when he moves a pawn as if it were his own, he can use any movement he could use himself, and his own upgrades apply. With Veteran he can take any pawn on a military shuttle flight between bases, and with Paramilitary Escort its effect fires when he moves someone else. Without Veteran, he can't shuttle even a military character through bases.
No card, just an action, and it isn't a flight, so the rioting ban on Direct and Charter Flights doesn't apply. It also doesn't count as Drive/Ferry, so no discards are needed to enter collapsing or fallen cities. He can move himself or bring a pawn to his own city, one pawn per action, as often as he has actions.
Yes — the rule that only the Dispatcher's upgrades and scars apply is triggered by moving a pawn "as if it were your own." A pawn-to-pawn move or an Airlift still has the character entering and leaving cities, so its own enter/leave scars take effect.
The Dispatcher's. He moves the pawn as his own, paying with his own cards, so he can show his own Parachute. The moved character can't use theirs during the Dispatcher's move.
Many players agree, citing the Medic's card text; no official ruling.
Yes — whenever the Medic is in a city with cubes of a cured disease, they're removed at no action cost, whatever the turn and however the Medic got there. That includes each city he passes through and the moment a cure is found on someone else's turn. Cubes of a cured disease are never placed in his city. This passive isn't a Treat action, and it does nothing to COdA, which can't be cured.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
Yes — the cure and the Medic's removal are both instant, so the disease counts as eradicated even though the game ends at that moment.
No — the Medic stops the cube from being placed at all, and a marker is only removed in place of a cube, so it stays.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Like anyone else, the Medic spends two actions for one Treat Disease, and that treatment removes all COdA cubes in the city. There's no half treatment.
No — it changes where one of your Treat Disease actions can apply (a connected city, once per turn), but it still costs an action. A Medic using it removes all cubes of the color there, as his Treat normally would. His passive clearing of cured diseases doesn't reach connected cities.
Several players agree, citing her card; no official ruling.
Only give. She may give any City card from her hand to a player in her city, and they may take any card from her. To receive a card from someone else, the usual rule applies: the card must match the city they're both in.
No — Share Knowledge moves City cards only, and the Researcher's ability covers any City card, not Events. Events can be played on anyone's turn anyway.
No — he builds in his current city without holding, showing or discarding the card, including military bases. Every other restriction still applies; for example, no research stations in rioting or worse cities. His once-per-turn move from a structure by discarding any card is a separate ability.
Many players agree, citing her card; no official ruling.
It costs an action. It's the normal Quarantine action, just aimed at any city, and only once per turn. She and every other character can still take the ordinary Quarantine action in their own city as often as they have actions. Her Legacy card doesn't protect neighboring cities the way she does in regular Pandemic.
Nothing is placed, and because she's there the marker isn't removed, so her city stays protected for as long as she stays. Without a marker her city is infected normally. The marker doesn't spare her a scar for starting her turn with a Faded figure in the city.
Yes — each retrieval costs an action, and there's no other limit; how the card reached the discard pile doesn't matter. That makes him strong at Searches: discard an Equipment card for a Search, then retrieve it with a later action. He can't interrupt a Search mid-action to do so. He can only retrieve Equipment, not Events.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — the dog-tag symbol on the Veteran sticker makes the character military for every purpose. That includes military shuttle flights, Paramilitary Escort, search bonuses and the risks that come with being military.
One player describes the upgrade's effect; no official ruling.
Each time the character leaves a city with one or more Faded figures, it removes one Faded figure from that city. It doesn't need exactly one figure there, but it only removes one.
Many players agree; no official ruling.
For an action, discard a card and take a card of the same color of your choice from the player discard pile; no random draw. The card can be a City card carrying an Unfunded Event, so Flexible can reuse that event as long as you have same-colored cards to discard. The Dutch printing omits the same-color restriction, but it applies.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — an ability that doesn't say "may" always applies, and Pilot has you show the card and keep it. If you want the card gone, use it for something else, such as a Charter Flight or building.
One Vaccinate action can remove every Faded figure in a city, paying a dose per figure. Once per turn he may Vaccinate a connected city as if he were there, and both abilities can combine. Placing the vaccination sticker is a separate action and needs a city already clear of Faded. Extra action costs for military bases count the region of the city being vaccinated.
Destroy the character card and discard that player's hand. The player continues as a Civilian, with no special ability, from any city with a research station, and keeps any actions left this turn. In the next game they pick any character that isn't lost. Civilian cards themselves are never destroyed.
The designers answered this directly in 2016.
Yes — nothing in the rules prevents it.
No — the rule sticker for that action excludes Civilians. Self Sacrifice also still costs an action even though the sticker doesn't say so; the Hero upgrade lets a character do it at any time without one.
If a character has the Paramilitary Escort upgrade, that character is the traitor. Otherwise it's the military character with the next birthday, and that can be any military character, even one never named or played. The designers think a named character is more fun but corrected an earlier ruling: the rules don't require it.
Many players agree, citing the rule sticker; no official ruling.
Only when a character is created, meaning played and named for the first time, from February on. The new character gets one relationship with a character that already exists. Characters created before relationships arrived, like your January team, can't be given one with each other, though a new character can pick one of them as its partner.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — the partner just has to have been created already, in an earlier game or earlier in this setup. It doesn't matter whether that character is being played this game.
Yes — characters are created one at a time, in whatever order you choose, so the first already exists when you create the second. The first new character must pick a partner that existed before it.
One, with one existing character. A character can end up with two only if a later new character picks it. Any pair of characters shares at most one relationship, and each relationship uses a matching pair of stickers, one on each card with the partner's name written on it.
Yes, while relationship stickers remain — the rule tells you to give one when creating a character, and an instruction without "may" isn't optional. If no stickers are left, you can still create the character without one.
Yes — a relationship links its two characters in both directions, whoever's turn it is, and applies only between those two.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
No — unlike upgrades, relationships can't be covered or replaced. If the partner is lost, the relationship simply stops working and the slot stays used.
The designer answered this directly in 2017.
No — the lost character is gone before its hand is discarded, and you can't have a relationship with a lost character.
Yes — whenever one rival plays or discards a card, the other may immediately discard 2 cards to take it, at no action cost and on anyone's turn. The card can then go back the other way, so a funded Event can be played again and again as long as you have cards to pay with.
Many players agree; no official ruling.
No — you can't discard at will. Any discard the rules cause does count: playing an Event, a flight, building, discovering a cure, entering a collapsing city or discarding to the hand limit. A card discarded for one purpose can't serve another too.
Immediately, and only then. An Event resolves first and then goes to the discard pile, and that's when it can be taken. Hand-limit discards are made one at a time, so each can be taken as it's discarded. Once anything else happens, the chance is gone.
Many players agree, citing the sticker text; no official ruling.
Co-workers can share as long as one of them is in the city matching the card; the other can be anywhere. It's still a Share Knowledge action, on either co-worker's turn, giving or taking. If one is the Researcher, she can give any City card to her co-worker anywhere, and the co-worker can take any card from her. Cards going to the Researcher still need the matching-city condition.
Players mostly agree but not unanimously; no official ruling.
It stacks with the Generalist, who can take 6 actions when the Family condition is met. With two Family relationships, most players give one extra action per relationship, though one reading says the bonus doesn't add up.
February gives one set of all four relationships (Friends, Rivals, Family, Co-workers) across two dossier doors, and a later door adds a second set. If you only have two types in February, check whether you missed a door.
The rulebook's Draw Cards section states this order.
Draw both cards together, resolve any Epidemic first, then discard or play Event cards until you're down to 7. You may briefly hold 8 or 9 cards and can discard either new card. You still draw two even if you already hold 7. Funded and unfunded Events count toward the limit; Epidemics don't.
The rulebook's Additional Rules say the hand limit applies immediately after getting a card.
Yes — the limit applies at all times. As soon as you hold more than 7, for example after Share Knowledge, you immediately discard or play Events down to 7.
No — when you're over the limit you may only discard or play Event cards. No rule lets Equipment be used that way, and many Equipment stickers can't be played at any time anyway.
Many players agree; no official ruling.
No — cards leave your hand only to pay a cost (flights, building, curing, entering collapsing cities, roadblocks and so on), when played as Events or Equipment, or when you're over the hand limit.
No — both cards are drawn together and the Epidemic resolves immediately: Increase, Infect, Intensify. Only then can you play Events, cure or do anything else, which still leaves a window before the Infect Cities step. When the other card is COdA-colored, its Faded figure from Accelerated Incubation is placed before the Epidemic.
The rulebook's Epidemic Cards section states each step.
One card, from the bottom of the Infection Deck, whatever the infection rate. An empty city just receives 3 cubes. It outbreaks only if it already had cubes of that color, in which case you fill it to 3 and it then outbreaks. That bottom card then goes to the discard pile and is shuffled back on top in the Intensify step.
The rulebook's On Your Turn section lists drawing and infecting as separate steps.
Yes — the Epidemic does only its three steps. Then the normal Infect Cities step follows at the new infection rate. Because Intensify puts the Epidemic city back on top, it's often drawn again right away.
No — the Epidemic places its cubes in one go, so the quarantine marker is removed and blocks all of them.
The rulebook's Actions section defines eradication this way.
No — a disease is eradicated only when it is cured and none of its cubes are on the board. If no cubes are present when you cure it, it's eradicated at once; otherwise it happens whenever the last cube is removed, even on a later turn. Faded figures aren't cubes, and COdA can never be cured, so never eradicated.
Many players agree; no official ruling.
No — eradication lasts only for the rest of that game: no cubes of that color are placed until the game ends. Next game the disease is back. The first time you eradicate each disease, you name it.
Several players agree, citing the Treat Disease rule; no official ruling.
The first time you eradicate it. The instruction sits in the eradication text under Treat Disease, so it's easy to miss; forgetting it has no rules consequence.
Yes — only the player whose turn it is takes the Share Knowledge action. A restriction on one character's Share Knowledge doesn't stop someone else from doing the action with that character on their own turn.
“The current player is the only player actually taking the Share Knowledge action.”
— mleacock, designer
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — all five actions are taken in the action step, before drawing. Her ability changes how many actions she gets, not when she takes them. Everyone always draws 2 Player cards per turn, whatever the player count.
The rulebook's Actions section describes Build a Structure for everyone.
Yes — Build a Structure replaces Build a Research Station, so any character can discard the card of their current city to build any structure available there. The Operations Expert just doesn't need the card.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — anything added to your list of actions costs one action each time. Character abilities and upgrades that let you perform a named action, such as Treat Disease or Quarantine, still cost that action; they just change its conditions.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — from February, every character may use one action to quarantine the city their pawn is in. The Quarantine Specialist can also do it in another city once per turn.
Many players agree; no official ruling.
COdA cubes yes, Faded figures no. Treating COdA costs 2 actions per Treat, for every character including the Medic. Faded figures can't be treated at all: only specific abilities, Equipment such as Grenades, Events and later the Vaccinate action remove them. Ordinary cubes of other colors that reach a Faded city by outbreak can still be treated.
The designer confirmed this reading in 2015.
No — it triggers only for Player cards of COdA's color. If that city isn't Faded yet, it becomes Faded and gets a sticker and a figure. Faded cities of other colors get figures only from their Infection cards.
The designer confirmed in 2015 that the marker is removed unless a fourth figure would be placed.
With 0 to 2 Faded figures there, remove the quarantine marker instead of placing the figure, as with any infection. With 3 figures already there, the effect is ignored entirely: nothing placed, no outbreak, and the marker stays.
No — only a military (dog-tag) icon on your character card counts. Equipment in hand doesn't give you one.
No — a Search requires discarding at least one Player card that meets the Search card's criteria, and you may discard only such cards. Bonuses like a quarantine marker add to a valid Search; they don't replace the discard.
First take a normal Search action, discarding qualifying cards to advance a search party token. Then you may discard a card with Binoculars to move the same token 2 more spaces. You can't use Binoculars alone or weave them in between card advances, and a card discarded for the search itself doesn't also count as Binoculars.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
The city's printed color. Cities are tagged by COdA, but they don't change color, so a red Faded city takes red cards.
“cities get tagged with COdA -- they don't change color.”
— mleacock, designer
One Search action advances only one track, even if the city qualifies for two. You can split your cards over several Search actions, and each one gets the per-action bonuses, at the cost of extra actions. Bonuses refer to the city being searched, such as one with a quarantine marker, not the card discarded.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
To move your search party token onto a space, discard the cards that space shows. Each Epidemic moves the target. You find the target when your token reaches its space, and the search fails for that game if the target reaches the cold-trail space. Progress resets each game, but a completed search stays completed.
Yes — for that search you discard only the cards shown on the space you're moving to; the reference card's wording about your city's color doesn't apply.
In a Faded city with a research station, discarding cards of that city's printed color. Any city with a Faded sticker qualifies, whatever its color. If there's no such station, build one in a Faded city first, or use the Field Hospital equipment.
Use a Faded city that's unstable (panic level 1). If there isn't one either, use any Faded city. The designers admitted they hadn't expected a group to avoid rioting Faded cities.
Per Search action. One action can discard several qualifying cards, each moving the token, but the bonus is added once for that action. That's why splitting cards across several Search actions can earn more bonuses.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes to both. There's one search party token per search, and every player can advance it with their own Search actions. Reaching or passing the target completes the search, and it takes effect immediately; a later Epidemic can't undo it.
No — once the token has reached its target you can't keep advancing it, and you can't discard cards to a Search just to get them into the discard pile. A completed search's track has no further effect, so you can leave it out.
The designer endorsed this step-by-step procedure in 2018.
Raise the outbreaking city's panic level (destroying a research station if it riots, losing characters if it falls), scar characters in it, then infect each connected city in any order you choose. Next, advance the outbreak marker unless the city is isolated by roadblocks. Then resolve any pending chain-reaction outbreaks one at a time, in the order you pick. If you run out of cubes or figures while infecting neighbors, you lose at once.
Several players agree, citing the per-card limit; one player's per-turn reading is a minority view.
Not within one chain: each city outbreaks at most once per Infection card resolved, and cities that already outbroke from that card get no more cubes from it. But each new Infection card, including an Epidemic's bottom card, is resolved separately and can make the same city outbreak again in the same turn.
The rulebook's Outbreaks section ties outbreaks to a fourth cube of the same color.
No — only a fourth cube of the same color causes an outbreak. A city can hold up to 3 cubes of each color, and an outbreak of one color dropping a cube on a city with 3 of another color just adds that cube.
Only roadblocks. A city whose every connection is roadblocked doesn't advance the outbreak marker when it outbreaks. In every other case the marker advances, even if nothing can actually be placed in the neighbors because they're vaccinated, quarantined or protected by the Medic. A 2015 designer reply said an outbreak into only vaccinated cities didn't count; the designers reversed that in 2016.
“The isolation rules apply only to roadblocks.”
— mleacock, designer
Yes — isolation only stops the outbreak marker from advancing. The city's panic level still rises and characters standing in it are still scarred, or lost if they have no room.
The rulebook's Scars and Outbreaks sections tie scars and panic to the outbreaking city.
No — only characters in the city that actually outbreaks get a scar, and only that city's panic rises. Neighbors that just receive cubes are safe unless they chain-outbreak themselves.
The designer confirmed this in 2015.
Yes — the marker is removed instead of the cube being placed, so there's no fourth cube and no outbreak. A marker blocks infection from any source: infection cards, Epidemics, setup and outbreaks.
“Quarantine markers prevent outbreaks.”
— RobDaviau, designer
Many players agree; no official ruling.
No — it blocks one attempt and is removed. Cubes from separate outbreaks in a chain arrive one at a time, so a second cube is placed normally and can make the city outbreak. The Quarantine Specialist standing there is the exception, since her marker isn't removed.
Yes — a city becomes Faded when its first Faded figure is placed. If a quarantine marker blocks that figure, for example from an infection card or Accelerated Incubation, the city doesn't become Faded. The designer didn't address the separate rule that converts cities a Faded city outbreaks into, which some players read as fading the city regardless.
The designer confirmed this in 2015.
Yes — once a city is Faded, it produces Faded figures instead of its original disease whenever it's infected, so the status of its old color doesn't matter.
The designer confirmed this in 2016.
No — only Faded figures make cities Faded. An outbreak of a normal color places normal cubes even into a Faded city, and those cubes don't count toward its Faded figures. A chain outbreak of a non-Faded city stays a normal outbreak.
Many players agree, citing the rule stickers; no official ruling.
The neighbor becomes Faded and gets a Faded figure, but its existing cubes of other colors stay as they are; they aren't converted. From then on, its own Infection card places Faded figures, while outbreaks from normal neighbors still place colored cubes there.
The designer endorsed this sequence in 2015.
No — a city converts only when a Faded figure is about to be placed in it. Then it's marked Faded and its COdA cubes are swapped for figures. City Zero is simply the first city that converts, so there's no choice. If that city already had 3 COdA cubes, the new figure makes it outbreak, spreading Faded to its neighbors.
Several players agree, citing the COdA sticker; no official ruling.
Yes — whenever cubes would be placed in a Faded city, Faded figures are placed instead, including during an Epidemic's Infect step and setup infections.
No — if Accelerated Incubation would place a fourth figure, nothing is placed and there's no outbreak. Faded cities still outbreak normally when an Infection card adds a fourth figure.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — the map wraps around the Pacific, and those links count for movement and outbreaks. There are no connections across the poles.
They're reused. A marker removed after blocking an infection goes back to the supply. At most 12 can be on the board, one per city; if all are placed, move one to the new city. Markers aren't removed by treating cubes there or by anything else, only by blocking an infection or being moved. They're cleared at the end of each game.
Yes — whenever cubes or Faded figures would be placed in a quarantined city, however many, you remove the marker instead and place nothing. It works against every disease, and it can go on any city, whatever is already there.
Many players agree, one relaying the designer's explanation by message; no designer post was harvested.
Faded figures are never placed in a vaccinated city. A vaccinated Faded city, whatever its original color, gets nothing, because Faded cities only produce figures and doesn't revert to its old color. A vaccinated city that was never Faded still gets cubes of its own color. Any vaccinated city can still receive other-colored cubes from a neighbor's outbreak.
One player's reading of the rule stickers; no official ruling.
No — vaccination stops the Faded figure first, so nothing is placed and the quarantine marker stays. Vaccination also keeps a non-Faded city from becoming Faded.
One extra action per military base in the region, plus the vaccine dose; with 2 bases, a Vaccinate takes 3 actions. For the Immunologist vaccinating a connected city, count the bases in that city's region.
The designer answered this directly in 2016.
Keep vaccinating: treat the stickers as unlimited. The designers didn't mean the count to be a limit.
No — a Faded city keeps its printed color for every purpose except infections. Its card still cures that color, and you discard that color to search there, cross a roadblock into it or enter it when collapsing. Only infections change: drawing its Infection card places Faded figures, whatever the color.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — wording is precise. "Cubes" means only disease cubes and "Faded figures" only Faded; text that says "disease markers" or "infection markers" covers both. A city can hold up to 3 cubes of each color and up to 3 Faded figures at once.
Many players agree; no official ruling.
The first city that actually gets a Faded figure; you don't choose it. Use the City Zero sticker in place of a normal Faded sticker there. If quarantines kept every Faded figure off the board in April, it goes on whichever city fades first later, even during a later setup. The sticker is permanent.
The designer answered this directly in 2016.
No — it applies only to cards drawn from the Player Deck in the draw step.
“Accelerated Incubation only applies when drawing from the deck not the discard piLe.”
— RobDaviau, designer
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Roadblocks sit on connections, not cities. Outbreaks don't spread across a roadblocked connection, and Drive/Ferry across one costs an extra card of the destination city's color unless an ability says otherwise. They don't affect flights, and cities stay adjacent for abilities like Local Connections. One roadblock action can block any number of the connections leaving your city.
Several players agree, citing the rulebook; no official ruling.
Yes — panic effects are cumulative and panic stickers are permanent, so a city's level only ever rises. Collapsing and Fallen cities also ban Direct and Charter Flights in and out and block research stations, just like Rioting ones.
The rulebook's Panic Level section ties the discard to Drive/Ferry.
No — the extra discard applies only to Drive/Ferry. Shuttle flights, military shuttle flights and the Dispatcher's pawn-to-pawn move don't trigger it. The card you discard must match the city's printed color, even if the city is Faded.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — a roadblock adds one card on top of the entry cost, so driving through a roadblock into a collapsing city costs 2 cards, and into a fallen city 3.
The rulebook's Panic Level and Structures sections limit the riot effect to research stations.
No and yes — rioting destroys and blocks only research stations. Military bases survive and can be built in rioting, collapsing or fallen cities.
The rulebook's Structures and Research Stations section covers this.
No — the piece goes back to the supply and can be built elsewhere; you just can't have a station in that city while it's at panic level 2 or higher. A starting research station sticker there is covered by a destroyed station sticker, so that permanent station is gone.
It resolves normally: neighbors are infected, the outbreak marker advances and characters there are scarred. Its panic can't rise further, so no new sticker, and it can't fall again, so characters there aren't lost from falling. They're still lost if the scar has no room.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — it leaves the Infection Deck only. The city stays on the board; you can still travel through it under the Fallen rules, and it can still receive cubes or Faded figures from outbreaks.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — flight bans and entry costs depend only on a city's panic level, and vaccinating a city doesn't change its panic level. A vaccinated rioting city still can't be flown into, and a vaccinated collapsing or fallen one still costs cards to enter.
On your turn, show the Parachute card. That costs no action and you keep the card. Then you may take a Direct or Charter Flight into a city at panic level 2 to 4, discarding the usual card, which may be the Parachute card itself. You can't parachute into a Fallen city or fly out of a rioting or collapsing one.
The designers answered this directly in 2016.
No — it only excuses the discards needed to enter a collapsing or fallen city.
Several players agree, citing the falling-city rule; no official ruling.
The character is lost. Nuking makes the city fall, and any character in a city when it falls is lost. Military bases there aren't mentioned and survive.
The designer suggested this directly in 2017.
Write the panic level next to the affected city with a pen or marker.
Yes — the two are separate. The Faded sticker covers the city's circle, panic stickers go in the boxes beside it, and panic keeps rising as the city outbreaks.
Several players agree, citing the Scars and Lost Characters rules; no official ruling.
Two. A character who must take a scar with no free scar space is lost, and so is any character in a city when it falls. The players choose which available scar to give.
Many players agree on the start-of-turn timing; no official ruling.
Only when a character begins a turn standing in a city that holds one or more Faded figures. Passing through, ending your turn there, or a figure arriving during the infection step causes no scar by itself. You're scarred if you're still there when your next turn starts, the first turn of the game included. A Faded city with no figures is safe.
No — quarantine only stops new figures being placed. If a Faded figure is already in the city, a character starting their turn there still takes a scar, the Quarantine Specialist included.
One player's reading of the card; no official ruling.
No — his exemption only covers starting his turn with Faded present. An outbreak isn't the start of a turn, so the normal outbreak scar applies.
The designers answered this directly in 2016.
No — it names the Shuttle Flight action only, so Military Shuttle Flights aren't affected.
Discard one card each time the character leaves a city with 3 cubes of one color. It's one card per departure even if two colors are at 3, and a character with an empty hand may leave without discarding. Faded figures aren't cubes and don't count. An Airlift still triggers it. When the Dispatcher moves the character as his own, it applies only if the Dispatcher is Regretful, and then he discards.
The designer answered this directly in 2016.
Yes — nothing prevents it, even though the Soldier can't discover cures.
The designer's 2016 ruling on Share Knowledge restrictions settles this.
No — it limits Share Knowledge only on the scarred character's own turn. On another player's turn, that player can give a card to the Paranoid character or take one, since they are the one taking the action.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
It applies only to the Treat Disease action in a rioting city. The Colonel's Faded-removal ability isn't Treat Disease. With Local Connections, the panic level that matters is the connected city you're treating, not the one you stand in.
One player's reading of the upgrade; no official ruling.
Only from scars — a Grizzled character can't gain scars from outbreaks, but is still lost if standing in a city when it falls.
One player quotes the Civilian card; no official ruling.
The Civilian card covers it: instead of a scar, discard your hand and move your pawn to a research station, then keep playing as the Civilian.
One player's answer; no official ruling.
No — they just join the pool of scars to choose from when a character next gets one.
The designer answered this directly in 2015 and 2016, matching the rulebook's Event Cards section.
No — Events can't interrupt the resolution of a drawn card. Once the Epidemic, or an Infection card with any outbreaks it causes, is fully resolved, you may play Events. That includes the window after an Epidemic and before the Infect Cities step, and between Infection cards. Resilient Population is the printed exception: it can be played between an Epidemic's Infect and Intensify steps.
Yes — as in regular Pandemic, you may play an Event after resolving the first Epidemic and before the second. The Legacy rulebook dropped that sentence, but the designer and Z-Man both confirmed it by email.
The designer gave One Quiet Night as an example of this in 2016.
Yes, after the Epidemic resolves — both cards arrive in your hand together, so the Event can be played once the Epidemic is done, for example One Quiet Night before the Infect Cities step. Resilient Population can even be played between the Epidemic's Infect and Intensify steps.
The rulebook's Event Cards section says Events can be played at any time and aren't actions.
Yes — playing an Event isn't an action, and the card's holder may play it on anyone's turn, funded or unfunded. Only the holder can play it. Text saying "you" means the holder, while "the current player" means whoever's turn it is.
Many players agree, following the equivalent base-game ruling; no official ruling for Legacy.
It can be played any time, but extra actions are only usable during the action step. Once the current player has moved on to drawing cards, they can't go back and take more actions.
The designer answered this directly in 2015 and 2016.
Yes — "can't be treated" only blocks the Treat Disease action (and curing). Effects that simply remove cubes work on COdA cubes too. They also don't count as Treat Disease, so a cured disease's remove-all bonus doesn't apply: Grassroots Program removes one cube per card discarded.
The designer answered this directly for Remote Treatment in 2015.
No — Faded figures aren't cubes. Only effects that specifically mention Faded figures, like Grenades or the Colonel, can remove them.
“Remote treatment only works on disease cubes.”
— RobDaviau, designer
With the same timing as Events: never between drawing a card and resolving it, but fine between two Epidemics or between an Epidemic and the Infect Cities step. Unlike Events, Equipment can't be used to get down to the hand limit.
Only for the turn it's played, the current player's turn, and it goes away afterwards. It's built in the city your pawn is in. The note that it isn't permanent covers playing it on a game's winning turn.
The rulebook's Game End Upgrades section says each City card can hold one sticker and is used one way or the other.
No — use it either as the City card or for its sticker, never both, and using either discards it. Each City card holds only one sticker. Any character can use Equipment.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — a sticker doesn't change the card's city or color, and a drawn card is always a City card at that moment. You can't dodge Accelerated Incubation by treating it as the Event.
No — only for the current game. Pandemic Legacy always says explicitly when a card is destroyed, and those Events don't.
Several players agree, quoting the card; no official ruling.
Both the Player card carrying the Event and the targeted city's Infection card, as the card says. Destroying means removing them from the game; you don't have to tear them up.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — "up to 3" includes zero. It still counts as playing a card, so a Rival can pick it up. Only the player who plays it discards, from their own hand.
Several players agree, citing the card; no official ruling.
No — it switches to a named character, and a character is named only when it's first played.
The rulebook's Game End Upgrades section says Unfunded Events are unaffected by funding level.
The number of funded Events in the Player Deck equals your funding level. Only 8 exist at the start, and more are unlocked later, which is why funding can reach 10. Unfunded Events are stickers on City cards: always in the deck and not counted against funding.
The Infection Deck, as in regular Pandemic: look at its top 6 cards and put them back in any order. Some Dutch copies wrongly say Player Deck.
Many players agree; no official ruling.
No — the symbol only decides where an Equipment sticker can be applied during play: at a research station for medical, at a military base for military. Once a card carries Equipment, any character holding it can use it.
The rulebook's Game End Upgrades section limits each City card to one sticker; a reported publisher email says otherwise.
No, by the rulebook — each City card can hold only one sticker. A player reported a Z-Man email allowing a second Equipment sticker, but no rule supports it.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — you can only play a card when you can meet its requirements, so Grenade Belt needs a Faded figure to remove. Equipment tied to an action, like the Aerosol Unit used while vaccinating, works only on your own turn.
One player relays a designer's email; no designer post was harvested.
Yes — there's a window after the previous player's Infect step and before your scar check, and any-time Equipment can be used in it.
Yes — nothing on the Med Kit excludes the scar from Self Sacrifice, so it can prevent that scar like any other. Since the Hero upgrade and the Med Kit can both be used at any time, the combination works out of turn too.
The designer confirmed this in 2015, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — each city may hold one structure of each type, so different structures can share a city, but never two of the same type.
The rulebook's Actions section describes Build a Structure.
With the normal Build a Structure action: discard the City card of the city you're in and place the structure there; the Operations Expert needs no card. Any character can do it. Military bases aren't research stations, so you can't cure at one.
Several players agree, citing the Build a Structure rule; no official ruling.
Take a legal Build a Structure action and move one from elsewhere on the board. You can even take one off a starting-structure sticker; the sticker stays and gets a piece again at the next setup. Only plastic pieces are structures; extra stickers don't give extra stations.
Yes, they're limited: when all roadblock tokens are on the board you can't take the Build Roadblock action, and you can't move them the way structures can. Permanent roadblock stickers are extra and don't need a token on them at setup.
“Roadblocks are a limited resource. If they are all on the board, you may not do the Build Roadblock action.”
— mleacock, designer
Yes to both — nothing prevents it. Sabotaged means destroyed. A permanent base that's sabotaged gets a sabotaged-base sticker; a base built only this game is just removed.
The designers ruled players must build bases to destroy them if needed.
Yes — building military bases stays legal after sabotage begins, and building one just to sabotage it is often the only way to meet that objective.
One player quotes the card; no official ruling.
No — only a military base in the city you're in, though you may discard it at any time during your turn.
The rulebook's Structures and Research Stations section covers destroyed starting stations.
Cover it with a destroyed research station sticker. Later games start at another permanent research station, or in the ruins of Atlanta if you have none.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — Shuttle Flight goes between research stations, and Military Shuttle Flight, for military characters only, goes between military bases. Direct and Charter Flights work as usual.
Yes — structures placed at setup from starting stickers count like any others, so a structure objective can be met as the game begins. A military base sticker gives only a base, not a research station.
Yes — resolve the 8th outbreak completely (place its cubes in connected cities, raise that city's panic level, scar characters there), then the game ends. Any further chain-reaction outbreaks never happen. If several cities would outbreak in a chain, you choose the order, so you can pick which city takes the 8th outbreak and its panic increase.
The designer ruled on this in 2016 and endorsed the same analysis again in 2023.
Only what happened before you ran out. The game ends the moment you need a cube or figure you don't have, and nothing after that point is resolved, including the rest of the chain. The outbreaking city gains panic and scars only if you actually infected its neighbors.
“do the stuff you need to do. When the game ends, stop.”
— mleacock, designer
The rulebook's Game End section says you lose when you can't place the cubes actually needed.
No — you lose only when you actually need to place a cube of that color and none are left. An empty supply on its own isn't a loss, and a city already at 3 cubes outbreaks instead of taking a cube, so the loss comes when that outbreak tries to place cubes.
The designer answered this directly in 2017, and it matches the rulebook.
No — you draw both cards together, so if fewer than two remain you lose immediately without drawing or resolving anything, and you skip the infection step.
The rulebook's Game End section says you win as soon as the objectives are met.
Yes — the deck loss only happens at the draw step, after your actions. If you complete the last objective during your actions, you win immediately and never reach the draw.
The rulebook's Game End section says the game ends immediately when you win.
No — the game ends the instant you meet the required objectives, even mid-turn. If you want an eradication or a structure for a game-end upgrade, get it before completing your last objective. Passive effects that happen at once, like the Medic clearing cubes of a newly cured disease, still apply.
No — you play on until the game ends by its own rules. You can steer the losing turns to limit damage, but you can't stop early.
The designer answered this directly in 2015, and it matches the rulebook.
Yes — win or lose, you choose two game-end upgrades after every game, so losing a month and then winning it gives four. A loss also raises funding by 2.
“You get the two end game upgrades every game you play, win or lose.”
— RobDaviau, designer
Players who finished the campaign agree on the breakdown; no official ruling.
Scoring comes from the end-of-campaign materials. Each month won on the first try is worth 40 points and each won on the second try 20. Each city scores 5, 2, 1 or 0 by its panic level and whether it's Faded or vaccinated. There are bonuses for vaccinating every Faded city, destroying COdA in Atlanta and removing all military bases, and penalties for opening Package 8 (-100) and Team Bravo (-200). Scars and lost characters cost nothing directly.
The rulebook's Game End Upgrades section says you choose two upgrades at the end of each game.
Two per game for the whole group, whatever the player count. You get them after every game, so a month played twice gives four, and you may pick the same kind of upgrade twice.
The rulebook's Roles / Characters section limits upgrades to characters in the just-played game.
Only characters in the game just played — not ones who played only the month's earlier game. A character swapped in or out mid-game with New Assignment was in the game, so either can be upgraded. You may stick a new upgrade over an existing one, but don't have to.
The designer answered this directly in 2015.
No — newly unlocked upgrades just join the pool you choose from with your normal two game-end upgrades.
“It is not a bonus action but more upgrades that can be added to your pool of options.”
— RobDaviau, designer
The rulebook's Game End Upgrades section requires eradication for a positive mutation.
No — only a disease you eradicated in the game just played can get one, and it costs one of your two game-end upgrades. A disease cured with no cubes of its color on the board is eradicated at that moment, and this counts even if that cure wins the game.
Yes — you can spend both upgrades on the same disease, as long as the mutations go on in order. Each disease's mutations are numbered 1 to 4 and must be added in that order, so a newly eradicated disease always starts at level 1. Stickers stack: place each new one below the last, and all stay in effect.
The designer answered this directly in 2015, and the rulebook's example says it can happen on another player's turn.
At any time during play, even on another player's turn, but not during setup and not in the middle of resolving a card such as an Epidemic. Because mutations stack in order, a disease with this one also has the earlier mutation, so no research station is needed. The cards must all come from one player's hand.
No — when you go over 7 cards, your only options are to discard or play Event cards. Get down to 7 first, then cure. After drawing, you can still cure before the Infect Cities step once you're within the limit.
“The rules do not make a provision for curing (even out of turn) to get to your hand limit. You can either discard cards or play an Event cards.”
— mleacock, designer
Many players agree, reading the designer's ruling that it "can" be done; no direct ruling.
No — it's optional. You choose when, or whether, to discard the cards and cure, and you can hold them for other uses, for example to finish something before the winning cure ends the game.
The designer clarified the wording in 2016.
When you take the Treat Disease action on that disease, remove all its cubes from the city you're treating, not just one. It does nothing when you treat a different color, and it doesn't give the Medic's automatic removal to anyone. A capitalized action word like "Treat" always means that action.
Yes — it reduces whatever you'd normally need by one, so the Scientist cures that disease with 3 cards.
The rulebook's Game End Upgrades section says the sticker goes on a city that currently contains a research station.
Built stations don't carry over on their own. As a game-end upgrade, you can place a starting research station sticker on a city that has a station at the end of the game just played, making that station permanent: a station is placed there at every future setup. Starting military base stickers work the same way, and permanent roadblocks likewise must replace roadblocks placed in the game just played.
Several players agree, quoting the sticker sheet; no official ruling.
One game-end upgrade lets you replace up to 3 roadblocks that were on the board in the game just played with permanent roadblock stickers. Using both upgrades this way makes 6. Permanent roadblocks don't use tokens, and the stickers are limited to the number supplied.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
One game-end upgrade lets you put 3 Equipment stickers on 3 City cards, once the rule for it is unlocked. You can also make Equipment during play with the Equip action. Any character can use either kind once it's made. The effect comes from discarding the card, not from applying the sticker.
The rulebook's Game End Upgrades section allows any City card in the Player Deck.
Any City card in the Player Deck, whether it ended the game in a hand, the discard pile or the draw pile, since stickers are applied between games. Each card holds only one sticker.
No — it looks at cards from the top of the deck.
“You've got to look at the cards from the top of the deck. Nice try.”
— mleacock, designer
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes — it allows a Shuttle Flight from any structure to any structure. It's the ordinary Shuttle Flight action, so the character doesn't need dog tags.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
In the city you're in. Formidable lets you pay with an adjacent city's card instead of your own; it doesn't let you build in the adjacent city. It does nothing for the Operations Expert, who needs no card anyway.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — Grizzled only prevents scars from outbreaks in the character's city.
One experienced player's summary; no official ruling.
No — Pilot applies only to Direct Flights.
Several players agree, citing the turn-structure wording; no official ruling.
Only the Infect Cities step at the end of your turn. You still draw Player cards and fully resolve any Epidemic, including its own Infect step, and Accelerated Incubation.
Yes — the cards tell you to draw them at the end of the game before choosing upgrades. So a newly unlocked upgrade or a win bonus can already inform your choice.
No — only the box cover differs. The contents and the campaign are identical.
“There is nothing different between the games other than the box covers.”
— RobDaviau, designer
Several players agree; no official ruling.
It adds connections Santiago–Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires–Johannesburg and Los Angeles–Lima, removes Bangkok–Chennai and Baghdad–Karachi, and divides the map into six regions marked by pale gray lines: five continents plus the Pacific Rim.
The rulebook's Additional Rules say players may always examine discard piles.
No hidden information — hands are kept face up and players may always examine both discard piles. Everything a player sees can be shared.
The rulebook's Additional Rules cover this directly.
Don't rewind — permanent changes stay, so play correctly from now on. If the mistake clearly made a game too easy or too hard, the group may lower or raise funding for the next game to compensate.
The rulebook's Overview describes destroying components as a permanent change.
Yes, that's the intent: tear it up, or otherwise remove it from the game permanently and irreversibly, not just return it to the box. Only destroy what you're explicitly told to.
No — wins and losses are per game. The campaign always runs through December, and at the end you judge how well you did from the final state of the world.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
You haven't missed a rule. The extra spaces leave room for a sixth Epidemic, as in regular Pandemic, or for the rate rising by other means.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No to both. Once a color carries the COdA sticker, it can't be cured in any later game, so it can't be eradicated either. Diseases are named only when first eradicated, and COdA already has its name on the sticker.