Pathogen Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Golden Rules
• Goal of the Game
• Game Turn
  • Panel Phase
  • Character Phase
  • Token Phase
• Settlement
• Differences between the Doctors and the Plagues
  • The Doctors
  • The Plagues
• Winning Conditions
• Details
• Tips

Components

• Character meeples x4
  • The Doctors: Doctor, Angel
  • The Plagues: Plague, Demon
• Movement Panel x1
• Player aids x2
• Rulebook (EN, CH) x1
• Doctor tokens x35
• Doctor Settlements x4
• Plague tokens x35
• Plague Settlements x4
• Map boards x8
• Movement marker x1

Setup

For your first game, you can set up the game as pictured below.

1. Randomly pick 4 map boards and place them into a 2x2 grid. Each board is called a Quadrant, which contains 9 squares.
2. The blue side is the Doctors, and the red side is the Plagues. Each player chooses a color and takes all the meeples, tokens, and Settlements of that color.
3. For each Quadrant, the Plagues place 1 Plague token on one square of their choosing (4 tokens in total).
4. Starting from the Doctors, two players alternate to place 1 of their Characters on the map, until all 4 Characters are placed. a. Players may choose which of their 2 Characters to place first. b. The Doctor and the Plague meeples can only be placed on white squares, while the Angel and the Demon meeples can only be placed on black squares. c. Meeples can only be placed on empty squares.
5. Place the Movement Panel beside the map. The Doctors place a Doctor token on one of the 9 inner squares of their choosing, then place the Movement marker onto that token. Place a Plague token beside the Movement Panel for later use.
6. The Plagues will be the starting player, and the game starts.

Golden Rules

1. Anything that happens on white squares (which represent the World of Humanity) doesn't affect black squares (which represent the Underworld), and vice versa.
2. Diagonals are NOT adjacent, and all movements must be orthogonal.

Goal of the Game

Players move their Characters with the Movement Panel, and place their tokens on the squares they've passed through. There are two ways to win the game:

1. The first player to connect two opposing sides of the map with adjacent tokens wins the game.
2. Settlements can be built by stacking tokens. The first player to build Settlements in all four Quadrants wins the game.

Game Turn

Players alternate to take turns.

Each turn consists of 3 phases: Panel Phase - Character Phase - Token Phase

Panel Phase

1. Move your token on the Movement Panel to an empty square. a. You must move your token. You CAN'T place it back on the original square. b. You CAN'T place your token on a square where none of your Characters can make a legal movement (see Character Phase). c. In the Plagues' first turn, their token is off the Panel, so they can place it on any empty square.
2. Move the Movement marker, which is on your opponent's token, to your own token via the SHORTEST possible route. If there are more than one shortest routes, you may choose which one to move along. For example, you may choose any of the 3 routes in the picture above.

Character Phase

Move 1 of your Characters following the route of the Movement marker.

a. Characters only move in their own world, skipping any squares of the other. b. Characters must follow the route exactly. They CAN'T stop midway or move out of the map when moving along the route. c. You CAN'T pass through or move into a square with your opponent's Settlement. d. You can pass through another Character of the same world, but you CAN'T stop on the same square with another Character. e. If there is no route for any of your Characters to follow, then you CAN'T place the token onto that square during the Panel Phase.

Movement example: The Doctors choose to take route 1, then move the Doctor "up-right-up" following the route, skipping all the black squares.

NOTE: The Settlement on the black square doesn't block the movement on white squares. The player CAN'T choose to move the Angel because it can't follow the route exactly.

Token Phase

Place your tokens or remove your opponent's tokens on the squares you've passed through on the map.

a. You can place or remove tokens on the squares where your movement started from and passed through, but NOT the square you ended on, and NOT the squares of the other world. b. There's a limit to the number of tokens each player can place or remove each turn, which is called "the Quota." The Doctors' Quota is 5, and the Plagues' is 4. c. Your Quota can be used to stack your tokens on squares which are empty or contain your own tokens, with a height limit of 6 layers. Once a stack reaches the limit, it turns into your Settlement at the end of your turn (see below). d. Your Quota can also be used to remove your opponent's tokens that you've passed through, if any. Return them to your opponent, and they can be used again. You have to remove all of your opponent's tokens on a square before you are allowed to place yours on that square. e. You CAN'T place or remove tokens on a square with another Character.

Example of placing and removing tokens: The Doctor has passed through the blue-framed squares. The player removes 1 token from square 1 (remaining Quota: 4), places 1 token back in (remaining Quota: 3), and then places 3 tokens on square 2 (remaining Quota: 0).

NOTE: The player CAN'T distribute the Quota to the square they ended on or where the Plague is present.

Settlement

At the end of your turn, if a stack of tokens reaches 6 layers, it becomes a Settlement. Retrieve those tokens and place a Settlement on that square.

a. Your opponent CAN'T pass through or stop on squares with your Settlements. You can pass through or stop on your own Settlements as usual. b. Settlements only block the movement of the Character of the same world. i.e., the Demon won't be blocked by a Doctors' Settlement on a white square. c. You can only have ONE Settlement in each Quadrant. So each Quadrant contains at most 2 Settlements, one from each player. d. In the Quadrants with your Settlements, the height limit for you will become 5 layers since you CAN'T build another Settlement there. e. You cannot place any more tokens on a square with your Settlement.

Differences between the Doctors and the Plagues

The Doctors

1. Panel Phase
   • The Doctors may only place the token on the 9 inner squares.
   • When the Doctors place the token on the center square (with the compass icon), they can rotate the Panel (90°, 180°, or 270°) before moving the Movement marker. The direction of routes can be changed in this way. (For example, up-right can be changed to right-down by rotating the Panel 90° clockwise.)
   • Lockdown: When the Doctor token is on the center square of the Panel, the Plagues can only place their token on the 9 inner squares.
2. Token Phase
   • The Quota for the Doctors is 5 each turn.
   • The Doctors must remove as many Plague tokens they've passed through as possible. They may then distribute the remaining Quota, if any, to the squares however they please. If the Doctors have passed through more than 5 Plague tokens, they may choose which 5 to remove.

The Plagues

1. Panel Phase
   • The Plagues can place the token on not only the 9 inner squares but also the 12 outer squares (excluding the corners), but they CAN'T rotate the Panel.
   • Lockdown: When the Doctor token is on the center square of the Panel, the Plagues can only place their token on the 9 inner squares.
2. Token Phase
   • The Quota for the Plagues is 4 each turn.
   • The Plagues must distribute their Quota as evenly as possible to the squares they've passed through.

Example of the Plagues distributing their Quota: If the red-framed squares are the ones the Plague has passed through, then the player must place 1 token on square 1 (remaining Quota: 3), remove 1 token from square 2 (remaining Quota: 2), and then place 1 token on square 3 (remaining Quota: 1). The remaining Quota of 1 token can be used on any of the 3 squares.

Winning Conditions

You win the game by achieving either of the following conditions:

a. Connect two opposing sides of the map with your adjacent tokens and Settlements. NOTE: Characters do NOT count as part of the connection. b. Build one Settlement in each of the four Quadrants.

Example of winning conditions: In the picture to the left, the Plagues win by connecting opposing sides. If the Doctors manage to build the 4th Settlement in the upper-right Quadrant before that, then they win instead.

NOTE: The tokens beneath Characters still count as part of the connection.

Details

1. During setup, if the Doctors place their token on the center square on the Movement Panel, then Lockdown is triggered on the Plagues' first turn.
2. Exceptions when the Plagues are allowed to distribute Quota unevenly: a. Squares with other Characters or Settlements CAN'T be distributed to. b. If distributing Quota evenly will exceed the height limit of certain squares, then the extra Quota can be distributed to other squares.
3. If a player can't move any of their Characters at all on their turn, then their turn is skipped. Place the Movement marker onto that player's token directly, and their turn ends immediately.
4. Tokens are unlimited, please find substitutes if needed.
5. For players with different skill levels for this game, you may modify the number of tokens to be placed by the Plagues during the setup.

Tips

1. The Doctors are recommended to play defensively in the early part of the game. A longer game would provide more advantages to the Doctors.
2. The Plagues are recommended to take advantage of their high mobility on the Movement Panel, to spread the plague as fast as possible.