How to Play Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 is a cooperative campaign where your team fights disease outbreaks and makes choices that carry into games. This spoiler-light guide avoids sealed content; for more tabletop guides, visit Play More IRL.
| Quick fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Title | Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 |
| Format | Cooperative legacy campaign |
| Players | 2–4 |
| Campaign | 12 in-game months, usually 12–24 sessions |
| Core system | Travel, treat disease, share information, find cures, manage outbreaks |
| Edition note | Red/Blue covers differ; contents match; not Season 2 or 0 |
Objective
Each game is one campaign month. Complete the objectives shown for that month before a loss condition ends the game. The board shows how many objectives are required, and some are mandatory. Objectives and rules may change, so read instructions only when prompted. Players share information and win or lose together. Do not read sealed material, dossiers, or later legacy cards in advance.
Setup
- For the first game, read the introductory setup and create each player’s character. Give each player the matching pawn and card.
- Prepare the board, disease cubes, cure markers, outbreak and infection-rate markers, research stations, player deck, and infection deck as instructed.
- Record the month, players, result, and funding on the campaign calendar. Add funded Event cards allowed by current funding.
- Read current Legacy Deck cards in order until one says to stop. Do not shuffle it or open numbered packages or dossier doors unless instructed.
- Place the starting infection cards and disease cubes, then put all pawns at the starting research station.
How to play
- Take four actions. Mix actions in any order. Common options are Drive/Ferry along a route, Direct Flight by discarding the destination card, Charter Flight by discarding the current-city card, build a research station, treat disease, share a card when the location requirement is met, and discover a cure at a research station by discarding five cards of one color.
- Draw two player cards. Resolve each draw immediately. An Epidemic advances infection rate, intensifies a city, and reshuffles the infection discard pile as directed. If the player deck cannot supply a required card, the game is lost.
- Infect cities. Draw infection cards equal to the current infection rate. Place one matching cube in each named city. A city with three cubes of that color outbreaks instead: do not add a fourth cube; spread one cube to each connected city, resolving chain reactions only once per outbreak during that resolution. Increase the outbreak marker for each outbreak.
- Pass play. After infection, the next player takes a turn. Follow any Legacy Deck instruction at its specified time.
Ending and scoring
A game is won when the month’s required objectives are completed, even if optional objectives remain. It is lost if the outbreak marker reaches its final space, if a required disease cube cannot be placed, or if a player must draw from an empty player deck. A failed month normally gets one more attempt; after a second failure, the campaign advances. A successful month advances immediately. The campaign’s final outcome depends on results and permanent changes, so this guide avoids story spoilers.
Between games, record the result and apply only instructed permanent changes. Stickers, writing, altered cards, character scars or losses, and opened legacy content can persist; ordinary board positions, hands, cubes, and infection discard piles reset.
Beginner tips
- Plan around current objectives rather than treating every city equally.
- Use research stations and card transfers to position the player who can make a cure.
- Contain cities approaching three cubes before infection draws make them outbreak risks.
- Discuss Event timing and avoid spending a needed city card casually.
- Read campaign instructions when prompted, and keep sealed content hidden.
FAQs
Can we play a failed month again?
Yes. A month normally allows two attempts. After the first loss, set up the same month again with its current rules and objectives, applying updated funding as instructed.
Do permanent changes reset between games?
No. Stickers, writing, destroyed or altered components, character changes, and instructed legacy effects carry forward. Physical positions and hands reset.
Is this the same as regular Pandemic?
No. It uses the familiar action, player-card, and infection structure, but adds a linked campaign with changing rules, objectives, character effects, and permanent changes.