How to Play Pandemic: Actions, Epidemics, Outbreaks & Cures
Pandemic is a cooperative game in which the team wins by discovering cures for all four diseases. On each turn, one player takes up to four actions, draws two player cards, then infects cities. Everyone loses together if outbreaks reach the end of the track, a required disease cube cannot be placed, or a player cannot draw the required two player cards.
Researched rules guide. Checked September 15, 2026 against Z-Man Games’ current English base-game rulebook and product page. This page covers the standard 2–4 player base game. Expansions, Legacy games, Hot Zone titles and optional solo rules are separate. No hands-on testing is claimed. Editorial standards.
On this page: Set up the board and decks · Follow the three parts of a turn · Use the eight standard actions · Draw player cards and resolve epidemics · Infect cities and resolve outbreaks · Discover cures and eradicate diseases · Know the three loss conditions
Set up Atlanta, the infection deck and player deck
Place one research station in Atlanta and put every player pawn there. Give each player one role card and matching pawn. Each role changes one part of the ordinary rules, so keep the role card visible.
Prepare the initial infections by drawing nine infection cards: place three cubes in each of the first three cities, two cubes in each of the next three and one cube in each of the final three. Put those nine cards in the infection discard pile.
Deal starting player cards according to player count: four cards each with two players, three each with three players and two each with four players. Then divide the remaining player deck into roughly equal piles and add one Epidemic card to each pile before stacking them back together.
The number of Epidemic cards sets difficulty. The base rules use four for an introductory game, five for standard difficulty and six for heroic difficulty.
Every turn has three parts
- 1. Take up to four actions.
- 2. Draw two player cards. Resolve Epidemic cards immediately and respect the seven-card hand limit.
- 3. Infect cities. Draw infection cards equal to the current infection rate and place cubes.
After infection, play passes clockwise. Event cards are special: they can normally be played at any time, even during another player’s turn, except in the middle of resolving a card effect where the rules do not allow interruption.
Use movement and disease-control actions
You may repeat an action if you can legally pay for it. The standard actions are:
- Drive/Ferry: move to a connected city.
- Direct Flight: discard the city card matching your destination and move there.
- Charter Flight: discard the city card matching your current city and move to any city.
- Shuttle Flight: move between two cities that both contain research stations.
- Build a Research Station: discard the card matching your current city and place a station there, subject to the station limit.
- Treat Disease: remove one cube of one disease color from your city; if that disease is cured, remove all cubes of that color from the city instead.
- Share Knowledge: while two pawns are in the same city, give or take the city card matching that city, unless a role changes the rule.
- Discover a Cure: at any research station, discard five city cards of one color to cure that disease. The Scientist needs only four matching cards.
Role powers override the ordinary text where stated. For example, the Researcher can give another player any city card from her hand while sharing knowledge, rather than only the card matching the city occupied.
Draw two player cards after your actions
After taking actions, draw the top two cards of the player deck together. If there are not two cards available to draw, the team loses immediately.
If you draw an Epidemic card, resolve it immediately instead of adding it to your hand:
- Increase: move the infection-rate marker forward one space.
- Infect: draw the bottom card of the infection deck and place three cubes of that city’s color there, resolving an outbreak if necessary.
- Intensify: shuffle only the infection discard pile and place it face down on top of the remaining infection deck.
Discard the Epidemic card after resolving it. If your hand contains more than seven player cards after drawing and resolving effects, discard or legally play Event cards until you are back to seven.
Outbreaks happen instead of placing a fourth cube
During the Infect Cities step, draw infection cards one at a time according to the current infection rate. Normally place one cube of that city’s disease color in the named city.
If a city already has three cubes of that color, do not place a fourth cube there. Instead, an outbreak occurs: advance the outbreak marker one space and place one cube of that disease color in every connected city.
Those added cubes can cause chain outbreaks. During the resolution of one infection card, however, a city cannot outbreak more than once. If a chain would make the same city outbreak again, do not advance the outbreak track or spread cubes from that city a second time for that chain.
If the outbreak marker reaches the final skull space, the team loses.
A cure is not the same as eradication
Discovering a cure changes treatment: one Treat Disease action removes all cubes of the cured color from your current city.
You do not need to remove every cube of that disease to win. The game ends immediately in victory when all four diseases are cured.
If a disease is cured and there are no cubes of that color anywhere on the board, it becomes eradicated. Once eradicated, new cubes of that color are not placed when its cities are infected.
Pandemic has three separate loss conditions
- Outbreaks: the outbreak marker reaches the final space.
- Disease cubes: the rules require a cube of a color and none of that color remain in the supply.
- Player deck: a player cannot draw the required two cards at the end of their actions.
These conditions are independent. A team can have few cubes on the board and still lose because the player deck runs out, or have many player cards left and lose because a chain outbreak empties a cube supply.
Common Pandemic rules mistakes
- Trying to eradicate all four diseases to win: discovering all four cures is enough.
- Discarding on a 7-card hand: the hand limit is seven player cards, not a dice-roll rule.
- Sharing any card: ordinary Share Knowledge uses the card matching the city occupied; role powers can create exceptions.
- Placing a fourth cube before an outbreak: the outbreak happens instead of adding that fourth cube.
- Shuffling the entire infection deck after an epidemic: only the infection discard pile is shuffled and placed on top.
Continue learning Pandemic
- Pandemic game guide and edition scope
- Pandemic strategy: action efficiency, card preservation and outbreak control
Sources and scope
Checked September 15, 2026. This page covers the standard base game. Pandemic expansions, Legacy titles, Hot Zone games and official solo rules can change setup, roles and actions.