Pandemic + In the Lab | Rahdo's Final Thoughts

Part I: Pandemic Runthrough

Part II: In the Lab Runthrough

Part III: Final Thoughts

[wengster]

Just want to thank you and Jen for introducing Pandemic. Recently picked up a copy of Pandemic after watching your runthrough and i've been spreading the world of board gaming with my friends through it! Its really such a great gateway game!

[nienke]

Other possible solution to the minor incompatibility: card sleeves with a solid back, that will also provide extra protection to the cards and makes it easy to shuffle cards because they slide better so it allows you to push two half decks into eachother very easily which gives similar results to a riffle shuffle.

[Rodafowa]

Aaaaargh. I'd totally managed to resist getting this on the grounds that it looked a bit convoluted and I didn't want to rebuy all my 1st edition Pandemic stuff. And now you've totally gone and sold it to me on both counts, you cunning devil you.

[imthewhiterabbit]

Congratz on your 200th, and may there be 200(+) more!!!

[plouf]

I think the bottom line about why the lab makes it more cooperative is that in the base version, in order to contribute to a cure, you need to draw a card of the right color (which you have zero control over) and then painfully give it to whoever was designated to work on the cure for that color. In the lab, if you have cards of that color, great, you can travel there, and gather samples (as opposed to having to coordinate with another player, which is a pain), and if you don't have cards of that color, you can still contribute in some ways to finding the cure.

[xenothon]

Richard, I mentioned it in another thread somewhere; your videos (and only yours) have momentary black "blink" screens for me.  The audio doesn't go out.  I also don't recall noticing this until maybe a the last few weeks, but I think it has been in all of them since that time.  Just an FYI.  I just checked for an example and there is one right at the 4:00 mark.  Hope that's of use to you.

[greybadger]

If for a bit of fun you wanted to start the game from London (or anywhere else) would that upset the game balance somehow?  I can't see that it would, but the game is clearly so well thought out that I wondered if it might affect some mechanic I'm not seeing.


Addition: We just played our first game and what a great introduction it was. We unintentionally cheated, swapping cities with each other in any location we managed to be together, instead of limiting ourselves to the actual location of the city we wanted to swap. Figured out afterward that we'd been naughty. Despite this we got overrun by the Red. (Stupid Red!) This due to chain reaction epidemics and honestly just after we'd cured the damned virus and were setting up to eradicate it! 


Brilliant recommendation, excellent game.

Badger

[joeldalangin]

Your enthusiasm sells this game, the makers of Pandemic should pay you

[Jivs]

Hi, im new to your channel and I love the way you explained the Pandemic and in the lab, I liked it so much that I watched the full hour and I wanted you to finish the game and see the conclusion xD. I hope you can do a video of you and other people(your wife or friends?) playing it if its not much troulbe haha.I will start to watch all your videos so I can know which other games are awesome.

[Mikelpsu]

I'm looking to get the base game soon. If my friends and I like it then I'm sure we'll get the expansions too. Do all three expansions combine together?

[BrandonMeesak]

Can't you sleeve the cards to fix the compatibility issues? Since it is only 5 more cards they added

[dmcd]

If you had to rank the Pandemic expansions, would In the Lab be #1 for you? It sounds like it from the video. I'm pretty sure I'm sold on ITL, but how important is On the Brink to you?

[Chyron]

rahdo, you could probably go to boardgamegeek and find printable, fan-made scans of the incompatible cards with the old card backs (or scan them yourself). Then you could use those scans to reprint the cards out at printerstudio.com with compatible backs for cheap.

[stevens]

I noticed you didn't mention Flash point : fire rescue. I bought it recently and we quite like it. I know it a bit lighter as Pandemic witch we also like playing. But i find Flash point also a descent fun co op game. I'm still thinking about buying in the lab, does it make the game to difficult ? We play with 5 infection cards would it be 4 cards with the expansion  or is it manageble with 5 infections. I don't mean in the way of complexity but difficulty.

[jwspiker]

did you have to get the compatibility pack?

[whereisyellowthinks]

When you eradicate the disease the Infection Cards stay in the Infection Deck.  Thus eradicating a disease gives you a reprieve when you draw that color while you are infecting.

[Straddllw]

Alternatively if you want to fit the expansion with the first edition old pandemic and on the brink, use colored card protectors.

[Robin-veck]

If you're worried about card back issues, just sleeve the cards with sleeves with a solid back.

[stevens]

the downside of the expansion is it costs as much then the base game 
oh and happy 200th runtrough :D

[fnord]

Another potential compatibility issue?  Role cards?