Z-Man Games Press Release - In The Lab – Solo Game

From the Z-Man Games Website

In The Lab – Solo Game

One new aspect that you will find in In The Lab is the possibility of playing a solo game of Pandemic. Let's explain how this is done. In the solo game, you are teamed with the CDC and you must try to save the world on your own. The setup of the game is the same as a two-player game except for a few changes: - There are some roles that you cannot use in the solo game, such as the Dispatcher, because their special abilities are useless in the game. All roles that should not be used are written in the rulebook. - The same goes for certain Event cards, such as "Special Orders". - Before shuffling events into the Player Deck, shuffle the city cards and deal a certain number of them varying from 8 to 16 (depending on the difficulty level you have chosen for the game) into a discard pile. If when dealing the cards there is more than six cards of the same color, reshuffle until no more than six cards are the same color. - The CDC card acts as the second player in the game and will have its own set of cards. How does it work? Once you are set up, you can start the game normally. The CDC is there to help you, but it does not have its own turn. After the Infection phase, the CDC gets one action. There are no player cards drawn by the CDC after its action, and no Infection cards are revealed. You cannot Share Knowledge with the CDC. OK…so how is the CDC useful? Here are the actions that can be done by the CDC: - Move a player: using usual movement actions, or by discarding a card for a Direct Flight or Charter Flight. - Reassign Role: If you are at a research station the CDC may replace your role card with another. However, your old role is removed from the game and no longer available to pick with this action. - Exchange Data: If you are in a research station, the CDC can swap one card from its hand for one from your hand. The color of the card taken from your hand must match the color of the city you are in. - Draw Card: Draw one card from the Player Deck. Standard hand limit rules apply. - Discover a cure: The same “discover a cure” rules are applied. So there you have it. That’s how to play a solo game of Pandemic, with a little help from the CDC that you will find in the new In The Lab!