Cooperation and Teamwork, Pandemic Style
If there is a board gaming system that I have grown quite fond of over the years, it must be the Pandemic engine from 2008. That is already eighteen years ago today in 2026. The original game spearheaded the evolution and general take-up of the cooperative tabletop genre. It is fair to say that every cooperative engine designed after it, has tried, to some degree, to recapture the magic that made Pandemic so unique and brilliant at what it does. The first time I played it, I think it was roughly two or three years after it came out, and I was immediately smitten. I loved the idea that the game had a built-in mechanism, a simple AI, that felt as if it were actively fighting back against every move you made. It did so like some Formula One driver, shifting gears, gaining speed and momentum with each click of the gearbox while you try to catch up, hopefully overtake, and race on for the win. This might sound overwhelming and yes, occasionally the AI wins and you are left scratching your h...
