Pandemic: Hot Zone - North America

This is awesome if you love Pandemic but you want a more streamlined smaller version of the game. It's quick to pick up and it's very fun! It's very collaborative but since it's so small, it can be played very quickly, unless you amp up the rules. I love it!

It's a moderately simplified version of pandemic that is a bit easier to learn and much quicker than the original, but without dumbing it down to the point that it loses the feel and strategy of the original.Not the right version for a hardcore gamer, but for quicker gameplay, slightly younger ages, intro to real strategy games, etc., it is perfect.

This is a good compact version of Pandemic. It adds crisis events, which add a nice twist and difficulty to the game. There are only 3 diseases (4 cards needed to cure), 4 roles, and no research centers except Atlanta.The cards are tiny. It made the game too hard for us to play. They are about 50% the size of a standard card.This might be best for kids to play due to the small card size.

Most of the "big box" versions of Pandemic are best 3+. This one plays very well at two, plus it runs very quickly. It's always nice to have a cooperative game that plays well at two without it requiring a forklift to get the miniature/standee/card laden box off the shelf.

In short, I would give this game 3 stars, but would give the original game 5 stars.For both games, the fewer players you have, the better your team tends to do. We enjoy the original Pandemic a lot and I have taken it on vacation when driving. I thought HotZone might be a nice travel-size game, especially when flying. However, I would only recommend this as a 2-player game or a travel game for 2 players. Otherwise, I recommend getting the original Pandemic game instead. Both games are cooperative team games, so all players either win or lose together.We've played the original game several times, and generally play 2-3 rounds when we play it. With four players, we tend to win 10-20% of the time. With 3 players we win 50-60% of the time, and with 2 players we win 90-95% of the time, by the official rules. With that said, there are 4 viruses in the original and even with 4 players, we usually cure 1-3 of the viruses. It's just tough to get all 4. We like the satisfaction of curing/eradicating some of the viruses and the challenge of trying to do better the next time. When we play with just 2 players, we generally play until we have eradicated 2-4 of the viruses.As we are experienced with the original game we were excited to play HotZone. There are a few differences. HotZone is only North America, while the original came is worldwide. The original game has 4 viruses, while HotZone only has 3. The most disappointing thing to us was that HotZone does not allow eradicating the virus, you can cure it, but can't eradicate it, which makes the game more difficult. We love the eradication rule in the original game and we've already decided that we are going to paint a dot on the came pieces or put tape on one side and we will use the eradication rule if/when we ever play HotZone again. HotZone also includes crisis cards which I gather will make the game more difficult. We have not yet used those at all as this version is difficult enough without them. We may give them a shot in a 2-player game one day.So again, we are experienced with the original game and were excited to play HotZone. The first game was with 4 experienced players, and we were unable to clear a single virus. This has never happened to us in playing the original game. At that point, 2 walked away, so the second round was just 2 players. In that game, by official rules, we cured only 2 of the 3 viruses and lost. By our 'extra-inning' house rules we did win the game (The rule is even after the draw cards are gone, each player gets one more turn). And then we put the game away and have not played it since. I only paid around $9 for it, so I won't complain, but will say, that if I bought this first, I probably never would have bothered with the original game which very quickly became a favorite at my house. I'm very glad I bought the original Pandemic game first, and that is my recommendation. Consider this if you really love the original Pandemic game and are interested in a 2-player travel-size version.

Bought this for lunchbreak board games. It's quick without removing the fun of regular Pandemic. Great for a first time co-op game.

It’s a good board game, the small brother of the original one. It is like a simplified version, but with very similar mechanics. It was easy to learn and to explain, I was playing with kids 5-6 years old, and they understand it and were able to play it with a bit of help. So I think like a 8 years old kid will have no problem at all.I enjoyed it. But for adults I strongly recommend the “big” one.

Got as a gift for a gaming family. They cooperatively played it together and reported that they successfully staved off the pandemic! This small box quicker version of the classic Pandemic, seems to play best with two players although up to 4 can play and plays in well under an hour.