One of our favorite activities on a trip with friends is to spend hours on an engaging board game. While these nights have become fewer (and, thus, more precious) as our locations have become distributed over the years, we’ve been fortunate to have access to a wonderful array of board games when we meet.
Over the past year, we’ve been on the lookout for cooperative games. As we’re all rather competitive, it is nice to channel the energy to battle the game. We tried “Forbidden Island” last year and found it a touch too simple. We then tried Hanabi – but found it a touch too stressful because a single mistake can undo an hour of game play.
This month, however, we found a keeper and the game has a story.
Matt Leacock, the creator of the Forbidden Island game, had created another great coop game called Pandemic. In Pandemic, where you work together to solve virulent diseases around the world.
Separately, over the past decade, Rob Daviou, another talented game designer, had created a new kind of board game – “Legacy.” A Legacy game is designed through various mechanics to change permanently over a series of 10-12 sessions. Imagine a 12 part mission where the objectives and challenges keep evolving.
And, in a blessing to all board game fans around the world, Matt Leacock and Rob Daviou teamed up to create Season 1 of “Pandemic Legacy.” To nobody’s surprise, this combination board game has been rated among the best board games of all time.
We’ve been having a blast giving Pandemic Legacy a shot and hope to complete it in our next reunion in a few months. If you enjoy playing board games, this game comes highly recommended.
PS: If you’ve never tried board games and are interested, I’d suggest starting with Settlers of Catan and then trying Puerto Rico.
